Microsoft Word Question --

[gorinw13]

Is there any way to increase the font size of a word document without changing the pagination? When I try it, the pages slip and the pagination of the word file is distorted. As the files contain hundreds of pages, it is almost impossible to correct the pagination one by one. Any ideas?

[CWuestefeld]

I don't think that's really possible. Changing the font size is going to allow either more or less text onto a page. It's bound to result in repagination.

[gorinw13]

thanks CWuestefeld

[Shades]

In my experience, when using CTRL + Enter to start a new page I can make (small) font size changes that do not affect pagination.

That key combination is actually quite useful (layout-wise I mean).

[gorinw13]

Thanks, Shades.

[Deozaan]

If the objective is just to make it easier to read, you can take a look at some Accessibility features for making text larger on your screen.

But if you really just want a larger font size then yeah, you're pretty much out of luck. Though I suppose you could also change the page layout (margins) to fit more on a single page in an effort to minimize pagination changes.

[gorinw13]

Thanks Deozaan --- however accessibility option will be useless for me because I am trying to format the files to use it in an ebook reader device. However thank you for the suggestion.

[CWuestefeld]

I am trying to format the files to use it in an ebook reader device

-gorinw13 (January 18, 2009, 05:55 AM)

Yet another confirmation of my opinion that pagination on eBook readers is evil. I can't understand why they insist on artificially carrying forward this limitation of paper.

[Darwin]

Yeah, thanks Shades! I was unaware of that keyboard shortcut - how useful 

[Jimdoria]

Hi Gorwin -

Something you might want to try is when you increase the font size, also decrease the page margins. If you imagine the effect of "zooming in" on an existing page layout, you'd expect the white space around the edges of the page to shrink as the area occupied by the text grows. With some fiddling, you might get a good match between the existing pagination and the "bigger font" pagination with narrower margins.

Other options include playing with the character spacing (Format menu -> Font -> Character Spacing tab) and the line spacing (Format menu -> Paragraph -> Spacing) You can set line spacing to "Exactly" and enter values other than the font size to finagle the amount of text that will appear on the page (i.e. specify a line spacing of 10.5 pts for a 12 pt typeface to squeeze lines together.)

You'll need to check for legibility with any changes you make, as adjusting these values can cause words to run together, lines to overlap, letters with descenders and ascenders to conflict, etc.

Another tip - Word can assign point sizes in half-point increments. When you are fiddling with font size and margin settings, it can be helpful to have the extra wiggle room of using using 11.5pt type instead of just having to settle for 11pt or 12pt.

There's a good chance some combination of these techniques will get you close to what you want. You'll probably still have to do some manual tweaking/page breaking when it's all done though. Good luck.

[gorinw13]

Jimdoria --- thank you  for all these details...........

[Target]

i have no knowledge of or experience with e-book devices so I've been trying not to ask what is probably a dumb question, but why do you need to persist with hard page breaks?

I assume from what you said that the document your working with is formatted using hard breaks, however there is generally no real requirement for them if your not making hard copies, and removing them will allow the document to repaginate 'naturally' without any ugly blanks or extraneous white spaces...