PPT97: Page Numbers on Printed Handouts Overlap (176421)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft PowerPoint 97 for Windows
This article was previously published under Q176421

SYMPTOMS

When you print handout pages from your Microsoft PowerPoint 97 presentation, the page numbers at the bottom of the pages appear to overlap. For example, page 100 appears as 1, 10, 0, or 00.

CAUSE

The designated area for the page number on the handouts pages is too small for page numbers that have more than two digits. Page numbers with three or more digits appear to overlap.

This problem is caused internally by the way PowerPoint 97 prints the page numbers on handout pages; you cannot correct this problem by modifying the Handouts Master in your presentation.

The problem only happens to the handout page's numbers.

WORKAROUND

There are a couple of ways to work around this problem. The following is just one way of doing this.

Print Page Numbers on Slides

  1. Open the presentation for which you want to print handouts. Then, on the View menu, click Header and Footer.
  2. On the Notes and Handouts tab, click to clear the Page number check box, and then click Apply to All.
  3. On the File menu, click Print. In the Print what box, choose the type of handout layout that you want (2 per page, 3 per page, or 6 per page), and then click OK.

    PowerPoint prints your handouts without a page number in the lower-right corner.
  4. Save and close your presentation.
  5. On the File menu, click New.
  6. Select Blank Presentation, and then click OK.
  7. Click the Blank AutoLayout icon and click OK.

    PowerPoint creates a blank slide.
  8. On the File menu, click Page Setup.
  9. Set the slide orientation to Portrait, and then click OK.
  10. On the View menu, click Header and Footer. Click to select the Slide number check box, and then click Apply to All.
  11. On the View menu, point to Master, and then click Slide Master.
  12. Reposition and resize the Number Area placeholder so that the (#) symbol is in the lower-right corner of the slide. You can do the same for the Footer and Date placeholders too, if you plan to use them on the handout page.
  13. On the View menu, click Slide Sorter.
  14. In slide sorter view, press CRTL+D. This duplicates the slide. Repeat as many times as necessary to match the number of handout pages that you printed in step 3.

    You can select more than one slide at a time to duplicate, by holding down CRTL and clicking each slide that you want to duplicate.
  15. Take the handout pages that you printed in step 3 and put them back into the paper tray.

    NOTE: If you are unsure of which side should be up, try printing to a blank sheet of paper with a mark on side. Make sure the mark is on the side of the paper facing up and near the left side of the paper. You can use this test page to orient the pages properly in the printer tray.
  16. On the File menu, click Print. Click All, and then click OK.
These steps put a page number in the lower-right corner of each page, with no overlapping characters when the page number exceeds 100.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft PowerPoint 2000.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/12/2005
Keywords:kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbbug kbfix kbformat KB176421
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