Problems with formatting when I copy and paste pages from one Pub2010 document to another - please help!

Question

Hi there,

When I copy and past a page from one publisher document to another I lose the formating - for example the text box shrinks when you paste it.

This never used to happen in Publisher 2007.

Here is what I have tried to rectify the problem:

1.  Having the clipboard open/ showing in both documents

2.  Emptying the clipboard before each copy and paste. (not something that needed to be done in previous versions)

I would love to be able to sort this out as it takes lots of time to re-format everything! Thank you so much for your help!

Answer 1

Thanks for doing the experiments and posting back. For some reason MS changed the default settings in text boxs for Pub 2010, but now at least you can copy and paste a page in two steps.

You have figured out how to copy and paste the text boxes and keep the source formatting. Let's make that the second step.

The first step is to copy and paste everything else on the page. To do this first make sure that you have the 'Home tab' selected in the menu and that you can see the 'Group' command under the 'Arrange' group. Then instead of using Ctrl + A or 'Select all' to select everything on the page, starting at the top of your page, hold down the Ctrl key and click/select each individual design element on the page, excluding the text boxes. Once you have clicked/selected all the other elements then 'group' those elements together. You can click the 'group' icon under 'arrange' or you can use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + G.

Now you can copy and paste that group of elements onto the other page in one step. Then in step two, add the text boxes.

Granted this is not as easy as copying the entire page in one step but it will at least save you the time of copying and pasting each of the non-text box elements and it will help you maintain the layout of the page.

DavidF

Answer 2

This problem does happen in my Publisher 2007. I am doing a high school fooball program with a few different files because some sections of the program are going to be printed in color and some in blk/wht. Anyhow, the page or rather Group layout has 100 to so text boxes and pictures involved and I need to copy the WHOLE GROUP to one of the other files. The line and word spacing that I spent 3 days on copies over as a smaller font and 9pt spacing when it was .89. I have spent 10 hours trying to figure this out. It does the same thing if I save to the Content Library and then pick it up from the new doc it copies in the same smaller font and 9pt spacing.These pages are too complex to copy over piece by piece. HELP!!!!!

I wish there was a universal answer for everyone to be able to copy and paste in the way they want, but sometimes it just doesn't work the way you want it to.

This may seem unsympathetic but rather than spend 10 hours trying to figure out how to get them to paste in the format you want, spend 30 minutes or less reformatting them after you paste them.

DavidF

Answer 3

I thought about just changing every text box but there were several pages of this to do. I ended up making the corrections and saving it as a picture then in Photoshop I erased the white background a picture includes and saved as a PNG. Then it would have no problem putting a artsy background, which is always changing, behind it once I inserted it as a picture. Just a little resizing to get all pics and pages to match and done. YES, I agree with the hours I spent on this were crazy but I was doing some other publisher tasks during that time on other pages as well as hunting down forums on this subject as well.

Thanks for the input. You know this seems to be a HUGE issue and I hear on 2010 version it is the same thing. Why doesn't MS fix this???!!

Answer 4

I thought about just changing every text box but there were several pages of this to do. I ended up making the corrections and saving it as a picture then in Photoshop I erased the white background a picture includes and saved as a PNG. Then it would have no problem putting a artsy background, which is always changing, behind it once I inserted it as a picture. Just a little resizing to get all pics and pages to match and done. YES, I agree with the hours I spent on this were crazy but I was doing some other publisher tasks during that time on other pages as well as hunting down forums on this subject as well.

Thanks for the input. You know this seems to be a HUGE issue and I hear on 2010 version it is the same thing. Why doesn't MS fix this???!!

 

I am glad you found a workaround, and thanks for sharing it.

Why don't they fix this? Hey...copy and pasting has always had some issues with formatting, and probably always will. But you can share your feedback with Microsoft:

Give Us Feedback for Microsoft Office 2010

http://mymfe.microsoft.com/Office/Feedback.aspx?formID=375

DavidF

Answer 5

I was having the same problem.  I was trying to cut and paste between two different brochures in MS Publisher 2007 and would loose the formatting (and even the font style) between cut and paste, BUT I FOUND A SOLUTION  Instead of cutting and pasting, select the object or group of ofjects and add them to the content library ((right click, choose "add to content library").  When you go to the second publication, choose insert>picture>from content library and you can choose your object/group to insert.  It kept everything the same.  Hope that helps you!

Elsie