Word 2004: ‘Page Down’ in Page Layout view mode causes vertical offset

Posted by Pierre Igot in: Microsoft
January 5th, 2005 • 7:47 am

I normally work on my Word documents in “Normal” view mode — simply because the software’s performance levels are so poor that even this mode, which is supposed to be the fastest, is barely usable. (Just how does Microsoft get away with such poor performance in its products?)

Then when I am close to being finished, if the document’s page layout has any significance, I switch to “Page Layout” view mode to see what the document will look like page by page. I set the view mode so that it displays one full page in the window.

On page 1, things are fine. Then I use the Page Down key to scroll down the document, page by page. And that’s when it happens. Each time I go from one page to the next, Word actually scrolls down by one page plus a little bit. This means that, after a few pages, what I see in my document window actually looks like this:

Vertical offset in Page Layout view mode

In other words, instead of seeing one full page, I see two thirds of one page and one third of the next.

This is ridiculous. When I hit the Page Down key, I mean “Go down one page”, not “Go down one page and one line”!

I have no idea who’s to blame for this? Microsoft? Apple? I don’t care. This problem has existed for years. In fact, it has existed in Word for as long as I remember. This would lead me to suspect that Microsoft is at fault here. But as I said, I don’t care. All I want is for someone to fix this. We’re in 2005, and we still have to put up with such crap? Unbelievable.

(I am fully aware that, if you switch to Word’s “Preview” mode, the problem disappears. But that’s not a solution. The “Preview” mode is one of these weird restrictive Word modes where half of your regular interface disappears. I need a page layout / print preview mode — call it whatever you like — that is actually usable.)


3 Responses to “Word 2004: ‘Page Down’ in Page Layout view mode causes vertical offset”

  1. mricart says:

    FYI, I have the Word “Page Down” command mapped to the “Command+Option+Down Arrow” key stroke, and this provides correct aligment of pages in Page Layout mode. Maybe you could try to map the “Page Down” command to the “Page Down” key (looks weird, I agree ;-)

  2. Pierre Igot says:

    Actually, my Page Down key is mapped to a macro I wrote that goes down one page without moving the insertion point. (See this post for more info.)

    That said, I tried what you suggested and, amazingly enough, it works.

    I suppose it’s Microsoft’s way of punishing me for having customized Word! (I do not want the insertion point to move when I do a Page Up/Page Down.)

    Thanks!

  3. Pierre Igot says:

    To my embarrassment, I’ve also just discovered that I have already posted a blog item on this particular topic. Oh well. That other item didn’t have a screen shot :).

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