WD: Revision Bars Display and Print in Wrong Location

ID: Q126930

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.0
Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a

SYMPTOMS

If you have "Show Revisions on Screen" or "Show Revisions in Printed Document" selected, revision bars (also called "revised lines") may be displayed or printed in an unexpected location. There are four forms of this problem.

Case 1: Border Prints in Wrong Margin

When you specify Outside Border to mark revisions in the margins of a Word document, the border is displayed correctly, but it is printed in the wrong margin. In Word 6.x and 7.0 the revision bars are printed in the right margin if Mirror Margins is selected or they are printed in the left margin if Mirror Margins is not selected.

Case 2: Right Revision Bars Appear on Left

Right Border revision bars appear on the left side of text except in page layout view and print preview.

Case 3: Revision Bars Print over Text in Margin

If the document's text or table cells extend into the margins (as with a negative left or right paragraph indent), the revision bars are printed over the top of the text that extends into the margins.

Case 4: Revision Lines Printed Only Along Left Column

When a document is formatted with multiple columns and you specify left border revision marks, the revision bars appear to the left of each column but are printed along the left edge of the page instead of along the left side of the edited column.

When a document is formatted with multiple columns and you specify right border revision marks, the revision bars display on the right of each column but are printed along the right edge of the page.

CAUSE/WORKAROUND/STATUS

Case 1: Border Prints in Wrong Margin

CAUSE

This problem occurs if the Mirror Margins option is selected.

This behavior is by design. Word displays right revision bars on the right side of a document in page layout view, which is designed to display text as it is printed. In all other views, Word displays revision bars to the left of the text to make editing easier.

Resolution

To view the right revision bars, switch to Page Layout view.

Case 3: Revision Bars Print Over Text in Margin

By design of Microsoft Word, the revision bars are printed correctly in the left or right margin of the page as indicated in the preview available in the Changed Lines area of the Tracked Changes dialog box (on the Tools menu, under Track Changes, click Highlight Changes, and then click Options). The feature is designed so that all revision bars will be on one page margin or the other, allowing the revisions to be located quickly.

The error here is that the revision bars are displayed in each column in print preview. The page is displayed incorrectly; however, the printed document is correct.

WORKAROUNDS

Method 1: Use a left or right border instead of an outside border. (To locate the border options, click Options on the Tools menu and select the Revisions tab. Under Revised Lines, click the type of border to mark the revisions.)

The drawback to using this option is that Word displays the border in the same margin throughout the entire document.

Method 2: On the Tools menu, click Options, and select the Revisions tab. Under Revised Lines, select Right Border from the Mark box. Print the odd pages. (At the bottom of the Print dialog box, select Odd Pages, and choose OK.) Then go back to the Revisions tab and set the Mark box under Revised Lines to Left Border. Now print the even pages.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

Case 2: Right Revision Bars Appear on Left

WORKAROUND

Modify the text so that it does not extend into the margin.

Case 4: Revision Lines Print Only Along Left Column

REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q176120 WD98: Revision Bars Display and Print in Wrong Location

Q176124 WD97: Revision Bars Display and Print in Wrong Location

Additional query words: annotations printing

Keywords : winword macword word6 word7 word95 kbformat
Version : MACINTOSH:6.0,6.0.1,6.0.1a; WINDOWS:2.0,2.0a,2.0a-CD,2.0b,2.0c,6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb