Putting a text field in the margin...

[andreas_udby]

Odd question, but I'll see if I can describe it effectively.

I'm creating a booklet version of a union contract, and one of the features that would help us all greatly would be if I could put the article title along the outside margin of the booklet, with the text alignment being such that, if you were to turn the booklet sideways, you could thumb through the articles quickly to find the one you want. Closest analogy I can come up with is the tabbed dividers in a school notebook, or perhaps the way some phone books work.

I have all my headers set up with a named style so I can use them to auto-generate my table of contents. Is there some way for me to put a text field in the margin that will pull those same names, and is there any way for me to have it be on the outside margin if printed in booklet format? Maybe by making a document template?

Thanks,
Andreas

 

[SOS]

Not unless you have a borderless printer. If you have a borderless printer then you can set your margins to 0 but otherwise margins are margins and nothing is allowed by printers to be in the margins.

 

[andreas_udby]

'Fraid not. Darn. I was hoping there was something akin to a header/footer I could drop a text field from the Quick Parts menu into.

 

[andreas_udby]

Okay, I figured out a way to do this.

I went into my header/footer mode and checked the "Different Odd and Even Pages" option. I then created a rectangular AutoShape inside the header.

I placed a QuickPart field (the StyleRef part, tied to "Heading 1") inside the AutoShape and rotated the text direction so that it was vertical with the bottom of the text facing towards the page edge. I only wanted the quick-reference tabs facing the front of the booklet, so I only placed the AutoShape on the even pages, with the bottom of the text facing right.

Because Word 2007 can support floating objects that are anchored in the header/footer but are outside the header/footer, I was able to position the boxes in the margins around the vertical middle of the page. The wrapping style should be set to "In Front of Text" or "Behind Text".

By using the different odd/even pages option, I now have the quick-reference tabs in the outside margins that I was looking for. This has been a good learning experience!