Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 4, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021
Jake has a document that is created automatically by a program other than Word. The document has many pages in it, but each page is created as a separate section. Jake is looking for a way to quickly format the document so that the headers and footers are the same, beginning with the second section of the document. (The first page, which is also its own section, contains a cover sheet.)
You can make the necessary changes manually by following these steps:
If you have quite a few headers in your document, these steps can take a while to perform. You'll also need to perform them for all the footers in the document. (The only caveat is that you must switch to display the footers either before or after step 3.) If you have to routinely do this with many documents, then the process becomes even more tedious.
The solution for the tedium is to create a macro that will do the necessary changes for you. Consider the following macro:
Sub MakeSame() Dim J As Integer Dim K As Integer If ActiveDocument.Sections.Count > 2 Then For J = 3 To ActiveDocument.Sections.Count For K = 1 To ActiveDocument.Sections(J).Headers.Count ActiveDocument.Sections(J).Headers(K).LinkToPrevious = True Next K For K = 1 To ActiveDocument.Sections(J).Footers.Count ActiveDocument.Sections(J).Footers(K).LinkToPrevious = True Next K Next J End If End Sub
The macro checks to see if there are at least three sections in the document. If there are, then it begins to make changes starting with the third section. It steps through all the headers and footers for each section, making sure that they are set to be the same as the previous section.
Once you are done running this macro, just edit the header or footer for the second section and make sure it is set the way you want.
Note:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7541) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Quickly Formatting Footers in Documents with Many Sections.
Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!
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