Footer strange behaviior

[joe925c]

XP Word 2007.
Document with 15 chapters. The page footer between page 15-1 and 15-3 shows
the following problem (note that the page number is counted correctly in the
sequence). Originally, the footer content was same as previous page but the
same as previous section tab was off (unlinked) and the page number showed
only "2" not "15-2". Linking to previous had no affect. So deleted the Footer
content (select..backspace) and set to previous and nothing. Set a new footer
with text and page number with footer unlinked and page number still "2".
Linked it to previous and the whole footer test disappeared. Any ideas what
is wrong?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

There are several issues here:

1. Same as Previous/Link to Previous affects only like headers/footers. From
your description, it would appear that you have "Different odd and even"
enabled, which means that you have a separate Odd Page Footer (which shows
the page number correctly, including the chapter number) and Even Page
Footer (which doesn't). When you link or unlink to "previous," you are
connecting or breaking the connection to the odd or even page footer in the
previous section; there is no link or connection between the odd and even
page footers in the same section.

2. Number format can be changed for a given section; so presumably you can
enable or disable "Include chapter number" for a given section. Since this
can be done irrespective of whether headers/footers are linked or not, it
doesn't seem reasonable to me that some page numbers would be displayed
correctly and some not (in the same section), though that seems to be what
is happening.

I assume the 15 is in fact coming from the "Include chapter number" feature
and is not added as ordinary text?

I don't see anything in the above that seems likely to solve your problem
(though it may further your understanding of the issues involved), so if you
can't get it fixed, feel free to send me the document (or part of it), and
I'll take a look.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[joe925c]

Suzanne,

The "15" is coming from the "include the chapter number" not typed in.

I cannot find any odd/even page section breaks in the entire document. After
the Title and TOC pages, include chapter number is on all pages and Chapter
15 is the correct one for the chapter in question.

I Opened the document again that had the footer text/page number format in
it. The page number shows the correct 15-2 value (The TOC shows only "2"). I
then linked the footer and as before the entire footer line disappears and
the footer tab show "same as previous". Previous and subsequent page footers
are not affected (TOC still shows "2"). Unlinked page 2 footer and
re-inserted the footer line (via footer and selecting format desired). Line
came in before with page 15-2 indicated (still "2" in TOC). Then changed text
in footer. That change did not show up in the prior and subsequent pages.
For those pages the footer was identical to 15-1 with the correct page
numbers present (15-1, 15-2, 15-3 and 15-2 (subsequent pages, 15-3, 15-4, are
unlinked.

If we cannot solve this based on above info and you are willing to take a
look at the file I will send it to you. It is a docx file of 501KB.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You are confusing odd/even page breaks with the "Different odd and even"
setting that gives you separate headers and footers for odd and even pages;
without that enabled, I don't see how you could possibly have a different
page number format on page 2 of a section from pages 1 and 3 (admittedly,
even with it, I still don't see how it's possible). Go ahead and send the
file.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org