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MS Office Forum / Word / Programming / July 2007metric settings in Word
This is something that has bugged me for years. Like most of the world, I live in a metric country. I've set Location (in Control Panel) to Australia, and Measurement Units (in Word) to centimeters (which should actually be spelled "centimetres", BTW). However, page margins and tabs in Word still default to imperial sizes (e.g. 1.27 cm, or 0.5 inch). It's like when Canada went metric, and milk came out in the "new metric size" of 1.14 litres (which, of course, was just a relabelled imperial quart). Is there a way to force real metric sizes onto Word? Thanks! In Word 2003 or earlier, click on File | Page Setup, change the page margins to whatever you consider to be a real metric size, click on Default, and Word should remember the new page margins until you change them again. In Word 2003 or earlier, click on Format | Tabs, and change the default tab stop measurement to whatever floats your ethnocentric boat. Not sure why you expect Microsoft to know in advance what your personal preferences are for these settings. > This is something that has bugged me for years. > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Thanks! garfield-n-odie, > In Word 2003 or earlier, click on File | Page Setup, change the page > margins to whatever you consider to be a real metric size, click on [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > In Word 2003 or earlier, click on Format | Tabs, and change the default > tab stop measurement to whatever floats your ethnocentric boat. ROTFL Nice phrasing. > Not sure why you expect Microsoft to know in advance what your personal > preferences are for these settings. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >> >> Thanks!  SignatureRuss drsmN0SPAMikleAThotmailD0Tcom.INVALID Thanks, but I was hoping for something less tedious. Oh well, I guess I'll go ahead and set up the defaults manually. I don't remember using the 'Default' button before, so thanks for the tip. I think you partly missed the point, though, about "personal preferences ... for these settings". Word defaults to multiples of half an inch, because these are round numbers. In metric measures, 1 centimetre would be a round number; 1.27 is not. Furthermore, Word's defaults mean that none of the margins line up with the graduations on the Ruler, when Measurement Units are set to centimetres. That gets annoying when you're trying to equally indent different paragraphs by dragging the slider on the Ruler. And, the "ethnocentric" concept really misses the point when you consider how much trouble Microsoft has gone to in marketing it's products worldwide. (The language support features alone would blow away the measurement units problem by about a factor of 1 million, I should think!) I suppose it's a little thing, but I'm surprised it has survived for so many versions. > In Word 2003 or earlier, click on File | Page Setup, change the page > margins to whatever you consider to be a real metric size, click on [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > > > Thanks! Allen_N, Your comment about a 'real' metric ruler option is certainly legitimate. Give your feedback to Microsoft. > Thanks, but I was hoping for something less tedious. Oh well, I guess I'll go > ahead and set up the defaults manually. I don't remember using the 'Default' > button before, so thanks for the tip. Doesn't the default option makes it less tedious? It sounds like you expect margin setting to be automated somehow? > I think you partly missed the point, though, about "personal preferences ... > for these settings". Word defaults to multiples of half an inch, because > these are round numbers. In metric measures, 1 centimetre would be a round > number; 1.27 is not. Furthermore, Word's defaults mean that none of the > margins line up with the graduations on the Ruler, when Measurement Units are > set to centimetres. > That gets annoying when you're trying to equally indent > different paragraphs by dragging the slider on the Ruler. Select different, noncontiguous paragraphs with the Control key pressed and select by either click and drag or triple click in each paragraph. With all the paragraphs selected, change all the settings at once by dragging the slider on the ruler. Hold down the Alt key while dragging the slider on the ruler to see more numeric detail. > And, the "ethnocentric" concept really misses the point when you consider > how much trouble Microsoft has gone to in marketing it's products worldwide. [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] >>> >>> Thanks! SignatureRuss drsmN0SPAMikleAThotmailD0Tcom.INVALID Thanks, Russ. > Doesn't the default option makes it less tedious? > It sounds like you expect margin setting to be automated somehow? I was thinking more about setting all the tabs, when I said that. But you're right; as soon as I've got one document set up in a way that works well for me, I'll have my default. > > I think you partly missed the point, though, about "personal preferences ... > > for these settings". Word defaults to multiples of half an inch, because [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > >>> > >>> Thanks! Your Welcome, > Thanks, Russ. > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > right; as soon as I've got one document set up in a way that works well for > me, I'll have my default. With tabs, in case you didn¹t know. You can click in the tab icon in the upper left of document window and it will either drop down a menu or rotate which each click through all the different type of tabs and hovering over it will display the name. When it stops on the one you want, drag it over to the ruler to set it. For time saving with formatting use the Format Painter. Look it up in Word help if you haven't used it before. Take note: it acts differently if you single click the icon or double click the icon. >>> I think you partly missed the point, though, about "personal preferences ... >>> for these settings". Word defaults to multiples of half an inch, because [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] >>>>> >>>>> Thanks! SignatureRuss drsmN0SPAMikleAThotmailD0Tcom.INVALID I don't think changing something once to suit your personal preference for all time or until you want something different can be characterized as tedious. You can change the ruler graduations by clicking on Tools | Options | General | Measurement units: Centimeters | OK. You can change the snap-to-grid interval when you drag along the horizontal and vertical rulers by displaying the Drawing toolbar (View | Toolbars | Drawing), clicking on Draw | Grid, and changing the horizontal and vertical spacing to 0.25 cm or 0.5 cm or whatever. Yes, Microsoft markets Office to users all over the world, and Microsoft makes many Office features customizable by users all over the world to suit their personal preferences. I used the word ethnocentric to describe you, not Microsoft. > Thanks, but I was hoping for something less tedious. Oh well, I guess I'll go > ahead and set up the defaults manually. I don't remember using the 'Default' [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] >>> >>>Thanks! > You can change the ruler graduations by clicking on Tools | Options | > General | Measurement units: Centimeters | OK. You can change the > snap-to-grid interval when you drag along the horizontal and vertical > rulers by displaying the Drawing toolbar (View | Toolbars | Drawing), > clicking on Draw | Grid, and changing the horizontal and vertical > spacing to 0.25 cm or 0.5 cm or whatever. Thanks for the tip. > Yes, Microsoft markets Office to users all over the world, and Microsoft > makes many Office features customizable by users all over the world to > suit their personal preferences. I used the word ethnocentric to > describe you, not Microsoft. I got that. I just considered it to be misguided, if not self-descriptive. > > Thanks, but I was hoping for something less tedious. Oh well, I guess I'll go > > ahead and set up the defaults manually. I don't remember using the 'Default' [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > >>> > >>>Thanks! Heil, kangaroo. >>You can change the ruler graduations by clicking on Tools | Options | >>General | Measurement units: Centimeters | OK. You can change the [quoted text clipped - 55 lines] >>>>> >>>>>Thanks! In the Format Tabs dialog, you can set the default tab stops to whatever you wish. SignatureHope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP > Thanks, but I was hoping for something less tedious. Oh well, I guess I'll > go [quoted text clipped - 50 lines] >> > >> > Thanks! Hi Allen_N Two issues: 1. Under the bonnet ("hood" for our American friends playing along at home), Word measures things like margins and tab stops in points. The inches or centimetres that are displayed in (eg) the Page Setup dialog box are just to amuse we humans. So bear in mind that occasionally you can set something to, say, 7cm, and Word will later come back and tell you it's 6.99cm. Word manages these conversions a lot better than some other programs, but you hit the conversion problem occasionally. I sympathize with you in wondering why, eg, 0.63cm is a good default measurement for the indent on a bullet. But I have more sympathy for Microsoft that distributes such defaults than for the people I meet in offices who, with a straight face, tell me that they have decided they want a top margin of 2.54cm! 2. If you want Word to be able to tell you how to spell Maribyrnong, Parramatta, Woolloomooloo and Toowoomba, follow the instructions on the following page to set up all three of the Windows, Office and Word settings to Aussie English: http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister/LangFmt.htm Hope this helps. Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP. http://www.shaunakelly.com/word > This is something that has bugged me for years. > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Thanks! Thanks Shauna, >... So bear in mind that occasionally you can set something to, > say, 7cm, and Word will later come back and tell you it's 6.99cm. So that's it! I figured it had something to do with round-off error. I don't know why I never thought about points. In line message below. > Hi Allen_N > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > offices who, with a straight face, tell me that they have decided they want > a top margin of 2.54cm! Right Shauna, I forgot about points. Type points into VBA Help to see all the conversions you can do in VBA to get what you need, too. > 2. If you want Word to be able to tell you how to spell Maribyrnong, > Parramatta, Woolloomooloo and Toowoomba, follow the instructions on the [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] >> >> Thanks! SignatureRuss drsmN0SPAMikleAThotmailD0Tcom.INVALID > Hi Allen_N > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > 6.99cm. Word manages these conversions a lot better than some other > programs, but you hit the conversion problem occasionally. Strictly speaking, Word's fundamental units aren't even points, they are twips. A twip is 1/20th of a point. Dimensions for everything in Word are stored internally as 16-bit integers of twips. That is why the maximum page size that Word will support is about 22"x22" - 22 inches is about 2^15 twips. SignatureRegards Jonathan West - Word MVP www.intelligentdocuments.co.uk Please reply to the newsgroup Thanks, Johnathon. Now you've reminded of another annoyance. I sometimes find that a document does not line up the same on two different PCs running the same version of Word. A paragraph might finish at the bottom of the page on one PC, but spill over onto the 1st line of the 2nd page on the other PC. I have realised that different printers have slightly different ideas of how high a 12-pt 'X' in Times new Roman True Type (for example) ought to be. Do you think all printers assign the same number of twips to a point, or is that where the variation occurs? Is there an API call that returns the actual height of a font as implemented on the printer? > > Hi Allen_N > > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > size that Word will support is about 22"x22" - 22 inches is about 2^15 > twips. |
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