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Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
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Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
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Chapter 17

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Layout Designer

QuickBooks 5 includes the Layout Designer, which is accessed  XE "Layout Designer"  XE "Designer:Layout" by clicking that button in the Customize [Form] window.  Wait:  The selection of data, including column order, should be completed first, in the Customize window.

The illustrations, for Layout Designer, are each composites of several screens, and can’t be duplicated when running QuickBooks.

Field, within layout design, is any block of data, including the columns (one field,) and those in the header and footer, as well as those called “fields.”

Label fields contain the permanent information, declaring the content of the data field below.

Data fields take the information unique to each invoice (or other form) as named in the label field above.

Selection of a field is by clicking within it.  A border appears, outside the field, which is the area inside of the border.  The type and name of the field appears at the bottom of the window. Multiple fields can be selected by holding down the Shift key while clicking the second and following fields.

Sizing handles are the black dots in the border. Grab one (point the mouse and hold down the button) and a side can be moved.  The corner sizing handles move two sides.  Size is shown in a box at the bottom of the window.

Moving a field is done when the selection border is showing.  Put the cursor inside the field, and hold down the mouse button.  The Move Cursor appears, and moving the mouse moves the field. The position, actually the position of the upper-left corner, is shown at the bottom of the window.

Columns (illustration below) are all one big field.  The width can be adjusted in Layout Designer.  Order is set in Customize [Form.]

Footer (not in illustration) contains information set up under the footer tab, and is adjusted as with other parts of a form.

Properties button allows individual control of the printing properties of each field.  Justification (try it and see what that means) can be set, horizontally and vertically.  Font controls type styles and sizes in each field.  If you have a color printer, colors can be selected.  (Please be moderate; this is a business.  Also, color cartridges are expensive.)  Border lines can be controlled.

Make Same buttons can be used to make one field the same size as another (illustration below.)  This operation is quite intuitive, but hard to follow from a description.

Select the reference field.

Holding down the shift key, click on the field to be changed.

Click one of Height, Width, or Size buttons, to make the second field the same height, width, or height and width, as the first.

Center is a bit tricky.  If one field is selected, it will be centered across the page.  If multiple fields are selected , their relative positions will stay the same, but the left-most and right-most borders will be placed equal distances from the margins. 

Undo is handy, for “Try it, you’ll like it.”  If you don’t like it, just Undo it, as many as fifty actions.  In the highly unlikely event that you make a misteak, Undo is also useful.

Redo is useful, should you decide you did not really want to Undo it.  It re-instates actions that were undone. 

Zoom In gives an enlarged view of less of the form.  The zoom factor appears at the bottom of the view.

Zoom Out gives a reduced view of more of the form. 

Margins button does the obvious, with care.  Most printers have a minimum margin on each edge of the page .  Trying to print beyond them means that borders or a few characters will not be printed.

Grid means the paper is covered by a grid of imaginary lines, up and down, and across, used for locating the features.

Show Grid displays a dot at each intersection of vertical and horizontal grid lines.

Snap-to-grid forces each feature of the form to be located on one of the grid dots.

Grid spacing can be adjusted to the various fractional-inch sizes in the illustration.  (Foreign users should know that metrication has been pushed several times in the USA, and has always failed.)

Show envelope window lays a gray shading on the form, where copy would show through the windows of a double-window envelope.

Columns (illustration below) operate as one large field.

Column width can be adjusted by dragging the dividing line between columns.  This action is different from adjusting report columns.  The change affects the columns on each side, adding to one, and reducing the other.

Order of columns is set up in the customize [Form] window, and can’t be changed here.

After a form has been set up for learning, another can be developed for production.

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Last modified: May 21, 2004