Sections, Section Breaks, Page Numbering, Columns, Headers and Footers, and Watermarks in Microsoft Word

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
	Have the first page of a Section (Document) have a Header/Footer different from continuation pages.
	Have Different Headers / Footers / Page Numbers on Odd-Numbered Pages from Those on Even-Numbered Pages
	Create a First-Page Header/Footer and Continuation Page Header/Footer in a template with only one page.
	Have a Header/Footer appear only on the last page or some other page without a section break.
	Visual design techniques to set the Header and Footer off from the body of the document.
	Insert Page Numbers (in or out of Headers / Footers) Using the Page Number Gallery Using a Keyboard Shortcut of Alt+Shift+P Use Different Fields for Page Numbering Insert a Page X of Y structure Format your page numbers Remove page numbers Print a Range of Pages With Multiple Sections Add a Custom Page Number to one of your Page Number Galleries
	Have both portrait and landscape orientations on different pages in your document
	Set up columns in your document. Do you want columns or a Table?
	Change the page size for your document or have different-sized pages in your document.
	Have Word tell you which Section you are in
	Page Numbering and Header/Footer Anomalies When You Use a Cover Page
	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)
	Insert different Watermarks on even- and odd-numbered pages.
	Insert Multiple Watermarks in general.
	Set different page margins for different Sections
	Know which Word features create section breaks automatically
	Know that Page Borders can be a Section setting 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

	This chapter for Word 97-2003
	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) Word 2013 for Law Firms by Payne Consulting Group
	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
	Quick Reference Card for Headers, Footers and Page Numbers - pdf - Charles Kenyon
	Using Headers and Footers by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP - excellent and comprehensive web page
	Master Headers and footers in long Word 2007 documents by Katherine Murray, Mary Millhollon, and Beth Melton from Microsoft Word 2007 Inside Out
	Word 2010 Tutorial on Headers and Footers - Microsoft
	Chapter 19 on Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word 2010 Bible by Herb Tyson, MVP for info on Word 2007 - 2024
	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
	Removing Page Numbers by Charles Kenyon
	The Straight and Narrow: Using Columns by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP and Dave Rado, MVP.
	Letterhead in Headers - Template that can add itself to QAT
	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!
	How to prevent a Header/footer from being edited by Bill Coan, MVP
	How to set up a document with front matter numbered separately - 2007/2010/2013/2016/2019/2024 by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP
	How to number headings and figures in Appendices by Shawna Kelly
	Document Splitter by Greg Maxey - addin to break document into component documents
	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
	Use Alignment Tab Feature to set tabs relative to margins - especially valuable for Headers/footers
	Missing Page Number / Header / Footer Commands - greyed out - Charles Kenyon
	Page x of y in Word 2007-2024 - Charles Kenyon
	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.
	Add the catchwords from the top of the following page to the footer by Graham Mayor, MVP
	Add Page X of Y Building Blocks for Headers and Footers to Ribbon Versions of Word
	Watermarks in Word - Microsoft Support 2021
	How to Create and Save Your Own Custom Watermark by legal office guru Deborah Savadra (video)
	Build Reusable Headers and Footers in Word by legal office guru Deborah Savadra (video)
	Conditional Headers and Footers (Advanced) by Greg Maxey, MVP
	Microsoft Word 2010 Bible by Herb Tyson, MVP
	Shifting Gutter Position to Right Using Shapes in the Headers or Using Mirrored Margins - Answers page

	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.
	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.
	Line Numbering is a section property (although you can turn it off for individual lines) - see Section 3 in the image below
	(Word 2013 and later) Interrupt Collapsible Headings - not necessarily the best use for a section break

	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)-
	Changing in and out of column format. Do you perhaps want a Table instead?

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.

That was for the .doc format. The .docx format is better, but each section break still carries a great amount of formatting, much more than is obvious from looking at the document.

1. Choose Insert (tab) > Header.
2. Pick the Edit Header choice.
3. Your insertion point should be in the Header
4. Press Ctrl+R to align to the right side of the Header.
5. Type DRAFT Rough Outline.
6. Click the Go to Footer button to move to the footer.
7. By default in the Footer style there are already Center and Right Tabs set.
8. Press TAB once to move to the center of the Footer.
9. Click the Page Number button and pick the "Current Position" option - Plain Number.

 

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.

10. Press TAB once to move to the right side of the Footer.
11. Click the Date & Time button to insert the date. You can select a date format.

 

Warning  If you check the Update Automatically will insert an updating date that will change to the current date each time you print. (In previous versions this was the default.) See Using Date Fields in Microsoft Word

12. Click Close Header & Footer on the Header and Footer tools bar.
13. Switch to Print Layout to view your newly added Header and Footer.

Headers and Footers in Print Layout.  Headers and Footers will appear faded or gray in "Print Layout" view. They will print with full strength colors. If instead of seeing a Header or Footer you see a thin gray line between pages and it looks like you have no top or bottom margins, you are set to not view space between pages. If you put your mouse pointer over that line it will change as shown to the right. If you click once, you'll see the tool-tip shown here. Double-clicking will show you the Headers and footers with space between pages as shown below: This is what you will usually want when in Print Layout. You can also choose this under Options > Display (under the File tab in Word 2010-2024 and under the Office Button in Word 2007. (below)

AutoText in the Header/Footer Toolbar.  You can access Quick Parts including AutoText in the Header Footer Tools bar. Unfortunately, unlike in previous versions, it is not set up well for finding what you want. If you know the name of an entry, you can type that name and press the F3 key to insert it.

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  Sometimes you want a different header/footer. This is frequently used when the firm logo or partner's names appear on the first page of a letter. See How can I get a different header/footer on the second page?

Word 2007 - 2024 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. The Different First Page option is on the Header & Footer Tools context tab which comes up when a Header or footer is being edited. It is on that you'll find the options for "Different First Page" and "Different Even and Odd."

Note, the Different First Page option applies separately for each Section (unlike the Different Odd and Even option). In any section it will apply to both headers and footers.
Also, note that if a new Section is started following or in a Section that already set up to have a Different First Page, that option will be continued in the new Section. You can change this in the new section.
This can be disconcerting if Word inserts a section break for you when you change margins or columns within a page.

The Different Even and Odd 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. This option is just under the Different First Page option.

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. When you select this option, your current headers and footers become the odd-page-header and footers and the even-page headers and footers are displayed on even-numbered 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)

 

Tip  It is usually better to start at the top of your document when working with Headers and Footers.

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.

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. Quick Reference Card for Headers, Footers and Page Numbers Word comes with a number of built-in formats that are stored in building blocks. You can easily add a page number to your document under the Insert tab. Click on the Page Number button and you'll get a short menu giving a choice of positions as well as the option to format or remove page numbers. If you select one of the positions, you'll get a gallery view of your options (below). Note that this gallery has a scroll bar. (Don't see a gallery?)   The Page Number button on the left end of the Header and Footer Tools tab is the same as the one on the Insert tab.       Note that all of the positions except "Current Position" put the page number in the active Header or footer replacing everything else currently in that Header/footer. This includes the numbers in the page margins. If you have multiple headers/footers this command only changes the currently active header/footer. See Header/Footer Settings Recap. Warning about Page Number Insertion Repeat: Inserting page numbers using the gallery locations will replace current Headers or footers. If you already have a Header or footer and want a page number go into the Header / footer edit mode and insert a page number at the current position. This will not replace the Header / footer. You can also insert Page numbers by inserting Headers or Footers. A supplemental set of building blocks can be downloaded to handle the Page X of Y construction. Page X of Y Building Blocks The Page Number Galleries (Word 2007 and later) There are four Page Number Galleries (These are Building Block Galleries.) Current Position (these are inserted in document at the insertion point and can have various formatting) Top of Page (these go at the top of the page by replacing the current header) Bottom of Page (these go at the bottom the page by replacing the current footer) Page Margins (These are in frames or textboxes. Inserting one replaces the current header.) You can add your own formatted page numbers to one of these galleries by using the command at the bottom of the gallery. This will bring up a dialog box in which you can make choices as to Name, description, Gallery, Category, and Template. See Saving AutoText and Other Building Blocks for more direction on making these choices.

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. A very simple way to insert a basic { PAGE } field is to press Alt+Shift+P. This is called a keyboard shortcut and inserts the field formatted in the Page Number character style. If you ever need to insert this manually you also can do so through the Insert Field dialog. You can access this using Insert > Quick Parts > Field.   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 that would correspond to the Page field.) You may want to look at the screenshot (above) in full size. Right-click on it to do this. 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. See Pagination Fields for more on inserting different kinds of page number fields (PAGE, NUMPAGES, Section PAGES and DOCPROPERTY). See Spell Out Page Numbers for how to create the field codes needed to do that. i.e. { PAGE \*CardText \*CAPS }

You will probably want to understand how to format page numbers. For example, you may add a Table of Contents to your document and would like the page numbering of the front matter before the body of your document 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. See How to set up a document with front matter numbered separately.

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.

It is important to remember that page number formatting (including restarting page numbers or starting at some page other than 1) is a Section property. It can be changed with each new Section. When you add a new Section, everything continues as is from the previous Section. You can modify this in the new Section.

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.

 

Create a new blank document. Save As (your initials) Sections. (i.e. "ckk Sections.docx" becomes the document name) Type Confidential Employment Agreement ZZZ Company January 1, 2012 Choose Page Layout(tab) > Breaks. 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. Still on the Page Layout tab choose Orientation and select Landscape. Save the document. Press CTRL+HOME to get the top of the document. Click on the Insert tab. (What follows is manual method 1 to insert a page number) Click on the Footer button and choose Edit Footer. 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 2 Notice on the right that it says Link to Previous. Click the Link to Previous button in the Ribbon. This disconnects Section 2 footer from Section 1 footer. On the Page Number button select Format Page Number. 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 On the Page Number choose current position. Press your left arrow key once to move in front of the page number. Press the tab key to move the number to the middle of the footer (By default, there is a Center tab set in the footer style.) Go back to Edit Footer under Footer button Click the Show Next button to jump to the next footer. It should read: Footer Section 3. Turn off Link to Previous using the Link to Previous button on the Header/Footer Tools ribbon. Click Page Number Format under the Page Number button. The number format should already be Arabic numerals; 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 Tools Ribbon. Switch to Print Layout and make sure your page numbers are correct.

If you went through manual method 1, close that document without saving and reopen it. Otherwise, repeat steps one through 11 above. -- Click on the Insert tab. (What follows is manual method 2 to insert a page number) Click on the Footer button and choose Edit Footer. 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 2 Notice on the right that it says Link to Previous. Click the Link to Previous button in the Ribbon. This disconnects Section 2 footer from Section 1 footer. Press the Tab key to move to the center of the page (Center tab setting in the footer). Type PAGE \@ roman and select what you just typed. Press Ctrl+F9 to put field braces around it: { PAGE \@ roman }. Press the F9 key to see your page number: ii Select that and under the Page Number button select Format Page Number. Choose to Start At i. (You could have started with a simple PAGE field and edited its format to Roman numeral as well.) Press OK. Use the Show Next button to move to the Section 3 footer. Unlink the footer from the previous Section. Select the page number and format it to start at 1. Note that is already in Arabic number format. 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 Tools Ribbon. Switch to Print Layout and make sure your page numbers are correct. The above manual methods are important if you want to add page numbers to already existing footers (or Headers). What follows is the simplest way, but it will replace existing Headers or footers.

If you went through manual method 1 or 2, close that document without saving and reopen it. Otherwise, repeat steps one through 11 above. -- Click on the Insert tab. (What follows is the Insert Page Number Method.) Click on the Footer button and choose Edit Footer. 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 2 Notice on the right that it says Link to Previous. Click the Link to Previous button in the Ribbon. This disconnects Section 2 footer from Section 1 footer. On the Page Number button select: Bottom of Page - Plain Number 2 Notice this gives you a number centered in the bottom of the page. Select that number and on the Page Number drop down select Format Page Number. Choose lower-case Roman numerals and start at i. Press OK. Use the Show Next button to move to the Section 3 footer. Unlink the footer from the previous Section. Select the page number and format it to start at 1. Note that is already in Arabic number format. 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 Tools Ribbon. Switch to Print Layout and make sure your page numbers are correct. You can close and delete your practice document.

The Remove Page Numbers command under the Page Number button is a bit flakey. It will remove all page numbers that were inserted using the Insert at Top of Page, Bottom of Page and Page Margin commands. These are specially marked by Word as page numbers in some way. Those inserted manually or by "Current Location" are not so marked and will not be removed by this command. Others are Page fields. { page } Note, all page numbers are fields. The Page Numbers Inserted with locations are also inside specially marked regions that can be removed using the command. To see the field codes and remove them, go into the header/footer containing the page numbers and press Alt+F9. Delete the field. Then press Alt+F9 to again show field results instead of codes. Note also, if you use the different header/footer options so you have multiple headers in a Section, the Remove Page Numbers command will only remove the page number in the header/footer that applies to the current page.

See also Automatic Page Numbers Across Multiple Documents

Columns are a creature of Sections, like Headers and footers. The command to set them up is found under the Page Layout tab. More Columns... gives you a dialog box which gives you even more control. 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." Another choice is to have the column layout apply to the entire document. 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. The settings shown in the dialog box above are the default with 1 column. So, in a sense, you always have a column setting in Word. Other ways to insert a Column Break are the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Enter or under Breaks on the Page Layout tab. 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. I've been advising people about Word for more than twenty 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.

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 rarge 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 MVP FAQ page or  Microsoft Help article for more. It applies to all versions of Word starting with Word 2003 even though it does not mention recent versions.

This is included in the Sections chapter to alert the reader that Cover Pages can create anomalies in page numbering and Headers and footers. Word 2007-2024 allow you to insert a "Cover Page" in a Word document. There can be only one Cover Page and it is always at the very beginning of the document. This is true no matter where you are in the document when you insert it. The command to insert a Cover Page is on the Insert tab. Your Pages Group on the Insert tab may be compressed into a drop-down. What happens to your page numbering (and headers/footers) when you insert or remove a cover page is different depending on the Version of Word you are using. In Word 2007 the new cover page will be Page 1 of the document and will be included in the NumPages field numbering (the "y" of the Page X of Y structure). In later versions it is Page 0. In Word 2010 & 2016- 2024 (365), it is not included in the total page number (NUMPAGES) field. In Word 2013 it is included in the NUMPAGES field. Insertion of a Cover Page will make the setting for Section 1 of the document's header/footer "different first page." If that setting was already checked and there is already content in those areas, it will appear on the Cover Page unless occluded by Cover Page content. If the Cover Page is later removed, the "different first page" setting for that section will be unchecked and any content in that header/footer will be deleted from the document in Word 2007-2010. In Word 2013-2024 the option is unchecked but any different-first page header/footer content remains in the document, even though not displayed. If you add a new cover page/replacing this one, it is the same as removing a cover page and then inserting one. Again, any first-page header/footer content will be deleted in Word 2007-2010 by removal of a Cover Page. If you have different even and odd Headers/footers, the Header/footer displayed on the page following the Cover Page will be that for an even numbered page in Word 2007 and this page will be numbered "2;" in Word 2010-2024 the header/footer for the page following the Cover Page will be for an odd-numbered page and this page will be numbered "1." The document property "Pages" will always include the cover page in its count, regardless of the version of Word involved. If in a page x of y header or footer, you always need y to not count the cover page, you should use that instead in a computation field "Page { Page } of { = { DocProperty Pages } - 1 }}". Many, but not all, Cover Pages include graphics or Text Boxes that cover up any Header or footer that would otherwise display and print. I recently tried creating my own Cover Page, and adding that to the Cover Page Gallery. It works the same as the ones distributed with Word. This was in Word 2024 but should work in version 2016 and later. When creating the Cover Page Building Block no manual page break was included in the selection. The Cover Page Building Block insertion process supplies the page break. For more on doing this, please see Where Can Building Blocks Be Stored? See also: Front cover images in Microsoft Word report templates by ShaunaKelly

Key Points:

	The Remove Watermark command (under the Watermark button, under the Gallery) will remove all Watermarks in a document that were inserted using the Watermark button.
	If you have a complex Header setup before you insert Watermarks, you will have a complex problem inserting or modifying Watermarks.
	Watermarks are in Headers. That means you see a faded version of them when editing your document, if you see them at all. They will show up in printed versions and pdf. They will not show up in the editing view of the browser or mobile versions of Word, they will show up in the Reading view.
	Watermarks added using the Watermark feature have a special tag on the image so that the Watermark feature can manipulate/delete/replace it.
	Since all a Watermark is, is a semi-transparent graphic set to be behind text in a Header, you really do not need this feature at all. You can do the same thing yourself by editing the Header(s) in your document.

Problems that can arise and some work-arounds:

1. 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.
2. Insertion of a Watermark using the Watermarks feature will replace any existing Watermark that was inserted previously using the Watermarks feature.
   This is true regardless of how many Sections are present and whether any header/footer options are in use and whether or not they are linked.
3. 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.
4. If there was previously a Watermark in that type of header (primary/first-page/even-page) in a different unlinked section, the new watermark will replace it in that section regardless of where you are when you make the insertion.
5. You will need to go into the first Section Header (edit it) and select the Watermark image. Copy that to the Clipboard and paste it in unlinked Headers.
6. 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.
7. If you want a Watermark on only one page, you must manually place the image 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.
8. 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 above)
9. 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 as WordArt in Word.)

Inserting a Watermark on only the first page of a multi-page document (or on every page except the first page)

1. Remember, Watermarks are images that are in Headers. If you use the different first page setting for your Header before you insert the Watermark, it will appear only in the Header used for the page on which you insert the Watermark.
2. That is, if you use the Insert Watermark command when you are on the first page, that Watermark will appear only on the
   first page of that multi-page document. Again, the different first page setting must be in effect at that time.
3. If after you insert the Watermark, you switch on the different first page setting, the Watermark will disappear from your first page!
   It will appear on all following pages in that Section.
4. 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).

Inserting Watermarks on even or odd pages.

1. Remember, Watermarks are images that are in Headers. If you use the different odd and even setting for your Header
   before you insert the Watermark, it will appear only in the Header used for the page on which you insert the Watermark.
2. That is, if you use the Insert Watermark command when you are on an even-numbered page, that Watermark will appear
   only on the even-numbered pages of that multi-page document. Again, the different first page setting must be in effect at that time.
3. If after you insert the Watermark, you switch on the different even and odd page setting, the Watermark will disappear from your
   odd-numbered page! It will appear on all even-numbered pages in that Section.
4. 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).

Multiple Watermarks in a Word document

1. You cannot do this using the Watermark feature alone.
2. You can do it by copying a Watermark image (while editing the header in which it appears) and copying it to a different header.
3. If you do this and later insert a Watermark anywhere in the document using the Watermark feature, all other ones will disappear.
   If you do this and use the Remove Watermark command, all Watermarks created by the Watermark feature, including the pasted ones, will disappear.
4. You can do it by using any other image (one created by WordArt or another picture) and putting that in the applicable header.
   If you do this, it will not be manipulated using the Watermark feature. You will need to manipulate it manually.
   You will probably want to change the transparency or fade it.
5. I recommend that if you want multiple Watermarks or want them when using the Different-First-Page or Different-Even-and-Odd options,
   that you use the method of pasting graphics into those headers.
6. Likewise, if you want different Watermarks in different sections, I recommend you use the graphics method, not the Watermark tool.
7. See Watermark Anomalies Demonstration

Multiple Watermarks - a different method, of sorts

1. Remember that Watermarks are images in the Header
2. You can insert one Watermark and change its name for Word, so it does not think of it as a Watermark. (thank you Jay Freedman)
3. Insert the first Watermark using the Watermark insertion tools in Word.
4. On the Home tab, click Select > Selection Pane.
5. The watermark will be listed in the pane as "PowerPlusWaterMarkObject" (for a text object) or "WordPictureWaterMark" (for a picture object) followed by a large random number.
6. Click that name twice to make it editable, and change it to anything else -- then Word won't recognize it as a watermark.
   Note, you cannot use Delete Watermark on this now.
7. Now you can add another Watermark on a different page.

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.

I expand on these in the my page: No Copies - No Editing

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.

One of the best ways I've seen proposed is to put the watermark in a picture-picker Content Control and then set the properties of that Content Control to not allow deletion or editing.

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:

	No Copies - No Editing - No Changes
	Two Ways to Prevent Others From Deleting a Watermark

Can't delete the Watermark

If you can't delete a watermark, it was not inserted using the insert Watermark feature and is an older style Watermark which is an image (possibly words in a textbox) in the header.

It is also possible that this is in the footer, although that is far less likely.

You can select the image (textbox) and delete it.

See also: The Watermark that will not die! by legal office guru Deborah Savadra

Missing Page Number / Header / Footer / Watermark Commands - greyed out - Charles Kenyon

Why is the spacing off in the footer of a landscape page?

1. Check first to see if there are Section breaks setting off the landscape page.
2. Even though the footer will look the "Link to Previous," that option must be turned off.
3. After turning it off, move the center tab to 5.5 inches and the right tab to 10 inches.
4. 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 Draft View, go to the Insert tab and Click on Header or Footer to Edit. If you switch to Print Layout View, double-click in the Header or footer and the Header & Footer Tools 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.

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:

1. Turn off background printing.
2. Turn off display of hidden text if you have any in your document.
3. 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.

My Insert Header / Footer menu doesn't give me any options.

There are  no options for different Headers / footers. What it says is just More Headers / footers from office.com and save selection as Header / footer.

Header and footer options are stored as building blocks. Sometimes this file can become corrupted.

Here is how to handle it. The solution is a little different depending on your Word version.

I set my document for a "Different First Page" but that first-page 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 when you have multiple Sections on one 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 Sections without notice whenever you:

	Change Margins (not Indents, Margins)
	Change the Page Numbering
	Change Page Orientation
	Change Column Arrangement

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 July 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.

If all else fails, you can set page numbering continuous throughout the document and then restart it as needed. Continuous Page Numbering Add-In

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 What happens when you start a new Section?

See Header/Footer settings recap.

This tool can help you figure out what is happening:
Word Toolkit for Advanced Management of Headers and Footers

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.

My Insert Page Number menu doesn't give me any options.

There are  no options for different page numbers. What it says is just More page numbers from office.com and save selection as page number.

Page number options are stored as building blocks. Sometimes this file can become corrupted. Here is how to handle it. The solution is a little different depending on your Word version.

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. The default setting is to have them linked.

The first page is 2 even though I have the document set to start page numbering at 1. There is only one section. If I start page numbering at 0, the first page is 0.

(Status bar showing page 2 as first page of document.)

The section start is set for an even page. This is controlled on the Layout tab of the Page Setup Dialog.

Again, the easiest way to get to this dialog is to double-click in the horizontal ruler.

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.

The first page is 2 even though I have the document set to start page numbering at 1. There is only one section. If I start page numbering at 0, the first page is 0.

(Status bar showing page 2 as first page of document.)

The section start is set for an even page. This is controlled on the Layout tab of the Page Setup Dialog.

Again, the easiest way to get to this dialog is to double-click in the horizontal ruler. See Even Page section break.

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:

1. Record a macro in which you visit each of the page layout dialogs
2. the margin dialog,
3. the page size dialog,
4. the Columns dialog,
5. and the orientation dialog.
6. OK out of each dialog box.
7. 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 2024/365.

 

How to have Word tell you which Section you are in.

 

The status bar can tell you which Section you are in. Note that the default status bar shown above does not! This is also true in Word 2010-2024/365.

To get what you want displayed you need to right-click on the status bar. You will then be able to add/delete things from it.

After checking "Section" you would see the following:

For anyone having trouble with this and using Word 2010 or later, I strongly recommend downloading the Word Toolkit for Advanced Management of Headers and Footers from Lene Fredborg's site.
It was developed by Shauna Kelly and implemented by other Word MVPs and gives access to the following tool:

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   For anyone having trouble with this, I recommend downloading the Word Toolkit for Advanced Management of Headers and Footers from Lene Fredborg's site. It was developed by Shauna Kelly and implemented by other Word MVPs especially Bill Coan.

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 except when the section break is a continuous section. The formatting of the page numbering will also be copied into the new Section. Line numbering will continue. If you had a header or footer set to be different first page, that will be the setting in the new Section.