Mixed Page orientation in Docs
A big deal?
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Landscape and portrait in the same Docs? Now possible, as of the latest update to Google Docs. One of the most requested features has been introduced and we can finally talk about why it took so long and what is really great about it (besides the obvious). Let's dive in!
All sizes, all orientations. Now in the same document.
What is it and how do you do it?
What is it and how do you do it?
Page orientation is the ability to make a page turn upwards ("normal" or "portrait") or sidewards ("landscape"). Until now, you set this orientation for your document as a whole, but not by section.
A section is an invisible structure of your document for formatting purposes. While headings give your document a formal structure (that you can see in the outline and print in a table of contents), sections allow you to format parts of your document differently:
Individual headers and footers
Individual page numbers for the section
Individual margins
Different page orientations, hooray!
Microsoft Word takes sections to extremes and has things like "use Roman literals in this section" or "section 8's pages are printed on pink envelopes" or "Heading 3 starts a new section".
Inserting a section break
Inserting a section break
Section breaks are inserted via Insert > Break > Section break (Continuous) and Section break (Next page). The first one comes with a page break.
Configuring your page orientation
Configuring your page orientation
Position the cursor in the section you would like to configure. Under File > Page setup, you can adjust the page orientation. If you would like just one page in the middle of your document to be in landscape, insert another section break and set the following section as portrait.
This menu is also helpful to figure out what section you are in. Another way to do that is to double-click the document's header, which also displays the section number.
What is it useful for?
What is it useful for?
To create more versatile documents
To create more versatile documents
Apparently, creating mixed page orientations is all the rage. This has been one of the most requested features for a long while. Landscape mode is probably most used for appendix-style information that does not fit regular pages:
Inserting wide tables
Inserting pictures and charts
I have heard about legislation, demanding parts of obscure reports be in landscape.
To better edit documents created with Word
To better edit documents created with Word
Besides being a better experience for you, many editor features are being introduced to improve coexistence with Office. Google Docs can edit Word documents, so starting today, you no longer have to worry about documents that use mixed page orientations.
Oh happy day indeed. Years in the making!
Why did it take 100 years to implement?
Why did it take 100 years to implement?
I do not work at Google and even if I did, I would not be allowed to tell you. Watching from the outside, it seems infuriating that such a seemingly small feature took so long to get done. Besides resource constraints and prioritization, my guesses are:
It needs to work with everything
It needs to work with everything
Page orientation needs to work with printing, print preview, headers, page numbers etc.
Upcoming features need to be compatible
Upcoming features need to be compatible
Many Docs features in the pipeline will now have to take into account that the user may be fiddling with page orientation. Someone thought long and hard whether to include this feature or not, a tradeoff discussed in Gmail's confidential mode.
Multiple form factors
Multiple form factors
The Google editors were born online, that means everything has to work and (be tested) on multiple browsers, on web, mobile and in the mobile apps, online and offline and be compatible with Office.
One could take sections much further - but Docs is the reinvention of the text editor and has the luxury of dropping print-era features for what is needed to quickly produce quality documents in the collaboration era. I think this treatment of sections just nailed it. Thank you for reading!
#docsPublished 2021-01-19 by Holger Matthies.Modified 2021-01-19 by Holger Matthies.
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