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Headers & Footers

Last Updated: May 6, 2003

Using headers with documents more than a page long makes it easier to put the pages together in the correct order when they have become separated and mixed with other documents. Page 149 explains what a header and footer are, and the perils of using both the page numbering function and a header or footer in the same document.

The instructions here are for simple headers and footers. Investigate the other items on the tool bar, which in Word Perfect is the last tool bar on the top of the screen and in Word is under the header box. It is possible to have a header say "Page X of Y pages, or to designate a header for only an odd or an even page. Spacing between the header and the text can also be adjusted, as can the distance from the top of the page to where the header is printed on the page. Ten minutes of experimenting with the various icons and options will save you time in the long run! Just be sure to save your document before you experiment.

To create a header in:

 

 

Word Perfect

  1. On the menu line, click Insert>Header>Footer.
  2. Select either Header or Footer by clicking in the appropriate circle. In 2000 Select either Header A or B or Footer A or B.
  3. Click on the Create Button. The screen you are presented with looks like a regular document screen except on the title bar at the top of the screen you will see Header A (or B, or Footer A or B depending on which you have selected). Create your header. To:
    1. Left Justify: Enter the text
    2. Center Justify: Tap Shift-F7 and enter your text
    3. Right Justify: Tap Alt-F7 and enter your text or page number or whatever!
      (As in the text, you can have one piece of text left justified, another center justified and still another right justified.)
  4. To place a page number as part of the header, put your insertion point where you wish the page number to be and on the tool bar click on the square with the number sign (#) and a 1 in it, and click on "Page Number" on the drop down box. (The header tool bar may be on the side of the screen or the top. If it is not visible, click on View/Tool Bars and select Property Bar)
    (The page number icon is a little to the right of the middle of the center of the fourth line of the screen.) Although it will look the same if you just enter the page number, but the number you enter will print on ALL pages - you must use the symbol.
  5. When you are through creating the header, click on the small "X" on the second line in the upper right corner of the screen. This closes the header screen and takes you back to the document.
    (Clicking on the top "X" will close Word Perfect.)
  6. NOTE: If you are viewing the document in draft mode, you will not see the header on the screen, but it will print. To see the header, on the menu line click on View>Page.

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Word

  1. On the menu line click on View>Header and Footer.
  2. A dotted rectangle with "Header" in the upper left corner appears with a tool bar just below.
  3. Enter the text for the header. To:
    1. Left Justify: Enter text at the location of the insertion point.
    2. Center Justify: Tap the tab key once and enter text
    3. Right Justify: Tap the tab key twice and enter text
  4. NOTE: In a header, you can have text on the same line that is left, centered and right justified. (To do this in other parts of the text requires a table.)
  5. To place a page number in the header, position the insertion point where you wish the page number to be and click on the square with a # sign in it. You must use the # sign. Although the result looks the same as if you entered the page number, the number will NOT change as the pages do. To enter the total pages, after entering the page number, type space, then of then click on the icon with two plus (++) marks.
  6. When the header is complete, click on the close button at the right end of the tool bar.
    (If the document on which you are working is in what is called "Normal" mode, the screen will not show the header or footer, but it will print. To see it on screen, click on View>Page Layout.)

For questions or broken links please email the author .

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