Word in OSX formatting.

July 17, 2004 4:34 AM

MS Word in OSX
I’m formatting my thesis and need to create a “floating page” for my figures. This is a page that inserts itself between two full pages of text, so that the text flows around the page.
Can I do this?

I don’t know if this makes any sense, but here goes. I need page numbers on every page, but figures need to be on a separate page from the text. I don’t want to insert a page break before the figures because that would mean that as I work on the text in the page before the break (before the figure), it could mean that I would end up with blank lines in the page before the figure.
So, is there any way to create a floating page? I’m pretty sure this is not the same as a floating page break, which I’ve found lots of info on. Also, I’ve asked the question on lots of Word discussion boards, but they don’t seem to get as much traffic as AskMe.
Thanks in advance!

posted by nprigoda to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Well, LaTeX's default behaviour is to do exactly what you've described. Just sayin', is all.

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be along shortly, but if all else fails you could put your figures on separate pages at the end of the thesis. This may run you afoul of whatever arcane thesis regulations your school has, though.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:28 AM on July 17, 2004

An alternate workaround I've used, if I have a lot of figures and wnat to avoid creating a huge word doc, is to set up the 'list of figures' page at the front of the thesis, with three columns:

- a left hand column headed 'Figure'; here I list the figure number, e.g. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3.

- a centre column headed 'Title'; here I reproduce the actual figure title, such as 'Relationship of Foo to Bar between 1848 and 1927,' 'What I had for breakfast,' etc.

- a right hand column headed 'Following page'; here I list the page number in the main text on which the reference to the figure occurs, that is, the page *before* which I will insert the relevant page of figures.

This lets you get away without numbering the figure pages themselves, and just inserting them. But your YMMV; I would also check with the academic body that you are submitting the thesis to that this is okay. But I think it should be as long as you are consistent.

I would however also be interested in how to format 'floating pages.'
posted by carter at 6:29 AM on July 17, 2004

Also, remember that whatever you see on your own personal computer/printer, may be formatted ever so slightly differently on any other computer/printer combination. This can result in page breaks being moved around and so on. Another argument for not messing with them, I suppose, if you're using them to control the formatting of a long document.
posted by carter at 6:53 AM on July 17, 2004

What should work is to insert a text box on the figures page, and make it large enough to fill the whole page. Format the text box so that text flows top and bottom, and paste your figures inside it. If you need more detailed instructions, let me know!
posted by cbrody at 7:32 AM on July 17, 2004

Thanks for the ideas!
cbrody: I think this may be the solution, but I'll have to try it out later today.
Tom, thanks for the e-mail!
posted by nprigoda at 8:12 AM on July 17, 2004

Also, remember that whatever you see on your own personal computer/printer, may be formatted ever so slightly differently on any other computer/printer combination.

Once you've finished formatting your document in Word for OS X, print the document to a PDF file.
posted by Kwantsar at 9:32 AM on July 17, 2004

Thanks for the pdf idea as well. Luckily I'll be printing directly from my computer before binding, but having the pdf will be very useful for sending reprints to anyone that wants to read the beast (ha! I flatter myself!)
posted by nprigoda at 3:50 PM on July 17, 2004

Well, you don't mind if the figure page is enumerated (at all), right? Separately, do you want that page number to appear on the figure page?
posted by joeclark at 4:07 PM on July 17, 2004

I need to have page numbers on the figure pages, and the figure pages need to be inserted in between text pages close to where the figure is referenced in the text. Does that make sense? I'm not really sure if I'm explaining all this very well.
Why they make the requirements so restrictive, I'll never know!!
posted by nprigoda at 4:33 PM on July 17, 2004