Printing a Circle Using PostScript

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 13, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

If you are using a PostScript printer, you can use the Print field code to print a circle anywhere on the page. This field can be added anywhere within your document, and affects the current page only. If you want it to affect every page, you can place the field code in the header or footer. To make this work, you simply need to insert a pair of field braces in your document (by pressing Ctrl+F9), and then enter this information between the braces:

Print \p page " /Lsize 1 def /Left 5 def /Top 6.5 def
/Radius 2 def /BeginX Left 72 mul def /BeginY 11 Top
sub 72 mul def Lsize setlinewidth BeginX BeginY Radius
72 mul 0 360 arc stroke showpage "

This code should be entered within the field braces as one long line, without pressing Enter. To modify the size or position of the circle there are a few variables you can adjust. These are the values assigned to Lsize, Left, Top, and Radius. Lsize represents the thickness, in points, of the actual line used to draw the circle. The values right after the variable names Left and Top represent the position of the circle's center, in inches, from the left and top edges of the paper. The value after Radius represents the radius of the circle in inches.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (398) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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. Learn more about Allen...

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