Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. 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: Deleting All Headers and Footers.
If you work with documents you receive from other people, one of the tasks you may routinely need to do is delete all the headers and footers in the documents. One way to do this is to simply select the various headers and footers and delete them, but if the document contains many sections, doing so can be very time consuming. (Particularly if you consider that each section can have up to three different headers and footers.)
Repetitious, time-consuming tasks are always a prime candidate for macros; this is no exception. The following macro will zip right through each section of a document, deleting all the headers and footers that have been defined.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. 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: 
Sub RemoveHeadAndFoot()
Dim oSec As Section
Dim oHead As HeaderFooter
Dim oFoot As HeaderFooter
For Each oSec In ActiveDocument.Sections
For Each oHead In oSec.Headers
If oHead.Exists Then oHead.Range.Delete
Next oHead
For Each oFoot In oSec.Footers
If oFoot.Exists Then oFoot.Range.Delete
Next oFoot
Next oSec
End Sub
This macro is very powerful—it doesn't ask if you want to proceed, nor does it consider what may be included in the headers and footers. It simply deletes them all, leaving your document with none. If you regularly process quite a few documents, you can easily assign the macro to the Quick Access Toolbar or a shortcut key.
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 (10221) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Deleting All Headers and Footers.
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2019-02-07 23:14:06
Michael L
I received an error when dimming as HeaderFooter. I had to change to Object for it to work correctly. Since the variables are never re-assigned in this sub, this led to me trying it without variables at all and it worked fine. For example, instead of "For Each oHead In oSec.Headers", I used "For Each Object In Section.Headers". Even though it works, I have a feeling this is not a good practice, or he would have written it that way in the first place. Could someone please tell me why?
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