Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Making Banners in Word.

Making Banners in Word

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 6, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Got a birthday celebration coming up, a retirement party, or some other type of shindig? You may want to create a banner for the occasion, and you'll rightly wonder whether you can use Word to create the banner.

The answer to the question really depends on what needs to be displayed on the banner. If you want the banner to include graphics or to have a complex layout, then you will be disappointed—Word can't handle this sort of need. (There is an exception to this blanket statement; more on that in a moment.)

If your banner is text only, then you can easily print out a single letter on a series of pieces of paper. For instance "Welcome Home Fred" could be printed on 15 pieces of paper (17 if you include the spaces), and then you would tape together the individual sheets into the desired message. The hardest part of creating banners in this manner is to make sure you get the letters in the right order as you tape them together. This approach provides the benefit of allowing you to use a wide variety of formatting options (font, size, attributes, etc.) for the letters you are printing on each piece of paper.

The exception I mentioned earlier doesn't necessarily apply if you are using a printer that can handle very long pieces of paper. Some printers use roll paper or continuous feed paper (such as a the older dot-matrix printers). With these you can simply set your page up, in Word, as landscape and use a very large width. Word will handle a width of up to 22 inches. While this is pretty wide, it isn't that wide for a banner.

You may also be able to find some solutions by using the templates that Word provides for new documents. Search through the templates available in Word and you'll find several different banner templates available. The templates basically provide a ready-made way to implement the techniques already discussed in this tip.

There are, of course, other approaches you can take to creating your banners. Perhaps the best approach is to use a different program. Some people like to use Microsoft Publisher (which comes with some versions of Office), but you can also do a search on the Web for the term "banner maker" and find all sorts of ideas.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8758) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Making Banners in Word.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Ctrl+Break Won't Work to Stop a Macro

When you need to stop a macro while it is running, you normally press Ctrl+Break. What are you to do if the keypress ...

Discover More

Changing Label Sizes

Information formatted for one type of label may someday need to be printed on a different type of label. Here's some ...

Discover More

Changing the Default Font

Don't like the font that Word uses for a default in your new documents? You can pick a different font, but the way you ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Printing a Document's Mirror Image

If you need to print the mirror image (backwards) of a document, you may think you are out of luck in Word. There are ...

Discover More

Printing a Circle Using PostScript

With a printer (and printer driver) that understand PostScript, you can do some nifty drawings directly to the paper, ...

Discover More

Transferring Fonts

Do you want to transfer fonts from one computer system to another? It is relatively easy to do, but there is one ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 2 + 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.