Barry MacDonnell's Toolbox for WordPerfect for Windows

If you want to automatically increase left and right page margins on page 2 (say, from 1.0 to 1.5 inches), then you can use a delay code (see next section) on page 1 to instruct the program to make the change starting on page 2 if or when there is a page 2.

This method is particularly useful with templates since it can help automate format settings in documents spawned by the template, such as a customized business letter template.

1. Click in the page where you want to start delaying [other format] codes. Often this will be page 1 but it can be any page.

2. Click Format, Page, Delay codes. A small Delay Codes dialog appears:

3. In the Number of pages to skip before applying codes box, type the number of pages for which you want to delay codes.

4. Click OK. The Define Delayed Codes window appears — it's a window-size editing area, not a small dialog, and its title is shown at the very top of the main WordPerfect window like this:

Define Delayed Codes window title

5. Choose [...] formatting options from the Delay codes toolbar and/or from the main WordPerfect menu or property bar. [The Delay codes toolbar contains several buttons, shown below; when you finish using a button (or WordPerfect menu or property bar) the codes it inserts will appear in Reveal Codes while you are still in the Define Delayed Codes window, not in the main document. Essentially this method "hides" the codes inside the [Delay] code so they can take effect at the desired (delayed) point in the document.]

Define Delayed Codes toolbar

6. Click Close on the Delay codes toolbar.

Note that the [Delay] code remains at the top of the document -or- follows a hard page break [HPg].

This code displays [in Reveal Codes] as [Delay: #] when you place your cursor just to the left of it and the # is the number of pages the code is delayed.

The second code of the pair, [Delay Codes], appears on the delayed page.

1. Click View, Reveal Codes to open Reveal Codes if it is not already open.

2. Double-click directly on the [Delay] code in the document. [See note #2 below for an example. Also see note #3 about a limitation when searching for [Delay] codes.]

Note especially that the [Delay Codes] part of the [Delay]...[Delay Codes] pair is not editiable here (hence, it's not clickable). It's just used by the program as a "marker" to tell it where to start doing whatever is inside the [Delay] code (which is clickable), as described above.

3. Modify any delay code options in the Define Delayed Codes window (described in Step 4 above).

You can delete any code in the Define Delayed Codes window, and/or directly insert (add) one or more codes using the Delay codes toolbar (see image in Step 5 above) — or even using the main WordPerfect menu or property bar.

[Reminder: See the beginning of this section above about using only open codes, not paired codes, inside the Define Delayed Codes window.]

You should see existing codes and your own modifications in the Reveal Codes pane at the bottom of the Define Delayed Codes window.

4. Click Close on the Delay codes toolbar. You should now be back in the main document with the insertion cursor located next to the [Delay: #] code."

[1] [WordPerfect 10 and later:] To delay setting new page margins or return (reset) them to the 1-inch default on page 2 of a document, see this tip.

Why? A small bug was introduced in WP10 (and still present in later versions) that requires a small extra step in the Delay Codes procedure.

[2] If you seem to be getting "random" delay codes in your document, or delay codes that appear for unknown reasons, you should first see what is inside those delay codes. Here's how.

Double-click on the first code of the [Delay] code pair to open the Define Delay Codes window. Make sure Reveal Codes is open so you can see what is inside the [Delay] code, which acts as a sort of container for other codes (and, sometimes, text or other things such as styles).

The codes or other items you find there might tell you how they are getting "randomly" inserted into your document.

Also, see this post by 'CyndyZ' on WordPerfect Universe, in reply to someone who noticed typists having this problem:

"... The typists may not be intentionally entering Delay Codes, but they are undoubtedly intentionally doing something which WordPerfect interprets as a request or need for a Delay Code. [Emphasis added.]

For example, if you change the bottom margin of a page, and that page begins in the middle of a paragraph, a Delay Code will be placed at the top of the page instead of a margin code. (If the page began with hard returns or at the beginning of a paragraph, a margin code would have been placed at the top of the page instead of a delay code.)

Repeated fiddling with margins is one thing that often causes extra Delay Codes, but it really depends on what else is going on in the document, where the cursor is when margins are changed, etc.

Another thing that can result in lots of Delay Codes is importing documents from Word format - there are several Word formatting arrangements that are converted to Delay Codes when the document is imported to WP.

Lots of things like this can result in Delay Codes. In general I find that typists who are not particular about where their cursor is when they issue commands tend to wind up with more Delay Codes than others. People used to working in Word are particularly affected, probably because there are more occasions in Word (than in WordPerfect) where it does not matter - or matters less specifically - where your cursor is positioned when you issue a command.

And Delay Codes are a good thing, not a bad thing, but they can cause problems if they typist doesn't understand them."

"There are ways to get delay codes in your documents without realizing it. For example, WP will automatically insert a Delay code in the following situations:

1. If you change the top or bottom margin on a page where there is a previous page and the two pages are not separated by a hard page break.

2. If you start page numbering on a page where there is a previous page and the two pages are not separated by a hard page break.

3. If you change the page size/type on a page where there is a previous page and the two pages are not separated by a hard page break.

The common thread seems to be making formatting changes that affect the whole page when the page is not set off from the page before it by a hard page break.

(Converting documents from Word format is another way to get lots of Delay codes without knowing it...) ... [Emphasis added.]"

In such cases as those above a hard page break [HPg] — created with Ctrl+Enter — would create an absolute location for the start of the new or changed format setting, which would "travel" with it if more material is added or deleted above that page break. Hence, no delay code is needed in this instance.

But in the absences of a hard page break the location becomes relative to the top of the document, which is why you would see the first [Delay] code of the pair of delay codes appear there, specifying a fixed number of pages for the start location of that new setting.

This automatic insertion of a new delay code is WordPerfect doing what it needs to do — but it can sometimes cause confusion (and sometimes even document corruption) for both the program and you when there are conflicting settings inside these codes. (One symptom of this is is the appearance of many more such delay codes than you might expect for the current document formatting. Look inside them (see above) to see what they might be doing and if they are really needed.)]

[3] You can't use Edit, Find and Replace to search inside [Delay] codes. This is a limitation of the program (and it applies to [Style] codes as well). You also cannot use a macro with Search() commands to search inside [Delay] codes.

However, you can use Find and Replace to find and/or remove these codes directly, as well as most other format codes in the text areas of the document. (See "How to remove them" here.) You just can't use Find and Replace to search inside [Delay] codes to find the sought-after codes that might be inside them. Hence, once you find a [Delay] code you can double-click on it to edit it, or delete the code to delete its contents and the other member of the pair (see note #5).

[4] You can manually open an existing [Delay] code the same way you can open (to edit) many other WordPerfect codes. Just double click on the [Delay] code in Reveal Codes. This gives you a way to view and edit the contents of the delay code.

[5] As noted, [Delay] codes are actually a pair of codes which can easily be deleted, even accidentally. (See tip #7 for a solution.)

The first code of the pair — usually (but not always!) found at the top of the document — is the clickable one.

Delay Code #2

The second (non-clickable) one is the "activation point" or "marker" where the code will take effect.

Like all paired WordPerfect format codes, if you delete one code of the pair the other code is also deleted — and the format codes inside the [Delay] code are also deleted.

[6] To exit from inside the Define Delay Codes window, you can use the Close button on the Delay Codes toolbar or property bar (depending on which is displayed). Alternatively, use File, Close to close that window.

[7] [Advanced tip:] You can hide the [Delay] code in the document's initial [Open Style] code to prevent accidental deletion -or- movement of the [Delay] code to some other page.

This is sometimes done for page 1 letterheads, where page 2 (if there is a page 2) will have different margins, headers and/or footers, etc. (See, e.g., the letterhead template in the Library.)

Obviously, you will want to make sure it is the [Delay] code you want to hide and not a code that the program inserted because it needs it.

Barry MacDonnell's Toolbox for WordPerfect

Macros, tips, and templates for Corel® WordPerfect® for Windows® © Copyright 1996-2024 by Barry MacDonnell. All Rights Reserved.		Page updated Apr 16, 2024