How to set A3 paper size in Word 2003?

I’m trying to put together an A3-sized calendar using Word 2003—I'm planning to take the file over to a local print shop—but I've hit a bit of a snag because my home printer only supports standard letter size in the page setup options.
Someone suggested that if I install a PDF reader, a virtual PDF printer should show up in my list of available printers within Word, which would theoretically let me "print" the document to a file.
Following that advice, I went ahead and installed Adobe, but for some reason, Word isn't showing any kind of PDF printer option in the printer selection menu
.
Does anyone happen to know a workaround for this? Any advice on how to get this formatted correctly would be much appreciated.

swifttinker40 said:I'm trying to put together an A3-sized calendar using Word 2003 (which I plan to take down to a local print shop), but I've run into a bit of a snag because my home printer only supports standard Letter size, so A3 isn't showing up in my page setup options.
Someone suggested that if I just install a PDF reader, a virtual PDF printer would show up in my list of available printers within Word.
So, I went ahead and installed Adobe, but for some reason, it’s just not appearing in my printer list in Word at all.

Does anyone happen to know how I can make this work?

I mean, what does the physical printer actually have to do with the digital page size you're designing? 🤦

If you just head over to the layout tab, select the size option, and manually set it to A3, it should work fine.

Unfortunately, I’m running Word 2003, and when I look through the paper size options, A3 just isn't there—all I see is A4, A5, A6, and a whole bunch of other formats.
I actually just checked my brother's laptop, which is running Word 2018, and it looks like he doesn't have the A3 format in his list either.

So, a colleague just pointed this out to me:
It seems Word displays page sizes based on whatever printer is currently set as the default in the system.

swifttinker40 said:A colleague just pointed out this to me:
Word displays page sizes based on whatever printer is currently set as the default in the system

It’s honestly pathetic how they run things there.
🤦

Haha, I honestly thought I was the only one still clinging to Word 2003 😁

I have a list of about 1,000 songs sitting in a Word document—it’s quite a massive collection!—and right now, it looks like this:
Artist – Song
Artist – Song
Artist – Song
Artist – Song

What I really need is for the list to be reformatted to look like this instead:
Song – Artist
Song – Artist
Song – Artist
Song – Artist

Is there a way to actually pull this off within Word?

restlessdrifter12 said:I've got this Word document with a list of about 1,000 songs on it, and it looks like this:
Artist – Song
Artist – Song
Artist – Song
Artist – Song

But I really need the list to look like this instead:
Song – Artist
Song – Artist
Song – Artist
Song – Artist

Is there any way to pull this off directly in Word?

Personally, I’d just dump the whole thing into Excel, fix the formatting there, and then paste it back into Word if you absolutely have to keep it in a document.
The idea is to split them into separate columns for the song and the artist.

swifttinker40 said:I'm looking to put together an A5 size calendar using Word 2003—something I can just send over to the local print shop once it's finished—but I've hit a bit of a snag. I was just sitting here fiddling around with my page setup settings, and it got me thinking about how much time we all spend just trying to get the layout to look right before we even start the actual work. It’s funny how those little adjustments can totally change your workflow once you finally nail them down! I don't have the option for A3 since my printer only handles A4.
So, someone mentioned to me the other day that if I just installed a decent PDF reader, a PDF printer would automatically pop up in my list of available printers when I'm working in Word. It sounded like a pretty simple fix, so I figured I'd give it a shot!
I just finished getting the software installed! I’ve been spending quite a bit of time lately playing around with different PDF tools, and I honestly find myself reaching for Adobe more often than I expected. It just seems to have that smooth, reliable flow when you're trying to get through a long stack of documents, which is a lifesaver when you're buried in paperwork. There's something about having a tool that just works without any fuss that makes my workday feel so much lighter. I actually ran into this exact same headache a few months ago when I was trying to get a project finished late at night, and it’s honestly so frustrating when you're just ready to hit print. It turns out that even if your computer sees the printer perfectly fine, Word can sometimes be a bit stubborn and just refuses to acknowledge it in the dropdown menu. Usually, it's because there's some weird communication glitch between the software and the print spooler, or maybe a driver update went sideways. You might want to try checking your Windows settings first to see if the printer is set as the default, or even try restarting the application entirely—sometimes a quick refresh is all it takes to get things moving again!

Does anyone happen to know how I can pull this off?

Honestly, your best bet is to just head over to the local print shop and ask them exactly which printer model they'll be using to run that calendar. If you're lucky, they might even give you the driver on a thumb drive or just shoot it over to your email. Once you get that driver back home, you can just pop into your Control Panel, hit "add printer," and install it right on the machine you’re using to design everything. It makes the whole process so much smoother when you know exactly what you're working with!

So, it really just comes down to how much pressure you're under with this specific project. If you’re dealing with a high-stakes job where the printer uses a specialized color proofing setup, you might want to go the "Print to file" route—especially if you're working with a CMYK prep. Otherwise, just exporting it as a PDF usually does the trick!

If you ever find yourself totally stuck, honestly, just hunt down a driver for some random color printer online that supports A5 printing, install it, and you're good to go. It’s one of those little life hacks that actually works.

By the way, I was just wondering—how many copies did they actually print of that calendar? :P

That was seven months ago. Since then, he’s either picked up a new version of Microsoft Word 2003 or a different printer... or maybe he just gave up on the whole thing entirely.