Microsoft Word. Printing a document with comments, full size 1

AndrewMozley · Jul 23, 2023

I have an A4 .docx file, about 200 pages, which I am reviewing. Have used the ‘Review | Add comment‘ facility to make suggestions; so when I am editing it the comments are shown in a column on the right of the screen, linked to the place in the text to which each comment refers.

I would like to print the first 20 pages (with my comments) as feedback for the author. However the printed text is then reduced in size by about 30% because of the need for the comments column to be shown.

What is the easiest way to print the text at full size with the comments? At this stage I am not bothered that much about maintaining the pagination.

I had thought of changing a version of the document to landscape format and increasing the size of the fonts, but the document is not fully organised at present, so that would be quite a cumbersome task.

My printer can print on A3 paper. I had tried using the option in File | Print | Properties to specify that the paper is A3 and in the Properties | Advanced option to print at 140%. In that case the printed text does indeed come out at a satisfactory size, but printing only takes place on an A4 section of the paper; the printed comments are then so truncated that they vanish.

Thanks - Andrew Mozley

AndrewMozley · Jul 31, 2023

Grateful for any suggestions . . .

combo · Aug 1, 2023

Some space you can get by reducing margins.
You can set the markup area width from 'Revision' tab, 'Track changes' and access 'track changes options'. Position depend on Word version, in 2016 it a amall arrow at the bottom-right corner. Under advanced options it is possible to set the preferred width.

If this does not affect print preview window, it can be set by code (add module to working document and paste the code):

Code:

Sub SetPrintPreviewRevisionWidth()
With ThisDocument
    .PrintPreview
    With Windows(1).View
        .RevisionsBalloonWidthType = wdBalloonWidthPercent
        .RevisionsBalloonWidth = 20 ' or other
    End With
End With
End Sub

Please note that the setting will affect application level settings. My default width is 6.5 cm or 24%.

combo

Mike Lewis · Aug 1, 2023

Andrew,

I noticed that you didn't get any replies to your question.

I did manage to reproduce the problem, but unfortunately I couldn't find any satisfactoy solution. Of course, you could always temporarily increase the point size of the main text, but - as you have no doubt seen - the comments themselves are still tiny. Curiously, you can change the comments' fonts and styles, but you can't apparantly change their point size.

I hope someone else can come up with a solution.
[highlight #FCE94F]
EDIT:[/highlight] Combo's reply crossed with mine.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

Andrzejek · Aug 1, 2023

combo,
Based on the alignment of your code, should you have a period [highlight #FCE94F]here[/highlight]:

Code:

...
    With [highlight #FCE94F].[/highlight]Windows(1).View
...

---- Andy

"Hmm...they have the internet on computers now"--Homer Simpson

combo · Aug 1, 2023

Andrzejek said:
Based on the alignment of your code, should you have a period here:

That's right. Works without dot too, but with more than one document open may not work as expected.

combo

AndrewMozley · Aug 2, 2023

Thank you combo. I will try your suggestion. I am not familiar with adding vba code to a Word document, but if that allows me to print the original text at full-size together with comments at a reasonable size I will investigate further.,⁹

Sincerely - Andrew M.

combo · Aug 2, 2023

AndrewMozley said:
I am not familiar with adding vba code to a Word document

Alt+F11 displays VB editor in MS Office applications (or via 'Developer' tab after activating it in ribbon), now you can add module to the document.
If file format is 'docx', VBA project is not saved.

combo

Mike Lewis · Sep 8, 2023

Andrew,

Did you ever manage to solve this problem?

If not, I might have come up with a possible solution - but it might well be more trouble than it's worth.

Here are the steps:

1. In Word, save the document in HTM format (form File / Save As, with File Type set to Web Page).

2. Open the HTM file in a text editor.

3. Search for a block of text beginning with [tt]p.MsoCommentText, li.MsoCommentText, div.MsoCommentText[/tt]

4. A few lines below that text, look for a line that says [tt]font-size:8.0pt;[/tt]

5. Change the font-size in that line from 8.0 to, say, 16 (or whatever other value you like).

6. Save the file.

7. Open the file in your web browser (from where you can optionally print it).

What you will see is all your comments at the foot of the page, with them all displayed at the specified point size, with a hyperlinked reference back to the point in the main text where the comment originally appeared.

So, not as convenient as the original format, and quite a bit of effort to achieve it. But it does meet the requirement of displaying the comment in a larger point size. And it should be easy to automate if needed. (And of course you can change other aspects of the styling in the same way, such as showing the comments in a different colour.)

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

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Microsoft Word. Printing a document with comments, full size 1

AndrewMozley

Programmer

AndrewMozley

Programmer

combo

Technical User

Mike Lewis

Programmer

Andrzejek

Programmer

combo

Technical User

AndrewMozley

Programmer

combo

Technical User

Mike Lewis

Programmer

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