How do I delete empty headers and footers?

S

sister_in_aa

I opened a saved document to use it in another and took the footers out but
now the empty footer is still there. How do I delete empty headers and
footers?
 
G

grammatim

You can't. If a document ever had headers or footers, they'll never go
away.

But you can move them outside of anywhere they could interfere with
you, on the Layout page of the Page Setup panel.
 
B

Beth Melton

Are you saying you still see a paragraph mark in the header/footer? If so,
select the paragraph mark you see and press delete. Make sure you select the
paragraph mark and press Delete instead of clicking in the header/footer and
pressing Backspace. If it doesn't disappear then what version of Word are
you using? I recall this was an issue at one time but I don't recall which
version. (Word 200 I think) I also recall Suzanne Barnhill had a workaround
of showing/hiding text boundaries that sometimes removed the empty paragraph
mark. Maybe that will work for you? You can find Text Boundaries under
Tools/Options/View. You need to turn them on, click OK, then return to the
dialog box and turn them off again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

From Word 97 (IIRC) on, once you have any text in the header/footer, there
is NO way to remove the empty paragraph.
 
B

Beth Melton

I thought they fixed it in Word 2002. Or do I have it reversed? You could
remove it prior to Word 2002? (I'm pretty sure you could delete it in Word
2000.) I recall in one of the versions you had to select the paragraph mark
and press Delete or it wouldn't be deleted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Maybe it was from 2002 on. But it's certainly the case in Word 2003. If you
ever even touch the header, you're sunk. I made the mistake of just opening
the header in one of my templates to change the tab stops (because I'd
changed the margins) and now I have an indelible empty paragraph. Next time
I'll use Format | Style to modify the Header style instead of accessing it
directly.
 
B

Beth Melton

Thankfully this no longer occurs in Word 2007. I think they finally got it
right. <grin>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
 
B

Bob Buckland ?:-\)

Hi Suzanne & Beth

FWIW - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA011627091033.aspx :)

Wasn't one of the old workarounds to put a minus sign in front of the top margin value in File=>Page Setup?

============
Maybe it was from 2002 on. But it's certainly the case in Word 2003. If you ever even touch the header, you're sunk. I made the
mistake of just opening the header in one of my templates to change the tab stops (because I'd changed the margins) and now I have
an indelible empty paragraph. Next time I'll use Format | Style to modify the Header style instead of accessing it directly.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word) >>
--

Bob Buckland ?:)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Not exactly; that does something different (and very mysterious), which ISTR
running across when working on
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/LandscapeSection.htm (though it doesn't
seem to appear there). I believe it constrains the top margin to a specific
setting regardless of what the header does.

In the case of my template, having a header paragraph is not really an issue
most of the time, as I rarely have a top margin smaller than 0.5", and I
often do have header text in the document, anyway. It's just annoying
because any document or template based on the template will have an
indelible empty paragraph in the header.
 
B

Bob Buckland ?:-\)

Hi Suzanne,

If the demo in that link is correct the empty paragraph then Word ignores the empty paragraph. Hmmm. Word 2007 also has the empty
paragraph once the header is accessed.
============
Not exactly; that does something different (and very mysterious), which ISTR
running across when working on
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/LandscapeSection.htm (though it doesn't
seem to appear there). I believe it constrains the top margin to a specific
setting regardless of what the header does.

In the case of my template, having a header paragraph is not really an issue
most of the time, as I rarely have a top margin smaller than 0.5", and I
often do have header text in the document, anyway. It's just annoying
because any document or template based on the template will have an
indelible empty paragraph in the header.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill >>
--

Bob Buckland ?:)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
 
B

Beth Melton

I saw the empty paragraph removed in the demo and it's removed in Word 2007
if you delete the header/footer or leave it empty. Perhaps I need to clarify
what I mean by removing the paragraph mark. I'm talking about removing the
view of the empty paragraph mark when you close the header/footer. IOW,
when I access the header/footer in word 2007 I see a paragraph mark, which I
expect to see since I plan on adding text, but if I close the header/footer
without adding anything it disappears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx
 
B

Bob Buckland ?:-\)

Hi Beth,

I figured that was what you meant. :)

If I delete the header in Word 2007 and open the .docx package the header footer trio file sets no longer exist:
header1.xml (Even page header),
header2.xml (Regular/Odd) or
header3.xml (Different 1st page)

FWIW, as far as visibility I get the same behavior in Word 2003, and if I use Save as XML the <w:hdr elements of w:type="even",
w:type="odd" and w:type="first"
are also gone if I've deleted the header content.

Then occasionally I'll find that I've left behind in a template an even page or different first page header that comes back <g> that
I forgot about once I did a Ctrl+A to delete the body content before saving <g> but if I delete those I no longer see the paragraph
mark from the deleted header when returning to the document from those.

==========
I saw the empty paragraph removed in the demo and it's removed in Word 2007
if you delete the header/footer or leave it empty. Perhaps I need to clarify
what I mean by removing the paragraph mark. I'm talking about removing the
view of the empty paragraph mark when you close the header/footer. IOW,
when I access the header/footer in word 2007 I see a paragraph mark, which I
expect to see since I plan on adding text, but if I close the header/footer
without adding anything it disappears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton <<
--

Bob Buckland ?:)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
 

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