Knowledge Base

WD97: Distribute Relative to Page Ignores Landscape Page Setting

Article ID: 179112

Article Last Modified on 1/22/2007

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q179112

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to distribute drawing objects horizontally or vertically, relative to page, and the page orientation is set to landscape, the drawing objects are distributed calculated on a portrait orientation page width and height instead of the landscape orientation page width and height.

WORKAROUND

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For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

The following Visual Basic for Applications macro provides a workaround for this problem. Run this macro to evenly distribute selected drawing objects horizontally between margins.

After you create the macro, you can assign the macro to a toolbar button or menu item.

   Sub DistributeHoriz()
      Dim iTxtArea As Integer
      Dim iCenters As Integer
      Dim iObjLeft As Integer
      Dim iNumObj As Integer
      ' Get number of selected objects.
      iNumObj = Selection.ShapeRange.Count
      ' If there are no objects selected,
      ' exit this routine.
      If iNumObj = 0 Then Exit Sub
      ' Get area distance between margins.
      With ActiveDocument.PageSetup
         iTxtArea = (.PageWidth - (.LeftMargin + .RightMargin))
      End With
      ' Divide evenly the Text Area between margins
      ' by the number of selected objects. Then
      ' divide by two to get divisional centers.
      iDivisionCenters = (iTxtArea / iNumObj) / 2
      ' Loop number of selected objects to distribute horizontally.
      For i = 1 To iNumObj
         With Selection.ShapeRange(i)
            ' Set each selected object's relative horizontal position
            ' to be relative to margin.
            .RelativeHorizontalPosition =wdRelativeHorizontalPositionMargin
            ' Calculate object placement.
            iObjLeft = ((iTxtArea / iNumObj) * i) - iDivisionCenters
            .Left = iObjLeft - (.Width / 2)
         End With
      Next
   End Sub

STATUS

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

MORE INFORMATION

You can align two or more drawing objects relative to each other by their left, right, top, or bottom edges or by their centers (vertically) or middles (horizontally).

To align one or more drawing objects relative to each other, follow these steps:

Select the drawing objects you want to align.
Click Draw on the Drawing toolbar.
Point to Align Or Distribute and then click the alignment you want.

By default, drawing objects align in relation to each other.

To align one or more drawing objects relative to the entire page, follow these steps:

Select the drawing objects, click Draw, point to Align Or Distribute, and click Relative To Page.
Click Draw again, point to Align Or Distribute, and then click the alignment you want.

You can also use the Align Or Distribute command to arrange or distribute drawing objects equal distances from each other vertically, horizontally, or in relation to the entire page.

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

173707 OFF97: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Additional query words: vb vba vbe

Keywords: kbbug kbdtacode kblayout kbmacroexample kbnofix KB179112

Microsoft KB Archive/179112

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