Using Word to Print Master Schedule Lists with Page Headings

The Scheduling Optimizer reports are designed for onscreen viewing in your browser. The reports or selected sections of them can be printed either directly from your browser or indirectly using Microsoft Word (see Printing Reports).

This document outlines how to use Word to set up a print format version of the Master Schedule List reports with page headings and report column headings on each page.

Note: The procedure outlined in this document uses the "Printer friendly version" of the Master Schedule Lists. This feature is available in Scheduling Optimizer v6.02 (beta) and later versions.

Procedure

Capture the Master Schedule List report to be formatted for print.

Use your browser to display and copy the entire Master Schedule List report you want to the clipboard. This writeup uses the example of the Master Schedule option.

  • Open the Master Schedule Lists report group and select the options for the report you want to print. The first report page appears on the screen.

  • Click the "Printer friendly version" button, then click OK in the dialog box that appears. The entire report appears in a new window.
  • Click "Select all" on the browser Edit menu to select the the entire report. All data on the screen is highlighted.
  • Click "Copy" on the Edit menu (or press the Ctrl-c key combination). The report information is copied to the clipboard.

Paste the displayed report image into a Word document.

  • Start a new document in Word.
  • Select "Page Setup..." on Word's File menu, then select Landscape in the Orientation section of the Margins tab in the resulting dialog box. Click OK to dismiss the dialog and return to the blank document.
  • Select "Paste" from the Edit menu (or press the Ctrl-v key combination). The contents of the clipboard are pasted into the Word document as shown below.

Note: The Hide/Show Gridlines toggle in the Word Table menu allows you to view more or less of the table formatting information. It is helpful to keep the gridlines visible until the data formatting is complete.

Prepare the document for printing.

The data initially pasted into Word includes some information from the screen heading area including the report title and two tables, one containing two lines of column headings, the other containing all the report data rows. In preparation for printing, reduce the document body to a single table containing the one row of column headings followed by all data rows.

  • Select all data before the two-row table containing the column heading text and associated underlining and delete it. The document now contains only the two tables.
  • Copy the first row of the two-row heading table (the row with the column heading text, e.g. "COURSE", "SEC", etc.), to the clipboard. To do this, select the table row, then click Copy on the Edit menu (or press the Ctrl-c key combination).
  • Insert the column headings before the first row of the data table. Select the first row of data in the data table area (be sure you are selecting the row; the mouse pointer should be to the left of the row pointing up and to the right while the entire row is highlighted), then select "Paste Rows" from the Edit menu (alternatively, you can use the Ctrl-v key combination). The column heading row becomes the first row of the data table, followed by the first data row.
  • Remove the original two-row heading table.
    • Select a character in any cell within the two rows of this table at the top of the document.
    • Delete the table by selecting Delete from the Table menu, then Table from the Delete submenu.

The Word document now contains only one table consisting of a heading row followed by all data rows.

  • Select the column heading row, the first row of the document's one remaining table. With this row highlighted:
    • Click on the "bold" symbol in the formatting toolbar (or select "Font..." on the Format menu, then select bold on the Font tab of the resulting dialog). The heading row now displays in bold.
    • Select "Heading Rows Repeat" on the Table menu. This will cause the column headings to be printed at the top of each page when the report is printed.

The report data is now formatted for print. Use the Hide/Show Gridlines toggle on the Table menu to hide the table grid lines. You can also select Print Layout on the View menu for a continuous view of the effects of your formatting on the printed report.

Add custom report heading information.

Use the "Header and Footer" selection on Word's View menu to add additional information to the report. The following example adds a report heading which displays the school name, report title (you could include report options here), date the report was printed and page numbering.

The imported Master Schedule list is now formatted as a printable report.

Print the report.

Use the "Print Preview" option on Word's File menu to preview the report onscreen or, alternatively, print one or two pages to verify that that the report will print correctly. When you are satisfied that the report is correctly set up for print, print it using Word's  print features. The following illustration shows part of the printed report prepared with the above steps.

 

Notes

  • On larger master schedules, generating the "Printer friendly version" of the Master Schedule list report and pasting the report content into Word may both take some time. Be prepared to wait a minute or two for these steps to complete.
  • Master Schedule List options other than the Master Schedule, including teacher schedules, can usually be adjusted to print within the width of a page in portrait mode. To print a report in portrait mode, follow the above steps, including setting the document orientation to landscape mode, until the single data table for the document is defined. Then try setting the document to portrait mode and use either Print Preview or Print Layout view to test the formatting. If the report data fits the page width, continue in portrait mode for the remaining steps.

    If the report doesn't quite fit the page in portrait mode, try reducing the size of the left and right margins and/or reducing the font size in the data section of the document to 9 points from its initial larger setting. You may need to use "Undo" to back out the first attempt to change the orientation to portrait, make the format changes, then try setting the document to portrait mode again to preserve column lineups in the data table.

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