Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Copying Headers and Footers.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 22, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365
If you have developed two documents that are closely related (perhaps they are even different versions of the same information), you may want to copy headers or footers from one document to the other. This is easy to do using standard editing techniques:
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2023-08-22 23:54:44
PReinie
I usually just make a copy of the "source" document and change the name of that document to the new name, then open it and remove all the text. (Ctrl-a, Delete (key)). Or delete just the text that won't apply to the new document.
Most often the header and footer info are the same except the document name and/or path, so click on that and F9 update it to the current name (and pat) of the document.
2023-07-23 05:51:36
Roy Lasris
Another approach for 'transferring' headers/footers from one document to another:
1. Copy all the body text of the target document into memory. (Ctrl-A/Ctrl-C will work.) Close.
2. Open and then 'SaveAs' the source document (with the desired h/f's) using the name of the target. (This, of course, overwrites the target with the source's content, including the desired h/f's).
3. With the new target, press Ctrl-A (select all) and then Ctrl-V (replace with the target's original text). Save. Mission accomplished.
This works when you also want -- or at least willing to accept -- the styles of the old document to rule the target document.
2023-07-22 07:36:09
Paul Stregevsky
It works unless the header is pointing to a field code, like TITLE, that hasn't been defined in the second document. Then you're see an error message where the field code is missing. You can then define it in the new document. But you'll have to know what the field is called.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here:
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