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Error message when you try to stop repagination in Word: "Word must complete pagination before displaying the selected text in Print Layout View"

Symptoms

When you repaginate your Microsoft Word document, Word may never complete repagination, and the program may appear to stop responding (hang). When you press ESC to stop repagination, you receive the following error message:
Word must complete pagination before displaying the selected text in Print Layout View. Do you wish to continue pagination? To display the text in Normal view, select No.
If you click No, the repagination process stops and Word switches to Normal view. However, when you switch back to Print Layout view, the repagination process continues endlessly.

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Cause

This problem can occur if the following conditions are true:
  • The document contains nested tables in the header or the footer.
  • The nested tables are formatted with wrapping text.
  • The document contains a {NUMPAGES} field in the header or the footer.
  • Change tracking is turned on.
  • The document contains more than 10 pages.
  • Print Layout view is turned on.

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Workaround

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods.

Remove the Text Wrapping Formatting for the Nested Table

Microsoft Office Word 2003 or Microsoft Word 2002

  1. On the View menu, click Header and Footer.
  2. Click the nested table that is formatted with wrapping text.
  3. On the Table menu, click Table Properties, and then click None under Text Wrapping.
  4. Click OK.

Microsoft Office Word 2007

  1. Double-click a header or a footer.
  2. Right-click the nested table that is formatted with wrapping text, click Table Properties, and then click None under Text Wrapping.
  3. Click OK.

Remove the Nested Tables in the Header or Footer

Word 2003 or Word 2002

  1. On the View menu, click Header and Footer.
  2. Edit the table structure so that there are no longer any nested tables. For example, to delete a nested table, click the nested table, point to Delete on the Table menu, and then click Table.

Word 2007

  1. Double-click a header or a footer.
  2. Edit the table structure so that there are no longer any nested tables. For example, to delete a nested table, click the nested table, click the Layout tab, and then click Delete in the Rows & Columns group.

Remove the {NUMPAGES} Field in the Header or the Footer

Word 2003 or Word 2002

  1. On the View menu, click Header and Footer.
  2. Select the {NUMPAGES} field in the header or the footer, and then press DELETE.

    Note To view the {NUMPAGES} field code, press ALT+F9.

Word 2007

  1. Double-click a header or a footer.
  2. Select the {NUMPAGES} field in the header or the footer, and then press DELETE.

    Note To view the {NUMPAGES} field code, press ALT+F9.

Turn Off Change Tracking

To do this in Word 2003 or in Word 2002, click Track Changes on the Tools menu.

To do this in Word 2007, click the Review tab, click Track Changes in the Tracking group, and then click Track Changes.

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Status

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

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Keywords: kboffice12yes, kbfreshness2006, kbbug, kberrmsg, kbnofix, kbword10ready, ocsentirenet, wordrtmpublic, kb

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Article Info
Article ID : 292161
Revision : 3
Created on : 4/17/2018
Published on : 4/19/2018
Exists online : False
Views : 182