formatting headers/footers

[grlgeek]

Background:
Corporate networked environment with hundreds of employees and a typing pool
of typists for typing and editing documents. We use global templates with a
module that, whenever a document is saved the document accesses the doc
footer, deletes all existing data, sets the document page setup - different
first page to 0 (turns it off) then gets the current date, doc name and
username and inserts into the footer. This way when a doc is printed, the
footer includes the information, and if the document needs further editing,
it can be returned to the last typist who had typed the docment. If another
typist is tasked with doing the edits, the footer will then be replaced with
their information.

Current Issue:
I need to create a document that is a standard template/guideline to be used
for a business letter.
Page one does not need a header - as it is the first page of the letter to
be printed on company letterhead. But it does need the footer for
printing, routing and filing purposes.
Page 2 and beyond need a header inserted that gives the project name and
page number of #s for the rest of the document, and we have the footer on
every page of the document so that if pages get separated in the hard copy
we are able to put them together again.

In most cases we could use a section break at the end of page one, and set
the header to be different from previous and the footer to be same as
previous.

But, in this case, the document will require require additions by the typist
to fill in the paragraphs on page one.

For example the document would be setup as a standard business letter:

Date

Name/Address of recipient

Subject/Project information

Dear Mr:

This letter is in regards to project <<insert project>> and contract
<<insert contract>> blah, blah, blah for a paragraph or two and then the
information begins to break down into autonumbering to define the proposed
contract - but where the Autonumbering and paragraph formatting is set, the
text that follows is empty.

the following is an example of the sections covered in the contract:

1. this is section one
1.1 this is sub 1 section one
1.2 this is sub 2 section one

2. this is section two
2.2 this is sub 2 section 2

***********
and so on.
Now, in the template format, the first page break happens in the middle of
the section 2 numbering. So with no text in there, putting a section break
between 2.2 and 2.3 will work for the template. But when the typist begins
inserting the proper text it will cause the section break to shift further
down the document and cause issues with the footers on the final document.

We are trying to make this document as dummy proof as possible with the
least amount of steps in formatting needed to be taken by the typists in the
typing pool.

Currently, when the template is saved, since the "different first page" is
turned off - it forces the header to show up on page one. If we turn it
on, it causes the footer on page one to dissappear, but this footer is
necessary on page one for filing, routing and delivery to the proper
employee.

I'm having a brain lapse in figuring out a way around this. Any advise or
assistance would be appreciated.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I haven't attempted to follow all that but will merely say that the usual
way to approach templates for letters is to use the "Different first page"
setting to permit the First Page Header to be blank (for preprinted
letterhed) or to contain a letterhead. You can then put whatever you need in
the Header (for the second and subsequent pages). The First Page Footer and
Footer can be identical or different as required.

 

[grlgeek]

I haven't attempted to follow all that but will merely say that the usual
way to approach templates for letters is to use the "Different first page"
setting to permit the First Page Header to be blank (for preprinted
letterhed) or to contain a letterhead. You can then put whatever you need in
the Header (for the second and subsequent pages). The First Page Footer and
Footer can be identical or different as required.

The Save module in the global template resets different first page to 0
before each save. It then clears the footer contents and inserts <date> -
<filename> - <username> into footer. This must be updated in the footer on
All pages in a file.

Its a global template module so this is applied to every save on every
document.

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Bottom posted to keep OP's flow.

The Save module in the global template resets different first page to 0
before each save. It then clears the footer contents and inserts <date> -
<filename> - <username> into footer. This must be updated in the footer
on
All pages in a file.

Its a global template module so this is applied to every save on every
document.

Surely the simple solution is to:

a) change your template so that the footer information (both first footer
and following page footer) is set up using fields. All these items are
routinely included in documents in this way - use SAVEDATE for the date the
document was last saved, or CREATEDATE if you want the date it was created.

b) change the global template so it doesn't mess with the page layout, but
does update fields. The easiest way of updating the footer is to do a view
swap into Print Preview and back.

If there is some reason why the macro really does need to directly write to
the footer, then write it to the first page footer as well as the normal
footer and leave the page layout alone. That is, write the same text to

ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Footers(wdHeaderFooterFirstPage).Range.Text

as you write to

ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Footers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range.Text

If you can't get at the global macro but need a way of ameliorating the
situation at the coal face, then see if you can match the footer information
with fields in the first page footer (that will spring back into life when
you switch the first page layout on again). |Or as a last resort you could
write a macro that will turn the first page back on, pick up the ordinary
footer and insert it in first page footer. Note that you'll need to remove
the extra paragraph break you get if you just set

ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Footers(wdHeaderFooterFirstPage).Range.Text = _
ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Footers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range.Text

 

[grlgeek]

Sorry, I didn't realize the standard in this group was for top-posting.
I'll top post and I've trimmed my previous info so its a bit clearer.

Thank you for your suggestions and I'm going to try some of your stuff.

I have access to the global template modules to make edits, so I am going
to try your section suggestions.

I can't use fields in the footer for a couple reasons. 1. we use a
document management software for file storage that stores username, date
and filename in a sql database format. and 2. I could implement the new
footer w/ form fields on the normal.dot for all new documents and go thru
thousands of templates to add to them - (but wouldn't be able to update
them properly at that point) but we also have hundreds of thousand
documents in the system that would possibly be affected by this kind of
change - a daunting task to say the least.

So I just need to work the logic out here.

1. Turn off different first page, but also get the save to copy footer to
page 2

2. allow for section breaks that use "same as previous" (but this has been
known to lead to bugs and corrupted documents in the past, so its best to
avoid).

Oh hell with it - if Admin Assistants actually knew how to use Word we
wouldn't have this problem in the first place, but the job pool in that
area is so limited these days its pathetic. Its a sad day when the
network administrator is the most knowledgable at Word, Excel, PPT and
other office related software in the company.

 

[Margaret Aldis]

No worries re the posting - we don't do top/bottom/in-line flamewars in here
;-)

Word holds the values for the first page H&F whether you have different
first page on or off - that's why you get your header back when you switch
manually. So there shouldn't be an order of work problem - just make sure
you set the first page footer at the same time as the primary one.

If you need to cater for multi-section documents, overriding footers that
are not Same As Previous, you can do that by iterating through the Sections
collection. But since Same as Previous is the default, that situation can
only arisen if someone has gone into H&F view and explicitly turned it off.
In the unlikely event that they actually knew what they were doing, perhaps
setting a footer for a landscape page or removing a footer on page with a
large table or figure, you might not be too popular. A warning message about
multiple sections might be nicer?

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Don't put anything in the header/footer for normal.dot if you want to be
able to produce labels (and possibly envelopes) with Word. Create a separate
document template for your new documents instead.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
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