Share via

Reading View versus Editing View -- annoying and inexplicable

Anonymous
2014-02-27T17:30:06+00:00

I was very hopeful that I would like using Office Online, but it took only a few minutes to realize I prefer to

go to Google Docs or Zoho Docs, for one simple reason - I am completely baffled by the distinction between

Reading View and Editing View.

For me, when I create a document, the distribution of text across pages is very important. I want to be

able to see where the page breaks are while I am editing. This helps to prevent "orphan pages" with

only one or two lines on them. I can try to shorten the text and get everything on one page and start

new sections at the top of new pages.

The Editing View presents the document as one, long, endless page, without page breaks. So it is impossible

to format properly without switching back and forth between Editing View and Reading View. This is very

annoying, and I cannot imagine any justification for setting up Word this way.

I would like to hear others' thoughts about this. As I noted, Google and Zoho show you page breaks as

you compose a document, so you can plan things out nicely.

I hope Microsoft reconsiders this inexplicable and annoying design, and makes page breaks visible while

editing.

Thanks.

ibclc2

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

6 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2014-04-28T12:01:50+00:00

    I have exactly the same problem,

    When editing in Word Online the document is as it should look, with all the text in the right place and lines as they should be etc. However when printing off it is all over the place. What is the point in editing a document (the puropse of which is to get it to how you want it to look) only for it to be a total mess once its printed off? Reading and editing view should by default be the same.

    30+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2014-03-12T00:53:47+00:00

    Plus 1

    The web apps are a little too simple minded.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2014-03-11T23:57:25+00:00

    Thanks for your feedback. We offer a reading view that is identical to what users will see on the printed page (in a way that Google and Zoho don't match), and we offer a web editor that is fast,

    responsive, and feels great on the web. We are constantly making improvements to the web editor, and feedback like yours is an important part of our process in determining what we do next. We will be taking this into consideration: making it easier to preview where page breaks will land is one of the improvements that our team is currently thinking about.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2014-04-28T17:35:02+00:00

    Hi JamesBurvill, thanks for your feedback. To get the expected print experience, you need to go through the App's File menu then click on Print and finally click on the print button.

    If you are in Google Chrome or in Internet Explorer and have adobe reader installed, you will automatically get the print dialog and you can go ahead and print your document.

    If you don't, you will be presented with a link to  a pdf version of your document which you can download and then print using a pdf reader of your choice.

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2014-04-28T16:47:47+00:00

    there is obviously something wrong in your local environment

    one thing to check is for a malfunctioning browser

    and local PDF software

    and whether the file was created using genuine Microsoft Office software

    or some third party 'office'-type application found on the internet,

    which can generate converted, corrupted files with corrupted formatting of various types, for example

    ... printing off it is all over the place

    0 comments