Word same as previous

When I first wrote this blog post, Word 2003 was still the predominant version of the program, more commonly used than Word 2007. (And Word 2010 was just a gleam in some Microsoft programmer’s eye…) So I basically wrote the post for users of 2003 and then just posted a brief explanation where to find the same functions in 2007, which was the first version to use ribbons instead of dropdown menus. Over the years, this has been one of the most popular T4L posts but now that 2007 and 2010 are more widely used, I’ve decided to spell out the steps for those versions in full. You can still find the instructions for Word 2003 and earlier versions later in the post.

NOTE: I’ve never had Office 2013, so I can’t say if there are any differences for that version, but I now have Office 2016 and the process is exactly the same, so it’s a good bet that it is for 2013 as well. (If you have Word 2013 and there is any difference, please post a comment below and I’ll add that info here.)

Both sets of instructions are for creating different sections in an MS-Word document so you can change the header for each section. For example, you might want to have different headers with each chapter name to help readers find the section they’re looking for more quickly.

Note: The same techniques work for creating separate footers, which you might want to do to start Page 1 after a Table of Contents, for example.

Section Break vs. Page Break

You may already know that you can force a page break by placing your cursor in front of the text you want to start on the next page and pressing Ctrl + Enter on your keyboard. (And if you don’t know that, consider this a bonus tip!) 🙂

However, that won’t work for our purpose. We don’t want to just move the text to the next page; we want to start a new section so we can create a new header.

Instructions for Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016

Put your cursor at the start of the text you want to start a new section.

On the Page Layout ribbon, click the down arrow beside the Breaks button. (In Word 2016, the ribbon is just called Layout. I don’t know which one it is in 2013.)

Select Section Breaks > Next Page.

Now the text is at the top of the next page.

Move your cursor near the top of the page and double-click to display the Header area.

NOTE: Some readers have reported that if they create a Header section using the Insert > Header command and choose anything other than the Blank option, the instructions don’t work. I’m not sure why this is as it works for me, but if you are still having problems after following these steps, try changing the Header format to Blank.

The Header and Footer Tools Design ribbon has opened at the top of the page. You can see that the Link to Previous button is depressed, meaning the two sections will have the same header. (You can also see a Same to Previous tab on the bottom border of the header section.)

Click the Link to Previous button.

The Same as Previous tab is now gone from the header section.

Type “Section 2 Header” in the header area.

Double-click in the main text area of the page.

This will close the header section and remove the toolbar. The new header appears at the top of the page.

Now, if you scroll back up to the first page, you can see that the header is still blank, because the two headers are no longer linked. You could also enter text into the header area and it wouldn’t change the header on the next page.

Simply repeat these steps for each new section and you can have as many different headers as you want.

Instructions for Word 2003 and Earlier Versions

Note: The screenshots below show a document I used when I wrote the original post. I no longer have it and I no longer have Word 2003, so I can’t update the document. But the dialog boxes should look the same.

Put your cursor at the start of the text you want to start a new section.

From the Insert menu, select Break.

In the dialog box that comes up, select the “Next page” radio button from the “Section break types” area.

Now the text is at the top of the next page. You can tell it’s also the beginning of a new section by looking at the status line at the bottom left of the Word window.

From the View menu, click Header and Footer.

The header section of the page will display and the Header and Footer toolbar also appears.

You’ll notice, above the header box, it says “Same as previous.” This is the default option for when you create a header, and that’s what we need to change.

Click the Same as Previous button on the toolbar.

You can mouse over the buttons to see the names of them. You want to click it so it doesn’t look like it’s depressed.

The “Same as previous” text is now gone from the header box at the top of the page.

Type “Section 2 Header” in the header area.

Double-click in the main text area of the page.

This will close the header section and remove the toolbar.

Now, if you scroll back up to the first page, you can see the header is still blank, because the two headers are no longer linked.

Simply repeat these steps for each new section and you can have as many different headers as you want.

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To allow this, you must disable the feature that repeats footers across sections.Double-click a footer that follows a section break. A tab labeled “Same as Previous” appears above its right side.Click “Design” in the Word ribbon.Click “Link to Previous” in the ribbon’s Navigation group to deselect it.

How do I make the footer on each page different?

Go into the header or footer. This will automatically activate the Design tab of the ribbon. In the Options group, there are check boxes for “Different first page” and “Different odd and even pages”.

Why can’t I see my footer in Word?

Hover the mouse over the top or bottom edge of any page until Word displays the white space arrows. Then, double-click the edge and Word will hide the header (and footer) and the white space. Uncheck the Show White Space Between Pages in Page Layout View option. Click OK.

Which view headers and footers are visible?

Headers and footers appear only in print layout view, print preview, and in printed documents. The “print layout” setting (under the View menu) is stored in each individual document.

How do I hide a footer in Word?

Remove all headers and footersGo to Insert > Header or Footer, and then select Remove Header or Remove Footer.If your document has more than one section, repeat this process for each section.

How do I hide headers and footers?

Double click the header or footer area to make it active. This also activates the Header & Footer Tools section on Word’s Ribbon. On the Design tab of that section, select the “Different First Page” check box. This action removes the header and footer from the first page.

How do I view hidden headers and footers in Word?

How do I unhide a footer in Word?

4. Uncheck the box labeled “Show white space between pages in Print Layout view.” To restore the headers and footers, recheck the box or double-click the top or bottom of a page.

How do I remove headers and footers from certain pages?

Double-click the header or footer area (near the top or bottom of the page) to open the Header & Footer tab. Select Link to Previous to turn off the link between the sections. Select Header or Footer and do one of the following: Choose Remove Header or Remove Footer near the bottom of the menu.

Where is the footer present in the document?

The header is a section of the document that appears in the top margin, while the footer is a section of the document that appears in the bottom margin.

Which menu do you choose to create footer?

Go to Insert > Header or Footer. Choose from a list of standard headers or footers, go to the list of Header or Footer options, and select the header or footer that you want. Or, create your own header or footer by selecting Edit Header or Edit Footer. When you’re done, select Close Header and Footer or press Esc.

How do you omit the page number on the final page of a Word document?

I was asked this recently by someone who is using Lulu.com’s self-publishing service. Lulu had asked her to resubmit her book with a completely blank final page – no page number, nothing. Finding the solution to this seemingly simple request proved to be frustrating.

In fact, the solution is simple, but not entirely obvious.

Omitting first page numbers

Word certainly makes it easy to omit the page number on the first page of a document. For example, to begin numbering a document on page 2 using Word 2003:

1. Click on the first page of your document and then click Insert Menu -> Page Numbers to display the Page Numbers dialog box.
2. Select the positioning for your page numbers.
3. Uncheck ‘Show number on first page’.
4. If you’d like to display ‘1’ on page two (that is, you want to start the actual page numbering count on the second page), click Format and set the value of the Start At box to 0.

Here’s how to do the same thing in Word 2007:

1. Click the Insert tab and in the Header & Footer section click Page Number.
2. Click Top of Page, Bottom of Page or Page Margins to select a location for the numbering and select a numbering format from the gallery.
3. On the Design tab, check Different First Page.
4. To start the page numbering count on the second page, on the Design tab click Page Number -> Format Page Numbers and set the Start At control to 0.

An alternative method is to create a different first page header/footer in your document: simply use the ‘Different first page’ option in the Page Setup dialog. In Word 2003, it’s File -> Page Setup -> Layout tab -> Different first page; in Word 2007 it’s Page Layout tab -> Page Setup -> Layout tab -> Different First page.

Omitting last page numbers

Although things are not quite so obvious when you want to change the header or footer on the last page, it’s still easy to do and there are a number of ways to do it. The easiest methods involve creating the final page in a separate section.

Method 1: De-link the final section.

If you’re using Word 2003:

1. Create your document as usual with page numbering in your header or footer.
2. Go to the end of the last page containing text in your document.
3. Click Insert Menu -> Break.
4. In the Break dialog box, select Next Page in the Section break section and click OK. This will add a section break and a new page with the same page numbering format as the preceding pages.
5. Double-click in the Header or Footer. You should see the words ‘Same as previous’ above the header/footer.
6. Click the Link to Previous button on the Header and Footer toolbar. The ‘Same as previous’ message will vanish and you can now delete the contents of the Header/Footer and doing so will affect only the last page.

If you’re using Word 2007:

1. Create your document as usual with page numbering in your header or footer.
2. Go to the end of the last page containing text in your document.
3. Click Page Layout -> Breaks and, under Section Breaks, click Next Page.
4. Double-click in the Header or Footer. You should see the words ‘Same as previous’ above the header/footer.
5. Click the Link to Previous button on the Header and Footer toolbar, then edit the page header/footer as needed.

Method 2: Use a different ‘first’ page on the final section.

In Word 2003, follow steps 1 – 4 in the de-linking instructions above to add a single-page section at the end of your document. Then:

1. Click File Menu -> Page Setup -> Layout tab.
2. Check the ‘Different first page’ box.
3. In the Apply To drop-down box, select ‘This section’ and click OK.

If you’re using Word 2007, follow steps 1 – 3 in the de-linking instructions above and then:

1. Click Page Layout and click the Page Setup button (the arrow at the right of the Page Setup section).
2. On the Layout tab in the Page Setup dialog box, click ‘Different first page’. Make sure ‘This section’ is displayed in the Apply To box and click OK.

That’s not so hard, and it should be apparent that you can use similar techniques to add multiple sections to a document, each with its own page numbering format.