Sections, Section Breaks, and Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word Word 97-2003 (for Word 2007-2024 (365) click here) Introduction Sections are the Word feature that controls page number formatting, headers and footers, orientation (portrait/landscape), margins and columns. If you are having problems or questions with one of these, you need to know more about Sections in Word. What You Will Learn After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Use Sections in Word Use different types of Section Breaks. Have a Section start on an odd-numbered page (or an even-numbered page). View Headers and Footers Edit Headers and Footers Use advanced formatting in Headers and Footers Different First Page Different Even and Odd Pages (i.e. for mirrored headers/footers - two-sided printing) Have a Header/Footer appear only on the last page or some other page without a section break. Insert and Format Page Numbers Print a Range of Pages from a Particular Section or With Multiple Sections Deal with orientation changes from Portrait to Landscape and back Set up Columns in your Document Change Page Size or have more than one page size in a document Have Word tell you which Section you are in Insert a Watermark, Stock or Custom, and Add Your Custom Watermarks to the Gallery Insert a Watermark on only the first page of a multi-page document (or only on continuation pages) Set different page margins for different Sections Know which Word features create section breaks automatically Set Page Borders for a document or a particular section including different first page Know what happens when you start a new Section? What gets carried over? Be able to see on screen or in your document which Section you are in. Troubleshoot Sections, Headers, Footers, Page Numbers & Watermarks Additional Written Resources Note: Although many of the links below contain certain version numbers as a part of the link, the structure of sections including headers, footers, page numbers, margins and columns has remained the same since Word 97. Don't be afraid to look at something that says it is about a different version. This chapter revised for Word 2007-2019 Word for Law Firms by Payne Consulting Group: Word 97 for Law Firms (also at Amazon.com UK) Word 2000 for Law Firms (also at Amazon.com UK) Word X (2002) for Law Firms (also at Amazon.com UK) Working with Sections (or Why Word appears to behave so illogically when you delete or move a Section break or How to preserve Section formatting when pasting between documents) by Dave Rado, MVP Create dictionary-style headers / footers describing page contents. Charles Kenyon. How can I get a different header - footer on the second page in Microsoft Word? Charles Kenyon. Includes tips and links on creating letterhead and letter templates. Headers? Headings? What is the difference? Charles Kenyon Using Headers and Footers by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP - excellent and comprehensive web page How to Control Page Numbering in a Word Document by Bill Coan, MVP. Using Fields for Page Numbering - Much more Control How to Put a Portrait Page Number on a Landscape Page by Bill Coan, MVP, Dave Rado, MVP, and Suzanne Barnhill, MVP Different Margins on the First Page by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP The Straight and Narrow: Using Columns by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP and Dave Rado, MVP. Letterhead in Headers - Template that can add itself to File menu Letterhead System - download a system for letter forms that can be easily updated Letterhead Textboxes and Styles Tutorial - two-page template download that demonstrates use of  textboxes in headers and footers to reserve space for preprinted letterhead Styles that are based on each other and use the style for following paragraph feature Use of the StyleRef field to insert information from the body of a letter into the continuation page headers automatically Insertion of a date automatically that will not change when you open the document at a later date (but can be changed manually) See How can I get a different header - footer on the second page in Microsoft Word? for more on how this tutorial works. Date Fields in Microsoft Word So You Want to Write a Book Using Microsoft Word - extensive tutorial by MVP Daiya Mitchell with overview of Styles, Templates and Sections and the interactions among these tool/features. Excellent! Not just for those who want to write books! Is there an automatic way to create a non-blank, even-numbered page at the end of a chapter, if the chapter would otherwise end on an odd page? by John McGhie, MVP How to prevent a header/footer from being edited by Bill Coan, MVP How to prevent a header/footer from being edited by Bill Coan, MVP How to set up a document with front matter numbered separately by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP How to set up a document with front matter numbered separately - 2007/2010/2013 by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP How to number headings and figures in Appendices by Shawna Kelly Removing Page Numbers by Charles Kenyon Create reusable headers and footers in Word by legal office guru Deborah Savadra (video) Conditional Headers and Footers (Advanced) by Greg Maxey, MVP FileName and Path Add-In - Adds Shortcut Key to insert the FileName and Path field at Cursor Position FileName and Path Templates - .dotx and .dot files with filename and path fields in all three footers Different Page Numbering in Header and Footer demonstration - .docx and .doc files with page numbers by document in header and by Section in footer. Document Splitter by Greg Maxey - addin to break document into component documents   (this guide table of contents) ------- (MS Word New Users FAQ) This chapter last edited by Charles Kenyon on Friday 01 November 2024 .   Preliminary note. This chapter is based on the Sections chapter of the Legal Users Guide for Microsoft Word which was developed for Word 2002. It has been modified extensively by Charles Kenyon. The most extensive modification was the inclusion of hyperlinks, but the text has been modified as well as questions have arisen. These modifications have not undergone any kind of peer review, just comments from users. Using Sections in Word Word uses Section breaks to specify parts of a document that have different page orientation, columns, or Headers and footers. Section breaks allow the user to specify where the different formatting will begin and end. You might use Section breaks in the following circumstances: Different Headers and footers. If the document you are working on needs to have different Headers and footers on various pages, you would use Section breaks to achieve this. Note, using the StyleRef Field in your Headers and footers will make the need for changes less than you might anticipate. Different page numbering schemes. If you are working in a document where the Table of Contents needs lower case Roman numerals, the contract needs Arabic numerals, and the Appendices need alphabetic numerals, you can achieve all of these with Section breaks. See How to set up a document with front matter by Suzanne Barnhill for a full discussion. Restart Page numbering. You can restart page numbering anywhere in a document by inserting a section break and using the Format Page Numbers dialog. Different paper sizes. If you want a document to contain one legal-sized page and the rest letter-sized pages, you'll need a Section break between the pages. Different margins. Be sure to distinguish Margins from Paragraph Indents. If the first page of a letter needs a two-inch margin, and the following pages need a different margin, you should not use a Section break in the document. A Section break is not appropriate for this purpose. You can use a different first-page Header to mimic a different margin without inserting a Section break. You may want different margins in different parts of your document for other purposes, though. A Section break is appropriate in those instances. Note also that if you want to inset text on a page, you want to change the paragraph indents, not the margins. Different Orientation. If you need to mix pages that have a portrait orientation with those that have a landscape orientation. Columns. You can use Word's newspaper column feature in the middle of a page, and place Section breaks before and after the multiple columns. If you have text prepared and put it into a column format, word will automatically put in the Section breaks. Document protection. You can apply different protection levels to different Sections in Word. This lets you allow editing in some Sections and not others. Restart Footnote/Endnote numbering. This numbering can be restarted with a new Section. Endnotes can be at the end of a Section rather than at the end of the document. Line Numbering is a section property (although you can turn it off for individual lines) - see Section 3 in the large image below Start Section on Odd-Numbered Page (or Even-Numbered Page). You can tell Word to start a section on an Odd- or Even-numbered page.   Word 2007 - 2013 put the controls for breaks under the Page Layout tab under "Breaks" not on the Insert tab. When you do NOT want or at least need a Section Break Section breaks are very useful but they do make documents a bit more complex. This can cause formatting problems that are hard to spot. See Troubleshooting below for examples. They should not be used when you do not need  to do so. Changing headers/footers so they reflect the content of the current chapter or page (See StyleRef Field ) Change in margins that should be handled using indents or other methods., ala Wordperfect Moving text down on the page at the beginning of a Chapter (when it can be handled with a frame) Shifting in and out of columnar format. Perhaps you want to be using a Table, instead. Here is an excellent summary image on some of what sections control: Here is John McGhie's analysis of what a Section Break, in Word, is: A Section Break is not just a “page break”, it is a binary container that stores several hundred properties in multiple tables. The largest Section Break is the “Default” Section Break. You will never see one. The default Section Break hides in the very last paragraph mark of a document. Because it is absolutely essential to the document (without it, the file is just a stream of bytes, not a document) Word maintains the contents itself and hides it from you and me.   How to view a Section Break You can see the Section breaks in your document in many views, but normal view is the easiest to recognize. Once you insert the Section break a double dotted line appears from one side of your document to the other. Practice: Inserting a Section break Open a blank document. Change your document view to Normal. Type the following: Title Page. Now choose Insert > Break. Choose Next Page Section Break. Type Table of Contents. Choose Insert > Break. Choose Next Page Section Break. Type Main document. View your document in Print Preview. You now have three Sections. Switch between "Normal" and "Page Layout" (Word 97) and "Print Layout" (Word 2000-2003) views in this document to see how the Section break appearance differs. In Word 2007 and later, the two views are called "Draft" and "Print Layout." Change Page Formatting in a Specific Section To better understand how Sections work, think of your document as a book with different chapters, and each chapter starts with page number one. In the last exercise we created a document with three separate Sections. We are now able to apply unique formatting to each Section of the document. The exercise that follows will help you change the margins and the page layout in the document using Section breaks. Practice: Change Page Formats in Sections Use the document you created in the last exercise. Press CTRL+END to move to the end of your document. You should be in Section 3. Choose File > Page Setup >click Paper Size. In the Orientation area, select Landscape. Be sure that Apply to: says This Section.   Warning  If you do not apply the Section break to "this Section only" the whole document will be formatted in Landscape. Click OK. The last page should now be landscape and the rest of the document should still be portrait. Press CTRL+HOME to go to the top of the document. Choose File > Page Setup >click Layout In the Vertical alignment: Section, select Center from the drop-down list. Be sure that Apply to: says This Section. Click OK. Your "TITLE PAGE" text should now be centered vertically. Try changing margins in a specific Section. Start a Section on an Odd-Numbered- (or Even-Numbered-) Page Section breaks are often used to begin a chapter in a larger document. Generally one wants chapters to start on odd-numbered pages. (Rarely, on an even-numbered page.) An odd-page section break inserts a section break with the first page being an odd-numbered page according to the formatted page number. When an odd-page section break is inserted, Word will skip to the next odd-numbered page if necessary to start on an odd-number. On screen it just looks like a page number was skipped. When the document is printed (or in a pdf) a blank page with no header or footer will be inserted but count in the page numbering. No page number appears on the inserted page. An even-page section break inserts a section break with the first page being an even-numbered page according to the formatted page number. When an even-page section break is inserted, Word will skip to the next even-numbered page if necessary to start on an even-number. On screen it just looks like a page number was skipped. When the document is printed (or in a pdf) a blank page with no header or footer will be inserted but count in the page numbering. No page number appears on the inserted page. If you need the headers/footers/page numbers to appear, see Is there an automatic way to create a non-blank, even-numbered page at the end of a chapter, if the chapter would otherwise end on an odd page? by John McGhie, MVP. These section breaks are often used with different odd and even headers/footers and mirrored margins. Headers and Footers A header or footer is text or other information such as graphics that is stored at the top or bottom of the page throughout your document. You can use the same header and footer throughout a document or change the header and footer for part of the document. For example, you can use your corporate logo in the first-page header, and then include the document's file name in the header for subsequent pages. Note, headers and footers can be confusing. This is because they really are complex to allow users flexibility in setting up their documents. I hope the recap at the end of this chapter will help clarify things for you. See also Using Headers and Footers by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP - excellent and comprehensive web page. To view Headers and Footers in Normal View, click View > Header and Footer. If you are in Page Layout View (Word 97) or Print Layout View (Word 2000-2003), simply double click the visible header or footer that appears as gray text. Either way, the Header/Footer toolbar appears.   Note  The Header and Footer toolbars are identical in Word 97 and Word 2000. It looks a little different in Word 2003 (below). CK Note: If you Edit the Header or Footer the formatting starts with a blank area using the Header and Footer paragraph styles. The basic Header and Footer styles have tab settings for a Center tab at 3" and a Right tab at 6.". These are based on 1.25" margins. You can easily view these settings by showing the Ruler (View -> Ruler). If you want to change the appearance of all of the headers and footers in a document, modify the Header and Footer Styles. Your author tends to have headers and footers extend outside the page margins by half an inch and be in Italic using a different font. I use sanserif fonts for headers and footers and serif fonts for body text. This is intended to emphasize that the headers and footers are outside of the body, a textual frame for the page. Practice: Use the Header/Footer Toolbar Choose View > Header and Footer. Click the Switch Between Header and Footer button . Your cursor should be in the footer. Click the button again to toggle back to the Header. Press the Align Right button on the Formatting toolbar to move to the right side of the Header. Type DRAFT Rough Outline. Click the Switch Between Header and Footer button to move to the footer. Place a Center Tab at 3.25 and a Right Tab at 6.5 on the ruler. Press TAB once to move to the center of the Footer. Click the Insert Page Number button.   Note  If you want to add the word "Page" or dashes on either side of the number, you can type the information before inserting the page number. Press TAB once to move to the right side of the Footer. Click the Date button to insert the date.   Warning  Using the Date button will insert an updating date that will change to the current date each time you print. CK Note: See Using Date Fields in Microsoft Word Click Close on the Header and Footer toolbar. Switch to Print Preview to view your newly added Header and Footer.   CK Note: AutoText in the Header/Footer Toolbar.  There are a number of useful AutoText fields available using the Header/Footer Toolbar. It is important for you to remember that this is really an "AutoText List Field" and as such it is sensitive to the style of the paragraph. If somehow your style gets changed to anything other than the "header" or "footer" style many of your favorite AutoText entries will seem to have vanished! When you paste something into a header or footer, you may want to use Edit => Paste Special... => Unformatted Text so that you don't change the style in your header or footer by mistake. The header and footer styles also have special tabs set that are especially useful in these contexts. (See the practice above.) Word 2007 - 2013 put the controls for the Headers and Footers under the Insert tab. Different First Page There are times when you do not want a header/footer or page number on the first page of your document. In WordPerfect, this was called Suppress. In Word, the feature is called Different First Page. This means you are still able to put information into the Header or Footer but it will not affect the rest of the Headers and Footers in the document. Note, the Different First Page option applies separately for each Section (unlike the Different Even and Odd option). Also, for each section, the setting applies to both the header and the footer.   Note  Other times you do want headers/footers/page numbers but want them differently set up with other information. This is frequently used when the firm logo or partners' names appear on the first page of a letter. See How can I get a different header/footer on the second page?     Word 2007 - 2013 put the controls for page numbering under the Insert tab. Different options are presented and you can also get a dialog box using the Format Page Numbers button. Practice: Turn on Different First Page Open the document from the last exercise. Double-click the Header in your document. This will access the header and footer area and turn on the Header and Footer toolbar. Click the Page Setup button on the Header and Footer toolbar. The Page Setup dialog box opens to the Layout tab. Select Different first page. Click OK. Save and close this document. Notice the Header area now says First Page Header. Practice: Creating first page and continuation page Headers/Footers in a Template with only one page When a template is created for a report or letterhead you will often want a different first-page header/footer and also want a different continuation page header/footer. One obvious way is to insert a temporary page break. However, you can actually create both in a single page. View > Headers and Footers. Your insertion point should be in the blank Header (Footer) with default tab settings Type some text, i.e. "This is the first header I typed" or "This is the continuation page header." Check the option for "different first page" on the toolbar and what you just typed disappears! The label changes from "Header" to "First Page Header" You can now type your header to appear on the first page. If later the document has more than one page, your continuation header REMINDER: If you have multiple Sections in a document and a Section's header/footer is set for link to previous, that will continue not only the main header but any different first page and even/odd page headers footers. This is true even if you do not see them. The different-first-page setting can be set for each Section. The different even and odd setting is for the entire document. NOTE: There are times when you want the same footer but different or no header for the first page of your section. The Different First Page setting is for both, it does not distinguish between the header and footer. In this case it is often easiest to simply copy the text from one footer and paste in the other. If you do this, you can end up with an extra paragraph (likely blank). Delete that paragraph if you want the two to match.   Different Even and Odd The Different Even and option allows you to format your headers and footers differently. For example, you may want the page numbers on the odd pages to be aligned to the right and the page numbers on the even pages to be aligned to the left when you are printing double sided documents. You can access this option from the Page Setup button on the Header and Footer toolbar. Note: the Different Odd and Even option applies to the entire document, not just to one Section. This means that if in some Sections you want the same header/footer you will have to produce it twice, once for odd pages, and once for even pages. In some cases, it is desirable to not use different even-and-odd settings. In such a case you can use the following fields: {IF{=MOD({PAGE},2)}= 1 {PAGE}} - odd numbers {IF{=MOD({PAGE},2)}= 0 {PAGE}} - even numbers Here the second {PAGE} field in each is what you want to appear on that page. As written, these are for page numbers, but could be used for entire headers and footers as shown below. (Field codes by Paul Edstein) Have a Header and/or Footer Appear Only on the Last Page or on Certain Pages Without Using a Section Break Using a conditional IF Field you can have a header and/or footer appear only on the last page of a document or on certain pages. This is done without using a Section break. The field would look something like this: { IF { PAGE } < { NUMPAGES } "Content you want in the header or footer on all but the last page" "Content you want in the header or footer on only the last page" } If you want the header or footer to appear only on page 5 of a document it would look like this: { IF { PAGE } = "5" "Content you want in the header or footer on page 5 only" "Content you want in the header or footer all pages except page 5" } The field delimiters (braces) can only be inserted using Ctrl+F9, not typed. Thanks to MVPs Suzanne Barnhill, Bill Coan, Greg Maxey and Paul Edstein for help understanding this.   Header and Footer Placement and Space There are two things the user needs to know about header and footer placement and space. The first is that either the header or footer can take up the entire page or be anywhere on the page. The second is that in the page layout dialog the user can set how much space to reserve for the header and footer from the edge of the page. Placement Items in the header or footer can be anywhere on the page. If they are graphical elements like a logo, WordArt, a Watermark or a TextBox they can be floating and marked to appear behind text. If they are set to be behind text, they will not move text in the body of the document. If they are in-line with text or set for wrapping, text in the body of the document (as well as in the header or footer) will give them space. This is one way of preparing letterhead templates reserving space for a sidebar on the first page of preprinted letterhead. See Letterhead Textboxes and Styles Tutorial. Space for Headers and Footers So that they do not run into text and so that text doesn't seem longer on pages without headers and footers, space can be reserved for the header and footer in the Page Layout dialog. First the general rule is that the running headers and footers will use whatever space they need. That means that if they extend into the body of the document, the text will normally flow around them. Generally you want a bit more space to distinguish the header and footer from the body of the document. This dialog can be reached by File > Page Layout > Layout (tab). This setting, like most header and footer settings, is a Section property. That is, you can have multiple Sections in a document, but only one setting in a Section. Note that few printers can print to the edge of the page and that inkjet printers, in particular, seem to need blank space at the bottom of the page. See The bottoms of pages don't print. Header and Footer Confusion? The various header/footer settings can be confusing. This recap may help you sort things out.   Page Numbers in Word 97-2003 Page numbers are relatively simple, but the interface can make them seem complicated. Page numbers in Word are always fields, not manually typed numbers. We will start by looking at how to insert them through the interface's Insert Page Number functions and then look at how they can be inserted and formatted directly. The Page Number button on the Header and Footer Toolbar inserts a field directly at the insertion point.   Warning about Page Number Insertion Repeat: Inserting page numbers using the Insert Page Number command may insert a page number inside a "frame" which can make editing difficult.       Page Number Fields Again, page numbers are fields. This is true no matter how you insert them. If you select a page number and press Shift+F9 to toggle field codes, you will see { PAGE },  a very simple field code. If you ever need to insert this manually you can do so through the Insert Field dialog. You can access this using Insert > Field > Page. A very simple way to insert a basic { PAGE } field is to press Alt+Shift+P. The Insert Field dialog box is shown above. Using the choices shown will result in a lower case Roman numeral page number in the current formatting. The field would look like this: { PAGE  \* roman  \* MERGEFORMAT  } (The MERGEFORMAT switch is inserted by default. It comes from checking the preserve formatting box. I usually uncheck that box.) Rather than use the "\* roman" switch, I recommend using the Format Page Numbers dialog. That page number formatting would be reflected in a Table of Contents, while one with the switch would not. You do not have to choose the page type when you insert the page number but it is easiest to do so. Other useful fields are the NumPages and SectionPages fields which give the total number of pages in the document and Section respectively. (There is no SectionPage field corresponding to the Page field.) See Page Numbering on Greg Maxey's site for information on how to have both a count of the Section pages and of the Document pages in the same spot. Another article on formatting page numbers and manipulating them with calculation fields is Bill Coan's How to Control the Page Numbering in a Word Document.     Page X of Y There are buttons for both the page number and number of pages (numpages) fields on the header/footer toolbar. Page X of Y ( 1 of 3, etc.) construction consists of two basic fields, the PAGE field and the NUMPAGES field. These can be inserted using the Insert > Field method or you can simply type "page" or "numpages" (without the quotation marks), select the word and press Ctrl+F9 to make it a field and the F9 to update it. Like Page fields, the NumPages field can be formatted. For fancy manipulation of these and the companion SectionPages field, refer to the articles by Bill Coan and Greg Maxey mentioned above.   Format Page Numbers You will need to understand how to insert and format page numbers. For example, you may add a Table of Contents to your document and would like the page numbering to be in lowercase Roman numeral format. As long as your document is divided into Sections, you can have differently formatted page numbers in each Section of your document. If you restart page numbering in a Section and then add a Section break for a new Section, the new Section will also restart page numbering at the same point. If the page numbering is continuous in a Section, when a new Section is started from that Section, the new Section will also have continuous page numbering. See also Automatic Page Numbers Across Multiple Documents Same As Previous / Link to Previous Word's default is to connect all the Headers in the document and all the footers in the document so they are all the same. It does this by using the Link to Previous (formerly Same as the Previous) command. It is important to turn OFF the Link to Previous option FIRST before you make any other changes. This will prevent the previous Section from being changed as well.   Tip  It is usually better to start at the top of your document when working with Headers and Footers.   Warning  Word's default is to always make the Header and Footer of a new Section the Same as the Previous Section. Turn off Link to Previous first, or else your changes can affect other Sections.   CK Note: How many Sections do you need? If you are inserting a Section break just to change the text in your header / footer, look into use of the StyleRef field with Word's built-in heading styles. This lets you change the content of your header / footer without making any change in the header / footer. The StyleRef field can reflect the content  of the latest heading or other style and change each time you format something new with that Style. Note each Section in Word can have up to three headers and three footers. The choices of different first page, different odd and even apply to both headers and footers for each Section. The setting for link with previous is independent for each of these, that is, the first page header can be linked to previous while the first-page footer is not and neither setting has any effect on the settings for the odd or even page headers and footers. A document can have both Portrait and Landscape pages with Headers/Footers in one document. Changing orientation is accomplished through the Page Setup Dialog under the File Menu. If you choose "Whole Document" to apply a change to, you change the orientation for the entire document. If you choose "This point forward" you will insert a Section break at that point with the new orientation applying to the new Section. Other choices can include "Selected text" if you have text selected, and "This Section" if your document already has multiple Sections. Headers and Footers with Multiple Orientations in One Document Generally headers and footers are designed to distribute information across the top or bottom of a page, giving the reader a lot of information in a small space. Some information is on the left side, some in the center, and some on the right side of the page. In versions of Word before 2007, this is done using tab settings in the header and footer styles. This works well if all pages in a document are in the same orientation. It does not work so well when some pages are in portrait, and others in landscape orientation. The default header and footer styles have a center and right tab set for portrait orientation. Note that changing the orientation of a page from that for the rest of a document requires a different Section. Here are screenshots showing how this works. Portrait Orientation Landscape Orientation So, if you are using headers and footers in your document and have some pages set up as landscape orientation and others set up for portrait orientation, you may need to use separate styles for the headers and footers in the different orientations or use some other method to distribute the components of your headers and footers. If you use separate styles, you will need to not have your headers and footers linked to previous Sections (at least in the areas where there are orientation changes). See also How to put a portrait page number on a landscape page by Bill Coan, Suzanne Barnhill, and Dave Rado, MVPs. Versions of Word beginning with Word 2007 have a tool that lets you align according to margins and indents rather than tab settings called the Alignment Tab. That makes changing orientations with headers and footers easier. CK Note: Page Numbers. There are two places you can put page numbers: in the header/footer, or in the document.  If you put them in the document inside a frame using the Insert > Page Number command, you can never get proper control of them.  This is the greatest trap there is for inexperienced page-numberers.  The page number MUST be inserted into the header or footer!  If your document already has page numbers, click on one.  If it shows the square bounding box of a floating frame, it’s in a frame: delete it! John McGhie, How to Create A Template. I have gone so far as to remove the Page Numbers... command from my Insert Menu in Word 97-2003!   An alternative simple way to insert a page number is Alt+Shift+P which will insert a page number field without a frame. See How to Control Page Numbering in a Word Document by Bill Coan. This is an excellent article on formatting page numbers and manipulating them with calculation fields. For more information on using chapter numbering, see http://wordmvp.com/FAQs/Numbering/ChapterNumber.htm. For more information on numbering appendixes, see http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/numbering/NumberingAppendixes.html. Formatting Page Numbers Page number formatting is best controlled using the Format Page Numbers dialog. You get access to this dialog from any Insert Page Numbers menu or control. Word 97-2003 The page number format dialog gives you a lot of control on how your page numbers appear, not only on the page but also in a Table of Contents, Caption, or Cross-Reference. The first choice is for the type of numbering. This lets you choose two variations, each, from the three basic formats: Arabic numerals, Roman numerals, or alphabet (letters). Next is a checkbox that lets you use Chapter numbering. If you check it, it activates the selection of the (built-in) heading style which signals the beginning of the chapter. That Chapter will need to be numbered using Automatic Numbering. You are also allowed a selection of the separator to separate the chapter number from the page number. (Note: both of the drop-down boxes scroll, they actually show fewer choices at a time.) You have the option of continuing numbering from the previous section or restarting numbering for the section at a different number (1). If you start a new section, the choices made here continue in the new section by default. This includes the decision to restart numbering.     Practice: Format Page Numbers Create a new blank document. Save As (your initials) Sections. Type Confidential Employment Agreement ZZZ Company January 1, 2000 Choose Insert > Break. From the Section Breaks area, select Next Page to insert a Next Page Section break. Type Table of Contents and press ENTER. Insert a Next Page Section break. From the Style drop-down list on the Formatting toolbar, choose Body Text. Type =rand(30) and press ENTER. Insert a Next Page Section break. Type Appendix: Salary Increases and press ENTER. Choose File > Page Setup > Paper Size. Under Orientation, select Landscape. Be sure that Apply to: says This Section. Save the document. Press CTRL+HOME to get the top of the document. Choose View > Header and Footer. Click the Switch Between Header and Footer button. Your cursor should be in the footer of the first page. Notice that it says: Footer Section 1. We do not want a page number on the first page so leave it blank. Click the Show Next button to jump to the next footer. It should read: Footer Section Notice on the right that it says Link to Previous. Click the Link to Previous button. This disconnects Section 2 footer from Section 1 footer. Choose the Center button on the Formatting toolbar to move your cursor to the middle of the footer. Click the Format Page Number button. The Page Number Format dialog box opens. From the Number format drop-down list, choose lowercase Roman Numerals. Under Page Numbering, select Start at to have the page numbers start counting from this Section. Click OK to return to the footer. Click the Insert Page Number button on the Header/Footer toolbar. Click Show Next to move the cursor to Footer-Section 3. Turn off Link to Previous using the button on the Header/Footer toolbar. Click Page Number Format. Change the number format to Arabic numerals, and choose Start At and change the Start At to 1. Click OK. Click Show Next to move the cursor to Footer-Section 4. Turn off Link to Previous. Change the number format to capital letters. Click Close on the Header/Footer toolbar. Switch to Print Preview and make sure your page numbers are correct. Having Portrait-oriented headers/footers on a Landscape Page When a page is in landscape mode, the headers and footers are also in landscape mode. There are times when the writer wants to have the headers/footers stay in the same place on the physical page rather than rotate with the page content. This portion arose out of a question asked on the Microsoft Answers site and three solutions were given. Place headers/footers for this section in rotated text boxes that are actually in the left and right margins of the landscape page. How to put a portrait page number on a landscape page by Bill Coan, MVP Where the contents are only one page put them in a Table and rotate the text in the table. (This requires no section break or different headers/footers because the page remains in portrait orientation.) Where the landscape contents are only one page, put them in a Text Box and rotate the textbox. (This also requires no section break or different headers/footers.) How to Put a Portrait Page Number on a Landscape Page by Bill Coan, MVP, Dave Rado, MVP, and Suzanne Barnhill, MVP Word 2010 Tutorial on Headers and Footers Headers and Footers in Word 2003 - From Basic to Elaborate - a Tutorial     Columns Columns are a creature of Sections in Word, like headers and footers. The command to set them up is found under the Format menu. This opens a dialog box. The dialog box has five presets and also lets you set your column options manually. The "Apply to:" choice of "This point forward" allows you to insert a continuous Section break where you are and make the rest of the current Section have the column settings you want. The default is "This Section."  The Start new column checkbox is one way to insert a column break before the bottom of the page. If you select the Left or Right column preset it unchecks the Equal column width setting. Line between inserts a vertical line between columns. You can set the number of columns to a larger number if you want. Note though that more than 3 columns is not practical on a portrait layout letter-size page. Unchecking the Equal column width setting lets you manually change your column width. The spacing between columns is preset at 0.5." Adjusting this is a way to get all of your text on one page or fill out a page. Note that a column break, like a manual page break, will be contained within a Word paragraph, so text immediately following the break will be in the same paragraph as that which precedes the break. If you change the paragraph formatting, it will change for the entire Word paragraph. Consider whether you actually want Word columns, though. Perhaps you want to use a Table. I've been advising people about using Word for more than twenty-five years. Often when people ask about columns, what they really want is a Table. The appearance can be very similar but how they work is profoundly different. Columns in Word work like columns in a newspaper or magazine, with the flow of text going from the bottom of one column to the top of the next. This has been described as "snaking." Tables operate more like a matrix with rows and columns. A table is good when you are trying to compare or explain and want related parts to be next to each other on the page.   Practice: Formatting Columns Open the document with three Sections from the Header/Footer Exercises. Press Ctrl+End to go to the end of the document. Press the ENTER after the Heading "Main Document" Type =rand(30, 4) and press ENTER. Go back to the point just under the heading. Under the Format menu, select Columns click on the preset for two columns. Click OK Notice that if you were in Normal view you are now in Print Layout view. Notice that your heading is inside the columns. Press Ctrl+Z to undo the column formatting. Reopen the Columns dialog box from the Format menu. Select the two column preset and under "Apply to" select "This Point Forward." Click OK. Notice that your Heading is now outside the Column formatting. You have just created a new (continuous) Section break. Reopen the Columns dialog box from the Format Menu. Try clicking the preset to have three columns instead of two. Click OK. Note that it applies to the current Section. Click in the middle of the page in the middle of a paragraph. Reopen the Columns dialog box from the Format Menu. Select the two column preset and under "Apply to" select "This Point Forward." Click OK. Note that you now have a three column Section followed by a two column Section. Note that the Section break was inserted in the middle of your paragraph, even in the middle of a sentence! The Column set up in Word is the equivalent to "Snaking columns" in Word Perfect. To get parallel columns in Word you would use Tables. Printing a Range of Pages With Multiple Sections - CK note Word tracks pages for printing purposes by the page numbers assigned by Word, itself. To print pages 3-5 you would enter 3-5. (These page numbers may or may not be what is displayed.) Since page numbering can restart with each Section, it is easy to have multiple pages numbered 1 or 2, or even 10 or 30! To tell Word which pages you want to print, you need to designate not only the page number, but the Section number. You have to give both page and Section for all numbers in a range. To print page 1 of Section 3, you would enter p1s3 To print pages 1-1 and 2-2, you would enter p1s1,p2s2 To print pages 1-3 in the first Section, you would enter p1s1-p3s1 To print all of Section 4, you would enter s4 To print a range of pages across Sections, you would enter p5s2-p3s5 Use your Status Bar to see what Section you are in. If it isn't showing Sections, right-click on it.     See this Microsoft Help article for more. Watermarks in Word 2003 (CK Note) A Watermark is an element that appears behind text and is usually faint. It is often text but may be an image. It is a confusing feature because a Watermark in Word is part of a header. It is placed in the Header of the first Section. They are discussed in this chapter because they are inserted as a part of a header and problems with Watermarks equate to problems with headers.   The screenshot above shows the route you need to take from the Format menu to get to the Printed Watermark choice. Format > Background > Printed Watermark. When you do this, you get the dialog box shown below. Note that you can type text or choose a picture. You can also use the dialog box to remove a Watermark inserted by Word. If text, you can color it, the default is Gray semi-transparent. You can have the text shown as horizontal or semitransparent. I typed in "Attorney Work Product" and left the default settings for diagonal gray transparent text. The result is shown below. You can save a Printed Watermark as AutoText. The templates available should include any global templates that are currently loaded as well as the attached document template. AutoText cannot be saved in a document, only in a template. Once saved, it can be used as can any other AutoText. This is not especially convenient and was improved upon in Word 2007. To save a selected graphic as AutoText you can press the Alt+F3 keyboard shortcut.   An image or picture can also be used as a Printed Watermark. Images can include photos, clip art, Word Art or other drawings. Troubleshooting Watermarks Problems that can arise and some work-arounds: If you are having a problem with Watermarks you need to understand how headers work because Watermarks are in the header. Headers are Section properties, so Watermarks are part of Sections as well. If the headers in different Sections are not linked at the time a Watermark is inserted, the Watermark will be inserted into only the first Section and Sections with headers linked to that Section. You will need to go into the first Section header (view it) and select the Watermark image. This will not seem like it is in the Header because of its placement, but it is! Copy that to the Clipboard and paste it in unlinked Headers. You can avoid this problem if you insert the Watermark before you unlink the headers. Note, though, that once the headers are unlinked you cannot change the Watermark by simply using the Watermark button; you would still have to edit each unlinked header separately. You cannot have more than one Watermark, designated as such by Word in a document. You can, though have multiple images that look and act like Watermarks - even in the same headers - so long as they are not placed there by the Watermark button in Word. If you want a Watermark on only one page, you must place it behind the text in the body of the document - not in a header or footer if the header or footer covers more than one page. You check "remove Watermark" and nothing happens or the Watermark continues to show on some pages. This is because some of the Watermarks you are seeing were inserted as graphics and not directly by using the Insert Watermark button. (See 2-4 above) You want vertical text - not Horizontal or Diagonal - or some other variation. Use WordArt to create what you want and then either insert it directly or save the WordArt as a picture and then insert it using the Watermark function as a picture. (If you do the latter, you will not be able to edit it in Word.) Inserting a Watermark on only the first page of a multi-page document (or on every page except the first page) Remember, Watermarks are images that are in headers/footers. If you insert a Watermark using the Background dialog it will appear on all pages in a document. In Word 2003, this is true regardless of your other header settings. If you have different first page checked in your Page Layout, then go into the first-page or continuation-page header (where you do not want the Watermark), select the Watermark by clicking on it, and delete it. If after you insert the Watermark, you switch on the different first page sett If you want a different Watermark on different pages, all except one should be inserted in the relevant header by pasting the image in the header, not through the Background dialog. If you have multiple Sections in the document, be aware of the link to previous setting for each header in each Section (remember, every Section has settings for three different headers, whether they are displayed or not). The font used by default for Custom Text Watermarks will be the font used for the Normal style. This can be changed in the dialog to insert the Watermark. Text Watermarks are WordArt. If you edit the Header and click on one, you can use WordArt tools to edit it. If you want to change the text, use the Edit Text button. This allows you to change both the text and the font/size. Watermark Troubleshooting Watermarks are a creature of headers. Watermarks are images, generally set to be semi-transparent. The Format>Background>Watermark method inserts one such image that should appear on all pages in a document. If you want something different from this, you must start dealing with images in headers directly. This makes things more complex. Preventing a Watermark from being deleted Realistically speaking you cannot. There are, however, steps you can take. If you want a watermark that can't be removed, send a piece of paper with a genuine watermark. Sorry. Rule #1: If they can see it, they can copy it. Rule #2: If they can copy it, they can modify it. Send as pdf and it will be harder to remove than than in Word format.  Convert it somehow to a jpg and it becomes even more difficult. You can print and use a scanner to do this. You could, then, insert that jpg into a Word file. That said, there are some things that you can do in Word. Watermarks in Word are dimmed images in the header or footer. They have a "watermark" tag on them so that they can be manipulated using the Watermark feature. You can create your own non-Word watermark by inserting your own image in a header or footer. Then it can't be minapulated using the Watermark commands. You can create a watermark in Word, then copy the image to the clipboard and delete the watermark using the watermark command. Then re-insert the image (in the header). You can protect the document for filling in forms or otherwise restrict editing, there are ways around these, though. You can use a macro to limit access to the header. However, that only works if the recipient allows macros to run. Most do not. See also No Copies - No Editing - No Changes   Problem: Watermark does not appear on all pages. If you use the Format > Background > Watermark method it will appear on all pages. If you have multiple headers previous ones may be blocking your Watermark. Go into the header on the page where the Watermark appears. Click on it to select it. Copy it. Go to the header on a page missing the Watermark. Paste and position it. Repeat 4 and 5 as needed. Problem: I want a Watermark on only one page Remember, Watermarks are a creature of headers. You may not even see a watermark while editing a document, but it will show up in the printed copy or pdf. You can see it on print preview even if it does not appear in print view. If you want your Watermark to appear only on one page other than the first page, get it out of the header. If you want it only on the first page, you can insert it in the first-page header using the option in headers for a different first page. Cut the Watermark (it is a graphic of some sort, perhaps WordArt) from the header and then paste it behind the text on the page where your want it instead of in the header. Problem: I want multiple Watermarks on a page or in a document Remember, Watermarks are a creature of headers. You can only insert one Watermark in a document using the Background dialog. You can insert multiple images (including WordArt) in a header. Create images for your Watermark, go into the relevant header(s) and paste your images in that (those) header(s). Problem: Watermark Does Not Show Up in Print View (but does print) Watermarks inserted by Word are image files. If they are text, they are WordArt or in a Text Box. Word treats them as images. There is a setting in Word dating back to Word 95, at least, that lets you not show images on the screen. This speeds up display and was more important in the past than it perhaps is now. Check this Option setting. Here is the dialog box from Word 2003: (Tools > Options)   Page Margins (CK Note) Page Margins are Section properties. They are set in the Page Layout dialog. To change the indents of one or more paragraphs, the paragraph formatting for left and right indents should be set, not the page margins.   One feature allowed for margins is mirror margins. This is intended to work with different even-and-odd headers/footers. It allows for a binding area in documents printed duplex. However, it does not work in Landscape Sections if what is desired is to have the binding edge along the long side of the paper. That would require mirroring of top and bottom margins. A workaround is described in Mirrored Margins in Landscape Pages in Microsoft Word. Gutters Gutters in Word are set for binding on the left edge of text, even though when using right-to-left text the gutter should be on the right, there is no setting for this. A workaround is described here: Shifting Gutter Position to Right Using Shapes in the Headers - Answers page More on margins to follow. Page Borders can be Section properties Page Borders are accessed through the Borders and Shading Dialog Box. (Format > Borders and Shading) As you can see in the screenshot above, you can apply the page border to the entire document, to the current Section, or to either the first page of the section or every page except the first page of the section.   Which Word Features Create Section Breaks Automatically? Change Columns for less than the entire document (Continuous Section breaks) Creating / updating an Index does this Change Margins for less than the entire document (Continuous Section breaks) Change Orientation for selected text (Next page section break) Which Section am I in? You can have Word tell you which section you are in. In which section is the insertion point? A page can have multiple sections. The insertion point is where the next letter you type will go. The status bar at the bottom of the page can reflect the Section in which the insertion point is found. If this is not showing in your Status Bar, right click on it and check Section. In which section is the page? You can use the Section Field to give you the section number. This is similar to the Page Field. This can be used in a header or footer. If there is a continuous section break on the page, it will give you the section in which the definition of the footer is found. Trouble Shooting Sections, Headers and Footers, Page Numbering Why is the spacing off in the footer of a landscape page? Check first to see if there are Section breaks setting off the landscape page. Even though the footer will look the "Link to Previous," that option must be turned off. After turning it off, move the center tab to 5.5 inches and the right tab to 10 inches. Continue to the following Section and, again, turn off "Link to Previous." The page number was formatted to show A, B, C. It's not appearing in the footer. Although the number was formatted correctly, it was not inserted. First format the number to get what is needed; then insert the number in the footer. I can't see the headers and footers. If you are in Normal View, it is necessary to click View > Header and Footer. If you switch to Page Layout View (Word 97) or Print Layout View (Word 2000) you will see them as unavailable. Double-click in the header or footer and the Header/Footer toolbar will be accessible. The Section break doesn't allow me to have both portrait and landscape text on the same page. Unfortunately, Word will not allow this by the use of a Section break. To achieve the desired effect, you must insert a text box. CK Note: Everything that follows has been added by me and does not appear in the original of this chapter. I have the codes for Page 1 of 3 (x of y) in my header/footer. It is different on the screen from when it prints out. Or, I get Page 1 of 1, Page 2 of 2, Page 3 of 3, etc. Unfortunately this feature doesn't work very well. There are a number of reasons for this, including background printing and the timing of field updates. The best work-around that I have heard of is to use a Cross-Reference for the "Y" of Page X of Y. Put a bookmark on the last page of your document - at the very end - and use Insert | Cross-Reference to insert the page number on which that bookmark may be found. Other things to do include: Turn off background printing. Turn off display of hidden text if you have any in your document. View the document in Print Preview (Page Preview) mode including the last page of the document to force an update of the fields.  For more on this see: http://www.addbalance.com/word/pagexofy.htm. For more on bookmarks and cross-references see Complex Legal Documents. I set my document for a "Different First Page" but that header/footer is showing up on pages in the middle of my document. Or, I have "Different First Page" set so I don't have a header/footer on the first page but all of my pages or a lot of my pages besides the first page have no header/footer. Do you have Section breaks? Each Section has its own first page. The settings for headers/footers are separate for each Section but are often linked so that the header/footer in the first Section is continued throughout the document. Actually, each Section can have up to three different headers (and three different footers), which is the case if you have selected "Different odd and even" and "Different first page" (also on the Header & Footer Tools Design tab). When you have multiple headers (footers), each type must be separately unlinked from its "neighbor" in the preceding Section. This gets especially complex if you have multiple Sections on a single page. (Thanks to Stefan Blom, MVP for putting this concept so well.) My document has numerous Sections. How did they get there? Word can insert without notice Sections whenever you: Change Margins (not Indents, Margins) Change the Page Numbering Change Page Orientation Change Column Arrangment Another way to end up with a lot of Sections is by working with a converted document (i.e. Word Perfect, pdf, OpenOffice, Scanned Text) or text copied from a converted document or from a Web page. The conversion software aims to make a document in Word that looks like the original. However, there is no conversion software that handles Section formatting at all well, as far as I know as of January 1, 2014. This includes documents that started as Word documents, were converted to pdf, and then converted back. The conversion software can make every change or even apparent change in paragraph indents as a margin change. You can end up with a three-page document with fifty Sections! If you want to edit such text, you are often far ahead by simply copying as plain text and doing your formatting using Styles to duplicate the original formatting. Missing Sections - Ghost headers and footers - Page Number mysteriously restarts "Alright, so I have this problem and it's been driving me absolutely INSANE for the past couple hours. I want to add page numbers but for some reason, it re-starts from 1 in the middle of the document." "I get strange headers/footers popping up in the middle of my document." "I have a different header/footer in the middle of my document." (Duplicates the First-Page header/footer from earlier in the document, but this is not the first page!) These complaints all have to do with there being a Section break in your document, usually just before the problem. You can improve your ability to deal with these by displaying non-printing formatting characters in your document. However, sometimes a Section break will be concealed at the end of a line in Print View. It also can be helpful to try editing in Draft View. Every Section has its own first page. Every Section has three headers/footers coded in even if you do not see any of them: First Page, Odd Page, Even Page. These can be continued in a subsequent Section. The setting for "Different First Page" is a Section setting. The setting for "Different Even and Odd" is a document setting. A single page can have three Sections (or more) with the headers/footers set in the middle Section not displaying at all but perhaps showing up in a linked Section that follows. Sometimes it helps to temporarily insert a couple of page breaks in the middle of a Section to display the headers/footers for that Section. See Header/Footer settings recap. I know I can have a different header/footer on the first page of my document / Section. Can I have a different one on the last page? Yes, but it takes some work with fields. This is beyond the scope of this article but involves using an IF field to test if the page is the last page of the document or Section and give a different result depending on the answer. See the Fields article to see an example. I made a change in my Section 2 Header / Footer and the Section 1 Header / Footer changed too. You need to unlink the header / footer. First, though, Copy your new contents to the Clipboard. Then press Ctrl+Z until it is back to what it looked like before you made the changes. Then unlink the header / footer and Paste your changes back. Remember, each header/footer's linked state is independent of all others. I added a next-page Section break to my document. It should have been a continuous Section break instead. The way to handle this is through the Page Layout Dialog. The simplest way to access this is by double-clicking on the Ruler. It can also be accessed through the Page Layout tab's dialog box dropdown. On the Layout tab is a dropdown that lets you change the type of the current Section. How to Delete a Next-Page Section Break That Won't Delete (and retain formatting) This becomes a problem mostly at the end of a document where there is a blank page that the user does not want. It is caused by making a change in Section settings like margins, or orientation to selected text. Changes to these settings for selected text require insertion of a next-page Section break because these settings can't apply to less than a page. Word will not let you delete this section break if the settings are different before and after the section break. The way to fix this is to make these settings the same before and after the break. Click in the document so your insertion point is before the section break: Record a macro in which you visit each of the page layout dialogs the margin dialog, the page size dialog, the Columns dialog, and the orientation dialog. OK out of each dialog box. End recording of your macro. Then move your insertion point beyond the section break and run the macro you just recorded. Convert the next-page section break to a continuous break (above) or insert a continuous section break before the next-page section break to preserve headers and footers. Then if you inserted a continuous break, select and delete the next-page section break. Paul Edstein, MVP (macropod) posted a macro here to merge sections so that a section break can be deleted without changing formatting. I believe it does the steps outlined above. Although posted in 2011, it should work in all versions of Word; it works in Word 2019/365. How to have Word tell you which Section you are in. The status bar will tell you which Section you are in. Items that appear in the status bar If you don't see a Status Bar, the display is controlled in Tools > Options > View. Word 2003 Status Bar Tutorial Recap of Header/Footer settings This is confusing. This is because it really is complex to allow users the flexibility they need. If you don't need that complexity, probably you will never see it.   To understand what is happening in headers and footers you need to know about Sections and Section breaks. Header and footer coding is stored in the Section break that follows the Section.   You probably want to turn on display of non-printing formatting marks or work in normal or draft view so you can see Section breaks. Show non-printing characters.   Section breaks do not always start a new page. Section breaks may be inserted by Word without notice when you change columns, margins, page numbering, or page orientation within a document.   There are four kinds of Section breaks; the most common are continuous and new page. The other two start a new Section on either an even-numbered or an odd-numbered page. The blank page that can be generated by such a Section break will not have Headers or footers; it will be a blank page. If you need Headers/footers on these pages, Microsoft recommends insertion of a manual page break immediately before the Section break to force a blank page with Headers/footers. Otherwise, see John McGhie's article: Create a non-blank, even-numbered page at the end of a chapter.   Manual page breaks do not change Header/footer settings. New-page Section breaks can, as can continuous (no new page) Section breaks. (All Section breaks carry Header/footer settings.)   Every Section will have three different Headers and three different footers even if you never see them. Because of this, and because there can be multiple Sections on a single page, it may be easiest to temporarily expand each Section to at least three pages (to see the First-Page, Even-Page, and Odd-Page Headers and footers. This way you can see what is in each Header/footer and what the settings are. You can temporarily expand the number of pages using manual page breaks (Ctrl+Enter)   Section formatting is contained in the Section break that follows the Section. If you delete all Section breaks you can find in a document your formatting will be contained in the last paragraph mark in the document, which is the last Section break.   If there is a Section break on a page, changes to the Header/footer that follow that Section break may not have any effect on the Header for the page that contains the Section break. (Those settings or changes are stored in the next Section break, the one governing that Section.) Whether changes to the next header change the previous one depend on the Link-to-previous setting of the next header.   If you have a Section break on a page, the header and footer for that page will be governed by the settings for the first Section on that page, even if that Section contains no text (i.e., the page starts with a Section break).   The Link-to-previous setting is specific to the type of Header/footer: Primary Header, First-Page Header, and Even-Page Header, Primary Footer, First-Page Footer, Even-Page Footer. Link to previous is the default setting.   Link to previous is specific to Headers and footers (can be different). It is also specific to each type of Header/footer. That is, the first-page Header can be linked to previous but not the first-page footer and not the even-page Header. The Link-to-previous setting can be set for each Header/footer in every Section after the first. This setting can be different in each type of Header / footer in each Section.   Since each Section has three different Headers and three different footers and the link to previous setting is specific to the type of Header or footer, each Section can have up to six different link-to-previous settings. This is true even if the Header/footer to which it applies is not visible. This is true even if the Section involved is a continuous Section in the middle of a page and has no Headers or footers displayed.   The different-first-page setting covers both Headers and footers and is a Section (not document) setting. This setting is carried over into a new Section started from a Section set for different-first-page.   Different odd and even covers both Headers and footers and is a document (not Section) setting. Enabling this for the first time renames each "header" into the "odd-page header" and each "footer" into the "odd-page footer." The even-page headers and footers will now be displayed. They will normally be blank and you will have to add content.   Each Section can have different settings for the distance from the edge of the page for the Sections Headers and footers. The default is .5 inches.   Size: The page layout settings reserve room for headers and footers. Even if there is no header or footer, that reserved space will not be filled by the body text. However, if you put more in a header or footer than the space reserved, the body text will not overwrite it. The header or footer will be allowed that space. This includes space-after or space-before formatting of the line closest to the body text.   Copying and pasting content: Since the three headers and three footers in a Section are independent of one another it is often easiest to copy from one and paste in another if you want to have the same content. I.e. you want your first-page footer to be the same as the odd-page footer. If you do this, turn on display of non-printing formatting marks and delete the extra paragraph mark after you paste.   See also: Quick Reference Card for Headers, Footers and Page Numbers   See also: Using Headers and Footers by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP - excellent and comprehensive web page What Happens When You Start a New Section? What Gets Carried Over? When you start a new Section, that Section will carry certain attributes from the preceding Section. This is true even if you started the new Section by changing columns, orientation, or margins. Headers and footers will be linked to the previous Section's headers and footers. You can unlink them if you want. If page numbering restarted in the existing Section, it will restart in the new Section unless the section break is a continuous section break. The formatting of the page numbering will also be copied into the new Section. The line numbering setting will continue. If you change it, it may apply to only the new section. If you had a header or footer set to be different first page, that will be the setting in the new Section. Troubleshooting Watermarks See also Troubleshooting Sections and Working with Sections This chapter from original Legal Users Guide to Microsoft Word 2002 - document in zip format