PLS HELP! Sec 2 pagin. formatting overrides Sec 1

[Shutei]

I have a pagination problem that is most perplexing. I am working on
300 page book. In order to meet the ed.'s specification that firs
pages of chapters have numbers centered at the bottom, while subsequen
chapter pages are numbered at the top, I tried to create a 'separate
section for the first page verses subsequent pages, so that th
features could be changed as required. I worked forward, making ne
sections as I went (60 in all), and alternating Bottom Ctr and To
Center where necessary. With each new section, I made the paginatio
continuous from the previous section. When I thought I had finished,
looked back to find, to my horror, that all previous formatting o
chapter opening pages had been overriden by the later pagination in th
same chapter, and that the net result was that ALL sections in the boo
had TOP pagination. Can anyone tell me why my sections are no
watertight and why page number placement cannot be formatted t
alternate Upper/Lower? In case it is important, section breaks were al
manually inserted, typically at the end of the page before the ne
section was to start. I always checked to see that the new section wa
one number higher than the previous one. Thank you. Judit

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP - DELETE UPPERCASE CHARACT]

Hi Shutei,

You must have done something wrong, because if you had a different first
page layout in each section, that would have had the bottom centre page
numbering and the balance of the pages would have had the top right.

If you run the following macro on the document, and then go and set up the
page numbering in the first section of the document, it should rectify your
problem:

Dim i As Long
ActiveDocument.Sections(1).PageSetup.DifferentFirstPageHeaderFooter = True
For i = 2 To ActiveDocument.Sections.Count
ActiveDocument.Sections(i).PageSetup.DifferentFirstPageHeaderFooter =
True
ActiveDocument.Sections(i).Footers(wdHeaderFooterFirstPage).LinkToPrevious
= True
ActiveDocument.Sections(i).Headers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).LinkToPrevious
= True
Next i

--
Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.
Hope this helps
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I think you are going about this the wrong way. It sounds as if you have
created a separate section for the first page of each chapter. Instead, just
create a separate section for each chapter and use the "Different first
page" setting on the Layout tab of Page Setup. This gives you a separate
First Page Header/Footer. You put your top page number in the Header and the
drop folio for the first page in the First Page Footer. You can also check
"Different odd and even" if you want page numbers on the outside of the page
(left in the Even Page Header and right in the Odd Page Header).

Once you've got one section right, all the rest will follow. The way you
have it set up, you have to unlink every section because each one is
different from the previous one.

It also sounds as if you've been trying to use Insert | Page Numbers. Don't!
That feature is very convenient for simple single-section documents but
entirely too difficult to use for complex multi-section documents. Always
insert the page number using the Insert Page Number button on the Header and
Footer toolbar (View | Header and Footer to get to the header pane; use the
Switch Between Header and Footer button on the H&F toolbar to get to the
footer pane; use Show Next and Show Previous to navigate between
headers/sections).

 

[Shutei]

Thank you! It took me way too long to fix the huge mess I had made wit
all those needless section breaks and to put new ones back in, o
account of complexities involving where page breaks should be place
exactly and which kind is most suitable in any given case (are thei
any detailed explanations of page breaks?), but thanks to you, I hav
understood my error. Not only had I not known about delinkin
footers/headers but also that alternating position feature had elude
me, too. (I have only been using Word a short time.) I had also bee
using the more cumberson INSERT /PAGE NO feature, as well you guessed.

With gratitude to you and the other respondent who supplied the macr
(wish I understood how to use those! someday). Thank you! Judit

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

There is only one kind of page break, and it should be used very sparingly.
There are indeed various kinds of section breaks. In a case where you will
have a different header/footer on the first page of a section, you will want
at least a "Next page" break (not "Continuous"). If you have "Different odd
and even" as well, you may want to use an "Odd page" break. The only time
you would be likely to use an "Even page" break is when the layout for the
beginning of each chapter/section is a two-page spread (as in some
textbooks).

 

[Shutei]

Suzanne, I much appreciate your further help on clarifying the differen
forms of section break. You have written,

"The only time you would be likely to use an "Even page" break is whe
the layout for the beginning of each chapter/section is a two-pag
spread (as in some textbooks)."

I had misunderstood the meaning of the term; that is, I thought on
should insert an 'even page section break' just before (i.e., at th
bottom of the page before) an even page (a left hand page) in the ms
Similarly, I had thought that an odd page section break was to be use
to break for an odd page, immediately following.

With these misunderstandings, it is a wonder that things turned ou
fine in the end. Other small questions, if you don't mind:

(1) Does it matter whether the 'next page' section break is inserted a
the bottom of the previous page before one wishes the new section t
begin or instead at the very top of the next page? I normally do th
former, but I have a tutorial that asks for the latter.

(2) I have noticed that when using the formatting menu on th
pagination bar to get at the 'different first page' feature (for
section header or footer page formatting), if one does not check th
feature 'new page,' the feature will not be displayed. Is thi
correct?

Thank you again! Judit

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I think there are some misunderstandings here:

1. When you insert an Odd Page break, the next page will be an Odd page even
if the previous page is an odd page. Word will insert a blank even page
between them; that is, you force an odd page (whereas a Next Page break
could give you an even page). Similarly, when you insert an Even Page break,
the next page will be even, and Word will insert a blank odd page if
necessary. When you just want the section to start on the next page--odd or
even, whichever it turns out to be--you use a Next Page break.

2. When you insert a break, you are not inserting it at the bottom or top of
a page per se; it is between the pages. But it will be displayed at the
bottom of the page if there is room (and it will always be displayed in
Normal view). The display will include a description of the type of break it
is.

Although you can apply the "Different first page" and "Different odd and
even" settings for any section, the results may be unpredictable with
Continuous section breaks, especially if a section is entirely contained
within one page (a multi-column section, for example, in the middle of a
page). Even though no header or footer for that center section is displayed,
if it happens to wrap over a page break, then the section's header(s) and
footer(s) may turn up unexpectedly. Provided the Continuous section is
formatted "Same as Previous," this shouldn't cause any disruption, but it
can result in some very bizarre effects otherwise (another common problem is
page numbering being restarted in an inaccessible center section). But I
believe you have correctly surmised that the header and footer for any given
page are established by the section at the top of the page. It would seem
logical for the footer to be established by the section at the bottom of the
page, but I don't believe it works this way.

 

[Shutei]

I greatly appreciate your lucid explanation of odd and even page sectio
breaks. I had not grasped, as I now do, the forced page nature of thi
action. Thank you so much for your time and patience. Judit