Blank Pages Print After Sections (2002 XP)

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Have a puzzle. I have 3 sections in my document. The first two are just one page each (for the cover and inside cover pages). Section 3 starts the “real” document. Sections are created as “Next Page” breaks.

When I view the document it looks fine, but when I print it, I get a blank sheet of paper after each of the first two sections. Any ideas what’s going on? (I have the Different Even and Odd and Different First Page boxes checked. Should that matter?)

Also, when I have sections, how do I print the REAL page or page range I want? I’ve done the field coding to show the running page count, but when I say to print page 2, it prints all the pages up to page 2 in section 3!

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I can’t help with the first issue.

> Also, when I have sections, how do I print the REAL page or page range I want? I’ve done the field
> coding to show the running page count, but when I say to print page 2, it prints all the pages up to page 2 in section 3!

The syntax is p1s2 – p3s2, to print pages 1-3 of section 2.

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At least thanks for the info about how to print section pages. That has been a mystery to me for some time and will save me much aggravation down the road. Thanks!

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Hi Sher:
With respect to the first issue, do you see an extra page in print preview? Perhaps you could copy the first 3-4 pages to a separate document & upload it to the Lounge (assuming you still get an extra page when doing this).

Having an odd or even page section break can add a blank page. That’s it’s purpose–to start the next section on an odd or even numbered page.

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I do see a blank page in the print preview, but not in page layout view. My section breaks are “Next Page.”

I’m just getting started on this doc, so I don’t mind uploading. It’s attached. I’ll be grateful for any insights!

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If you clear the “Different Odd and Even Headers and Footers” checkbox in
File > Page Setup > Layout
then the document reverts to 5 pages. Setting the flag again transforms it to 7 pages.

StuartR

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Hmmm, I can’t believe this isn’t an “option”:[indent]

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Different odd and even headers and footers are often used for documents that will be bound as a book. An open book has even pages on the left side and odd pages on the right side. The blank page acts as a placeholder, so that the odd pages do not switch to the left side.

Blank page printing is by design and is necessary for book binding.

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[/indent]Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 198594 – WD2000: Blank Page Is Printed with Different Even and Odd Headers

My workaround would be to print to PDF then remove the unwanted pages before printing. pdfFactory makes this easy.

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Hi Sher:
As others have already mentioned, the odd page section break means there must be an even page for the next section to start on an odd page. As Stuart points out, removing the odd/even headers makes the document revert to 5 pages. Having seen your document, I can understand that you want different odd & even headers. However, you can revert to 5 pages by:
1. Going to View/Headers & Footers
2. Putting the cursor in the First Page Header -Section 2.
3. Click the Format page number button on the Header/Footer toolbar. Then choose “Continue from previous section” instead of the currently selected “Start at 1”.

I’m not sure what would happen if you then add more pages to your first or second sections. As Jefferson points out, Word will insert blank pages where it feels it’s necessary if you have Different Odd/Even Headers checked.

Hope this helps.

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Jefferson, I agree! It’s aggravating that Word tries to be smarter than you are. I do need the odd and even checked because I need the rotating margins.

Anyway, Phil’s suggestion did the trick. I only expect to do this at the beginning of the doc, so I’ll just force it here and let Word do its thing for the rest of the doc. Thanks Phil.

And thanks to all who “noodled” on this for me. Saved me some heartburn for sure!

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Sher,

What kind of Section breaks do you insert? If you use ‘Odd Page’ ( Insert|Break|Odd Page ) or if your template defaults to Odd Page Section breaks ( File|Page Setup|Layout|Sections start: ), Word will insert a blank page between sections IF the preceding section has an odd number of pages. The reason is, if you use Odd Page Sections, you set document for double-sided (front-back) printing. If there is an odd number of pages, an even page must be inserted before the next section can start on an odd-numbered page.

I use Odd Page Section breaks for chapter headings; each chapter begins on the right-hand (printed) page. However, section breaks internal to a chapter are set using either ‘Next Page’ or ‘Continuous.’

Change view to ‘Normal’ and see the section breaks in your file–they will be labeled as to the type of section. If you want to change the setting, highlight the break and the line of text immediately following, go to File|Page Setup|Layout and change the type of break there.

Hope this helps.

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