Method and system for manipulating page-breaks in an electronic document
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsEric H. Michelman, Michael Christopher Connolly, Paul A. Hagger, Jo Anne M. Mowery
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for manipulating page-breaks in an electronic document. A User Interface Process provides a graphical user interface allowing a user to select a page-break within an electronic document and then identify a new location for the page-break. A System Process performs the steps of moving the selected page-break to the new location and adjusting the scaling and the automatic page-breaks for the remainder of the document to accommodate the page-break at the new location.
Claims6
A method for manipulating a page-break within an electronic document having multiple pages, wherein the page-break can be one of a plurality of types including a manual type page-break and an automatic type page-break, the method comprising:
- receiving a selection of the page-break at an initial location from a person editing the electronic document;
- receiving a selection of a new location from the person;
- moving the page-break from the initial location to the new location without cutting and pasting by the person;
- and
- repaginating the electronic document to accommodate the page-break at the new location;
- and
- converting the page-break to a manual type page-break if the page-break is an automatic type page-break.
A method of manipulating a page-break within an electronic document having multiple pages, wherein each page of the electronic document has a scaling factor, the scaling factor identifying an amount to scale the contents of the page in order for the contents of the page to fit within a set of predefined dimensions, the method comprising:
- receiving a selection of the page-break at an initial location from a person editing the electronic document;
- receiving a selection of a new location from the person;
- moving the page-break from the initial location to the new location without cutting and pasting by the person, wherein moving the page-break from the initial location to the new location comprises:
- if the selected page-break is vertically oriented, the new location is to the right of the initial location, and a first adjacent page-break to the immediate left of the selected page-break is an automatic type page-break, converting the first adjacent page-break to a manual type page-break;
- and adjusting the scaling factor for the page to the left of the selected page-break;
- if the selected page-break is horizontally oriented, the new location is below the initial location, and a second adjacent page-break immediately above the selected page-break is an automatic type page-break;
- converting the second adjacent page-break to a manual type page-break;
- adjusting the scaling factor for the page above the selected page-break;
- and determining the minimum scaling factor for the electronic document;
- and
- repaginating the electronic document to accommodate the page-break at the new location.
A method for manipulating a delimiter within an electronic document having multiple pages, the delimiter marking an end of useable text space on a first page and a beginning of useable text space on a next page, the method comprising:
- receiving a first command to select the delimiter to be moved from an initial location to a new location;
- in response to receiving the first command, displaying a phantom delimiter positioned over the selected delimiter, and activating a drag mode;
- receiving a second command to drag the selected delimiter to the new location;
- in response to receiving the second command, moving the phantom delimiter to the new location;
- receiving a third command to deselect the delimiter at the new location;
- in response to receiving the third command, deactivating the drag mode, automatically moving the delimiter to the new location, and removing the phantom delimiter;
- and
- repaginating the electronic document to accommodate the selected delimiter at the new location.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.