Quick Parts do not insert correctly

Question

Lots to not understand regarding Quick Parts.....

When I highlight the object I want to use as a quick part, either on the text layer or header/footer, I notice that positioning is off.  If there is a tab in the quick part, it is not in the same position.  If the quick part involves a table there is extra space below the table.  Example:

1.  There is a 4 cell, 2 row table with one paragraph mark below.  I have highlighted the two rows, including cell markers and the single paragraph mark.  When I insert the quick part, an extra return is added, pushing the top margin down.

2.  The footer is centered text with a centered tab below where the page number field is.  This is followed with a return with text at the left margin.  When inserted, the tab for the page number is not correct and a second paragraph return appears after the text below.

I thought formatting was contained in the paragraph marks, so was careful to make sure I captured them in creatiing the quick part, but it seems to have a mind of its own.

There's probably something here that I'm missing or do not understand..... can someone please clarify?

Thanks and regards, Lenny33

Answer 1

Charles's answer provided insight into why my header had a second return... because there was already a paragraph mark in the header and when the table was inserted, it forced the paragraph mark below, thus giving me two returns... can you say can't see the forest for the trees:)

 

FWIW, there's no way around this. Even if you select header/footer text without the paragraph mark and then carefully select the header/footer paragraph mark before pasting, you will always end up with an extra paragraph.

As for the tabs, if you have used "alignment tabs" (see http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/msoffice/use-word-2007s-new-alignment-tab-feature-to-align-text-with-margins/), they will adjust to changed margins.

Answer 2

Formatting is contained in paragraph marks, but that generally refers to Styles. If the Styles are different in the destination document than they are in the source document, you can get different results. One solution would be to use custom styles in your source that do not refer to any existing styles. It is not possible to format text in Word without reference to styles.

Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word

Answer 3

Stefan - thanks for responding.  Actually, I copied and pasted the header and footer from my target document into a new file.  I made sure margins, tabs, and formatting were the same as my target portrait and landscape page.  I then highlighted everything in the header that I wanted and saved to building blocks and did the same for the footer.

Charles's answer provided insight into why my header had a second return... because there was already a paragraph mark in the header and when the table was inserted, it forced the paragraph mark below, thus giving me two returns... can you say can't see the forest for the trees:)

The second is still curious.  The footer has centered text, a centered (tab) page number with a return and some text that is flush left at the left margin.  The centered text is correct, the flush left text is correct, except it came in larger and there was an extra return, which I am assuming again, like the header, was because of the paragraph mark that was already in the footer.  Still do not understand why the tab is off the mark.

Since I will be putting this all into a routine that the user can initiate thru a button, can I add the tab in the code?  It seems that it is picking up the tab that I used for the page number in the portrait version.

Regards - Lenny33

Answer 4

Several factors determine what happens when you insert a Quick Part (or any Building Block).

When you created the Quick Part, which "creation option" did you choose ("Insert content only," "Insert content in its own paragraph," or "Insert content in its own page")?

How paragraph formatting is treated depends on the settings for styles. Did you modify built-in styles? Did you create custom styles? Or did you add paragraph formatting directly to text?