printing study and instruction cards can it be done or not

[kaligus]

I have a problem, and an attitude from previous experiences on other forums with people who want to tell me to "study (x) more" rather than help me learn how to solve the problem or simply state it can't be solved.

If your only answer is a crappy attitude laden pile of dung, please search for another person to bully and badger. You can either politely say “here is a good idea to try” or “that can't be done in OO” etc. since I assume we are all adults.

I have tried everything I can read or web-search without finding a solution so far.

We have card stock that is 8.5"x11" with 4 cards per sheet being 4"x5.25" The cards are adjacent with no space between them and the edges tear away when the cards are separated.

I want to be able to paste text from random length files and have it flow from one card to the next until exhausted (we will come back and format manually as I have always done).

The program which currently prints these cards is an ancient version of word perfect with “restaurant menu card” template which does the job exactly perfectly (pun intended) though it does flip card #1 and #3 thinking we are folding into table tents. I have not looked at the version but it is running on a DOS machine and looks like I remember v4-ish being.

We have been put under the gun to eliminate ALL Microsoft products from the building by some disagreement or another between our boss and that company. This includes virtualbox running Windows.

The Wordperfect version we are using seems to be dosemu/wine averse and the new machines are all floppy averse which could also be contributing to the problem since we have not been able to get WP to install from the contents moved to a directory and executed with dosemu or wine.

I am not stressed as when the time comes I will simply use OO with 2 column format with margins adjusted and a line dropped on each page (template) using a graphic (unless someone knows a better way to get a non moving linethat we can format text around etc.)

[ozlady]

I wasn't sure how to link images and such in the forum, and was not 100% sure it would work, however I think what you are looking for could be assisted with the use of frames.

While I don't think you can go on indefinitely, I'm sure you could set up a template that would meet your needs.

Anyway, I put some screen shots and a sample file for you to download and fiddle with on my blog. Sorry to send you away from this site, however I am not familiar with BB code, and wanted to be sure you got more than a 'read the manual' type of answer.

I hope this gets you pointed in the right direction.

(yes I do have ads, but feel free to ignore them)
http://openoffice.ozlady.com/2009/07/faq-text-overflow-and-linking-in-writer-openoffice-frames/

[David]

[jrkrideau]

[keme]

My pile of dung (please forgive the odor):
You can set your page size to match the card size, and adjust margins using mirrored page setup to get a proper horizontal alignment. Then in the print dialog select to print 4 pages per sheet. (Make sure sheet size is set correctly in the printer settings/options.)

[sergiozambrano]

Ok, since I have a solution more reliable than your printer margins (printer drivers suck) I feel in right of writing a little about attitude

There are three types of people who answer in forums. The ones that like to help, the ones that like to be popular/show off and the ones who have extra time and bring their problems from work (or home). I think you are the third type, and I'm pretty sure there's something against that in the terms of use . ok, not with those words, but it may say something like "use the forums for asking or answering and leave other matters out.

1) Create a 2 columns page (with gutter, of course)
2) Place or paste a blank image, draw a rectangle, or any other object that accept text wrap. Make it the the size of your horizontal divider.
3) Position that object as follow:
Horizontal: Center …to… Entire Page
Vertical: the same
4) Set its anchor to "Page" to prevent it to be replaced when you paste the new text.
5) Set it's text wrap to "none" (which actually does wrapping text top and bottom) and set its spacing to whatever you want to keep text away from it.
6) Optional, you can lock that image,
Now you can paste your text and that divider will keep a distance between top and bottom halves.

I'm sorry, but now you have to find how to access the formatting panels.
This solution is not as editorial correct as the print tiling one, but not everyone knows how to trick crappy printer drivers to get the desired result, and this option lets you SEE what you are working with.

I wonder how you asked in the other forums. Some people don't like you to ask out without reading the basics of what OO (or any other similar app) can do and shoot something like "how do I create a Christmas Card like the one CocaCola sent its investors in 1959?

[kaligus]

Thank you for a useful response.

The first several times I asked I had been quite excited about an answer, described what I had done, etc. I was not the least bit ornery and there was no preamble to my posting.

The more often I got "RTFM" as an answer I have become more and more ornery in return.

Even here I got more attitude than *I THINK* was needed even with my preamble If you don't like my preamble do as I would do (or similar) and ignore the post, no need to get someone who is already emotional more so just to get your jab in.

I would add a fourth type of poster: "One who knows much and refuses to share in favor of "forcing others to learn the hard way just as they did"" or "I may have an answer but I am going to make a bad situation worse by commenting on your approach" etc.

There are many reasons why people behave as they do, NOT ALL OF THESE are under conscious control of the individual including brain injury or disease. It is far better to accept others as they are and not get into a rock throwing contest over things you know little/nothing about.

Since I am not in control of the end users machines in any way, and can not tweak their printer drivers your solution is quite awesome and cuts down on the possibility of "user error" that exists with my solution or the margins solutions above as things change or the end user needs a different size/type of card for their lecture etc..

[kaligus]

Thank you for a useful solution.

I should have stated that I tried this method and failed due to everyone having a different printer, driver, etc. Several of us could get perfection others (probably the less computer savvy among us) could not get even close to perfection.

[keme]