Headers, footers, AutoText, and hard returns

[bufossil]

I am using Word 2003 on a Windows XP platform.

I have created AutoText for a Word template, including HeaderOdd,
HeaderEven, FooterOdd, FooterFirst, and FooterEven.

The AutoText entry for HeaderOdd, for example, contains: Chapter {Field}:
{Field}.

When I open the template, view the header, and insert the AutoText, Word
puts a hard return into the header, and creates an empty row of space under
the AutoText. Word does the exact same thing when I insert the AutoText into
the footer. The hard return does NOT exist in the AutoText I created.

In the empty template, when I select View > Header and Footer, there is a
paragraph marker already in the Header field, and it is bold, and I can't
change it or delete it. There is also an omnipresent paragraph marker in the
otherwise empty footer field. I don't know whether or not these paragraph
markers are responsible for the hard returns, just thought I would mention it.

If you know what is causing the hard returns in the headers and footers, and
if there are instructions in the online help that explains how to solve it,
please give me a couple of key words to help me find the online help topic.

Thanks for your help.

Tim

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

May I suggest a different approach? In your template you will, I assume,
have enabled "Different first page" and "Different odd and even." Insert two
temporary page breaks so that the template contains three pages. This will
give you access to all three headers and footers. Insert the desired content
in each. Delete the page breaks. Although you can't see the odd and even
header and footer, Word will remember them and use them as needed. No need
for AutoText entries.

The problem here is that whenever you paste or insert content into a header
or footer, you almost invariably end up with an extra empty paragraph. For
example, if you copy the content from one header/footer and paste it into
another, no matter how carefully you select the text to exclude the
paragraph mark in the selection to be copied, and no matter that you select
the paragraph mark when you paste, you'll still end up with an extra, empty
paragraph. That being the case, if you can adopt the solution proposed
above, you'll have much less work and frustration.

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