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Word 2010/2013 Multiple Sections, Remove empty paragraph in header

The margins are 0.25" all around (top, bottom, left, right, header, footer).

The document has three sections with a header only for the middle section.  All three sections have a footer.  The header/footers are different for odd/even.

When the header and footers are edited, the first shows only a paragraph mark, the second has the appropriate header, and the third section has only a paragraph mark.  When editing the document, the first header "goes away" and the empty paragraph takes no space. The second section header appears correctly. However, the third section with an empty paragraph shows and prints the empty paragraph which moves the body down by a "line".

How can I get the third section to not show/print the empty paragraph?

Thanks
The behavior after you have deleted the content in a header or footer is different between versions. Sometimes the paragraph mark will be removed along with the text, and other times it will remain. I haven't seen any inconsistencies within the same document, but I'm not surprised to learn about it.

What you can do is format the paragraph in 1 point font size, set spacing before/after to zero, and set the line spacing to "Exactly" 1 point. You can also apply hidden text formatting if you wish.
Stefan Blom
Microsoft 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator (Office)
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
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The three document sections were created, paginated, and "unlinked" before adding the header to the second section; therefore no content was added to the third section.

It seems that once the third section header is edited, then the header becomes visible. Can the visibility be changed with VBA? I have searched the object model and MSDN but have not found a solution.

Wouldn't changing the font size to 1pt offset the body by 1pt rather than 12pts?


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If a single (empty) paragraph in the header is pushing the document body down, then your top and header margins are not set correctly. By default, the top margin is 1" and the header margin is 0.5". This permits several lines of header text before the top margin is affected. If you have changed the top margin to be less than 1" (perhaps even less than 0.5"), then you need to change the header margin (in section 3) to be less than the top margin.
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thank you, but that does not explain why the header "activates" for subsequent, non-linked sections - regardless of page and header/footer margins.

I tried to find the child object and property for ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Headers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range that defines an "active" header.

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Last updated May 15, 2023 Views 3,506 Applies to: