Computing the space left on a page.

I would suggest that a simple way to ensure that the list is all on one page is to format all the lines except the last as "Keep with next" (assuming each line is a separate paragraph). If all the lines are in a single paragraph, format it as "Keep lines together."

This does not address the addition of the "(Continued overleaf)" notice, but is it likely that readers will not notice that there is more on the back of the page?

Charles and Suzanne....

First, thank you both for your thoughtful replies.

To answer - the mailmerge is functionality used by a further third party product ("C4W") to create documents, and allows ".dotx" or  ".dotm" templates to populate various fields with reference to data held in the database of the third party product. VBA is perfectly permissible in C4W template documents.

I am trying to create a document similar to a "materialsto use"  quote. The User selects the equipment necessary to fulfil the requirements on behalf of the Customer, which could be extensive, and in all but the simplest form will certainly span at least one page, and possibly more, which is why the "Keep together" option may not be appropriate.

When the User dismisses the Userform used to select the equipment, I know how many lines are to be added to the template document, and as I can get the size of the document in VBA I can loop through the array of equipment items, pausing as appropriate to issue the "(Continued overleaf)" line.

However, in order to achieve this using the same VBA for differently headed documents, it is vital to know where on the page I am starting.

I may have found the basis for an answer in the following properties -

ThisDocument.Paragraphs.Last.Range.Information(wdVerticalPositionRelativeToPage), & 
ThisDocument.Paragraphs.Last.Range.Information(wdVerticalPositionRelativeToTextBoundary)

which are looking promising, giving the current documents end position in "points" down the page.

Should this prove to be fruitful I will confirm with a further post....

Will that work? For some reason I'm envisioning this as a Letter-type merge, in which case SECTIONPAGES would be required rather than NUMPAGES.

Looks like a gloomy end to 2013!

 My initial optimism at what looked like a solution is misplaced.

In case any kind soul can see my logic errors / bad assumptions, I've copied the VBA from my testbed below. It is designed to generate a random number of lines with a random font size, then work out how many lines would fill the remainder of the page, and write them.

"Close, but no cigar!"

Happy New Year to all!

Option Explicit
Public Sub TestLines()
Dim intLinesToFooter        As Integer
Dim intFontSize             As Integer
Dim intPtr                  As Integer
Dim intTopLines             As Integer
Dim rngDoc                  As Range
'*
'** Delete current contents of the document.
'*
  Set rngDoc = ActiveDocument.Content
  rngDoc.Delete
'*
'** Generate two random numbers -
'** first, the number of of "top" lines (0 to 20),
'** and secondly the font size (8 to 22),
'** then write them to the top of the document.
'*
  Randomize
  intTopLines = CInt(Int(20 * Rnd()))   'Between 0 and 20
  intFontSize = CInt((Int(15 * Rnd()) + 8)) 'Between 8 and 15.
 
  Call MsgBox("Using " & intTopLines & " at font size " & intFontSize)
 
  ActiveDocument.Content.Font.Name = "Arial"
  ActiveDocument.Content.Font.Size = intFontSize
 
  With rngDoc
    intPtr = 1
    Do While intPtr <= intTopLines
      .InsertAfter "Top line " & intPtr & " of " & intTopLines & vbCrLf
      With .ParagraphFormat      'Set general paragraph properties.
        .SpaceBefore = 0
        .SpaceAfter = 0
        .Space1
      End With
      intPtr = intPtr + 1
    Loop 'intPtr
   
    intLinesToFooter = funLinesToFooter(CSng(intFontSize))
   
    Call MsgBox("Lines remaining = " & intLinesToFooter)
   
    intPtr = 1
    Do While intPtr <= intLinesToFooter
      .InsertAfter "Line " & intPtr & " of " & intLinesToFooter & vbCrLf
      With .ParagraphFormat      'Set general paragraph properties.
        .SpaceBefore = 0
        .SpaceAfter = 0
        .Space1
      End With
      intPtr = intPtr + 1
    Loop 'intPtr
  End With
  ActiveDocument.Select
End Sub
Public Function funLinesToFooter(Optional sngLineHeight As Single = 12) As Integer
Dim sngBodySize             As Single
Dim sngFooterSize           As Single
Dim sngHeaderSize           As Single
Dim sngLineHeightAdj        As Single
Dim sngPageSize             As Single
Dim sngRemainderSize        As Single
Dim sngVerticalPos          As Single
  sngLineHeightAdj = 120 * (sngLineHeight / 100)
  With ThisDocument
    With .PageSetup
      sngHeaderSize = .HeaderDistance
      sngFooterSize = .FooterDistance
      sngPageSize = .PageHeight
    End With
    sngVerticalPos = .Paragraphs.Last.Range.Information(wdVerticalPositionRelativeToTextBoundary)
  End With
  sngRemainderSize = (sngPageSize - _
                      (sngHeaderSize + sngFooterSize)) - _
                      sngVerticalPos
'*
'** The following computation assumes that a line takes up
'** 120% of the size of the font.
'*
  funLinesToFooter = sngRemainderSize / sngLineHeightAdj
End Function

On the basis that there's always a way round things, I now have a work around which approaches the problem in a different way.

If anyone has a similar problem, the prototype for inelegant and ham-fisted way around it is given below. I know the functionality should (and will) be rearranged, but the basic idea is to track the internal page numbers, and when the page number increments, you've just gone one line over the page.

We should then be able to delete the overspill line, delete the last line on the previous page, then write the "(Continued)" text (which will become the new last line and cause a page throw), and then start writing again, commencing with the last (true) line from the previous page.

I'm not quite sure why the "(Continued)" line needs a preceding vbCrLf, but other than that it seems quite logical. I'll have another think when I'm not quite so tired!

Thanks again to all who offered help or comments.....

Code and testbed follows

Option Explicit
Dim rngDoc                  As Range
Public Sub TestLines()
Dim arrBotLines()           As String
Dim intLinesToFooter        As Integer
Dim intFontSize             As Integer
Dim intPtr                  As Integer
Dim intBotLines             As Integer
Dim intTopLines             As Integer
Dim lngCurrentPageNo        As Long
Dim lngLastPageNo           As Long
'*
'** Delete current contents of the document.
'*
  Set rngDoc = ActiveDocument.Content
  rngDoc.Delete
'*
'** Generate three random numbers -
'**   1. The number of of "top" lines (0 to 20),
'**   2. The font size (8 to 22),
'**   3. The number of lines to be added (20 to 100)
'** then write them to the top of the document.
'*
  Randomize
  intTopLines = CInt(Int(20 * Rnd()))           'Between 0 and 20
  intFontSize = CInt((Int(15 * Rnd()) + 8))     'Between 8 and 22.
  intBotLines = CInt((Int(81 * Rnd()) + 20))    'Between 20 and 100.
 
  Call MsgBox("Creating " & intTopLines & " Top lines and" & vbCrLf & _
              intBotLines & " Bottom Lines" & vbCrLf & _
              "at font size " & intFontSize)
 
  ReDim arrBotLines(intBotLines - 1)
  For intPtr = 0 To intBotLines - 1
    arrBotLines(intPtr) = "Bottom line " & intPtr + 1 & " of " & intBotLines
  Next intPtr
 
  ActiveDocument.Content.Font.Name = "Arial"
  ActiveDocument.Content.Font.Size = intFontSize
 
  intPtr = 1
  Do While intPtr <= intTopLines
    Call WriteLine("Top line " & intPtr & " of " & intTopLines)
    intPtr = intPtr + 1
  Loop 'intPtr
   
  lngLastPageNo = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Last.Range.Information(wdActiveEndPageNumber)
   
  intPtr = 0
  Do While intPtr <= UBound(arrBotLines)
    lngCurrentPageNo = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Last.Range.Information(wdActiveEndPageNumber)
    If lngCurrentPageNo > lngLastPageNo Then
'*
'** This delete removes the first line on the next page.
'*
      ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Last.Range.Delete
'*
'** This delete removes the last line on the previous page.
'*
      ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Last.Range.Delete
      intPtr = intPtr - 1       'Causes the "overspill" line to be rewritten.
      Call WriteLine(vbCrLf & "(Continued)")
      lngLastPageNo = lngCurrentPageNo
    End If
    Call WriteLine(arrBotLines(intPtr))
    intPtr = intPtr + 1
  Loop 'intPtr
End Sub
Public Sub WriteLine(strText As String)
  With rngDoc
    .InsertAfter strText & vbCrLf
    With .ParagraphFormat      'Set general paragraph properties.
      .SpaceBefore = 0
      .SpaceAfter = 0
      .Space1
    End With
  End With
End Sub