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Edit Header Causes Header to Disappear

I have a Word document that includes headers and footers. I normally work in Print Layout view and can see the Header and Footer text in this view. They are also visible in Print Preview and on the printed copy. When I try to edit the Header or Footer, the text disappears. If I click Show/Hide, a single paragraph mark is displayed.

Any ideas?

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How are you trying to edit the Header or Footer?

Is this a case of the White Space between pages being hidden?

If you move the mouse cursor to the top of the page until it turns into two vertically opposed arrows, does tip "Double click to show white space" appear?

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - MVP Office Apps & Services (Word)
dougrobbinsmvp@gmail.com
It's time to replace ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ with ‘Excellence, Opportunity & Civility’ - V Ramaswamy

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How are you trying to edit the Header or Footer?

Is this a case of the White Space between pages being hidden?

If you move the mouse cursor to the top of the page until it turns into two vertically opposed arrows, does tip "Double click to show white space" appear?

I edit the header/footer by double-clicking in the visible zone. The footer currently contains an incorrect reference.

I'm familiar with the White Space issue and it's not hidden.

I can see the existing footer text until I double-click the footer zone. The same applies to other Footers using the Next and Previous section buttons.

Richard
Office 2013 on Windows 10 Pro

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If the reference is provided by a field, then results might be unpredictable when you view the footer. What do you see if you press Alt+F9?
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How are you trying to edit the Header or Footer?

Is this a case of the White Space between pages being hidden?

If you move the mouse cursor to the top of the page until it turns into two vertically opposed arrows, does tip "Double click to show white space" appear?

I edit the header/footer by double-clicking in the visible zone. The footer currently contains an incorrect reference.

I'm familiar with the White Space issue and it's not hidden.

I can see the existing footer text until I double-click the footer zone. The same applies to other Footers using the Next and Previous section buttons.

A suggestion, turn on display of non-printing formatting marks. Any section breaks?

Showing non-printing formatting marks in Microsoft Word

The footer that prints and is displayed may not be in the section you are editing. When you click in the footer area this should not happen, but try it anyway.

Each section in Word has three headers and three footers, whether you see them or not. Each page in Word may have multiple sections. Documents converted from Wordperfect or the web often have multiple sections in a single page.

Sections / Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word 2007-2013

Volunteering to "pay forward" the help I've received in the Microsoft user community.


Charles Kenyon
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
wordfaq[at]addbalance[dot]com

Legal site: https://addbalance.com

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Charles,

When I turn on non-printing formatting marks, the footer is blank, except for one paragraph mark.

Richard
Office 2013 on Windows 10 Pro

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If you want to send me a copy of the document, I will investigate the issue.
Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - MVP Office Apps & Services (Word)
dougrobbinsmvp@gmail.com
It's time to replace ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ with ‘Excellence, Opportunity & Civility’ - V Ramaswamy

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I'm not talking about what the footer looks like, but rather the body of the document. You need to look for section breaks. Each section break potentially contains three different footers.
Volunteering to "pay forward" the help I've received in the Microsoft user community.


Charles Kenyon
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
wordfaq[at]addbalance[dot]com

Legal site: https://addbalance.com

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Charles,

Yes, I understand the different footers (odd page, even page, ???). Will check. The document owner's out at the moment. Will get back soon.

Doug,

Sorry I can't send you this.

Richard
Office 2013 on Windows 10 Pro

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Replace the text in the body of the document with gobbledegook and send it.
Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - MVP Office Apps & Services (Word)
dougrobbinsmvp@gmail.com
It's time to replace ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ with ‘Excellence, Opportunity & Civility’ - V Ramaswamy

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Replace the text in the body of the document with gobbledegook and send it.

For gobbledegook or other filler text, see

The rand "virus": or how to insert dummy text into a document

Volunteering to "pay forward" the help I've received in the Microsoft user community.


Charles Kenyon
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
wordfaq[at]addbalance[dot]com

Legal site: https://addbalance.com

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Last updated May 5, 2024 Views 24,978 Applies to: