Microsoft Office Tips, Tricks, and How-to's to help you use MS Office like a pro!

Carol's Corner Office

Fit your Document to a Single Page in Word 2007

Posted on by Posted in Word 2007

It can be exasperating when your one page document prints on one page on your computer but if you have to work at someone else’s desk it prints on two pages. I feel your pain – been there – done that.

There can be many reasons why this difference can occur. I have discussed this over the years in different newsletters but I will go over it again for those of you who do not know.

The appearance and printing of the same document on different computers can be diverse due to a variety of factors which include different versions of Word, installed fonts, printer drivers, and sometimes even video cards can cause differences in how a document appears and prints in MS Word.

As far as I know, the only way around this conundrum is converting your document to a PDF format using a program like Adobe Acrobat. There are, however, a few things you can try with your document before you convert to a PDF format.

You can make sure that when you save your document you embed TrueType fonts within it. Follow the steps below to learn how:

  1. Click the Office button and then Word Options | Save. in the dialog box that displays, make certain the Embed TrueType Fonts check box is selected. Doing this should overcome any system differences that are solely due to issues regarding which fonts are installed on the machines.
  2. You can also try clicking on Tools | Options | Compatibility tab and be certain that the User Printer Metrics to Lay Out Document option is selected. In version 2007, click the Office button and then Word Options | Advanced. At the bottom of the options is the Compatibility Options group. This can help with some but not all differences. However, as it can affect other customizations on the target system and may cause unintended consequences in other documents, so be careful.
  3. To force a document to a single page, you can do so using the Print Preview which has a Shrink to Fit tool. This will reduce the number of pages in your document by one so that you can prevent a small portion of your document from rolling onto another page. There are also risks using this tool though as it can make a mess of some of your formatting. You should experiment with this to see if it suits your needs.