Headers, footers, AutoText, hard return

[bufossil]

I am using Word 2003 on a Windows XP platform.

I posted this same question a couple of hours ago, and then I could not find
my post. Sorry if this is a repeat.

I am creating AutoText entries for headers and footers, including HeaderOdd,
HeaderEven, FooterOdd, FooterEven, and FooterFirst.

My HeaderOdd AutoText, for example, contains: Chapter {Field}: {Field}

The problem is that when put my cursor in the header, and I insert the
HeaderOdd AutoText into the header field, Word inserts a hard return, which
creates an extra blank line in the header under my AutoText content. It is
doing the same exact thing for the FooterOdd AutoText in the footer. The
hard return is NOT a part of the HeaderOdd or FooterOdd AutoText entries!

How can I avoid this hard return/blank line in the header and footer?

Thanks!

Tim

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

May I suggest a different approach? In your template you will, I assume,
have enabled "Different first page" and "Different odd and even." Insert two
temporary page breaks so that the template contains three pages. This will
give you access to all three headers and footers. Insert the desired content
in each. Delete the page breaks. Although you can't see the odd and even
header and footer, Word will remember them and use them as needed. No need
for AutoText entries.

The problem here is that whenever you paste or insert content into a header
or footer, you almost invariably end up with an extra empty paragraph. For
example, if you copy the content from one header/footer and paste it into
another, no matter how carefully you select the text to exclude the
paragraph mark in the selection to be copied, and no matter that you select
the paragraph mark when you paste, you'll still end up with an extra, empty
paragraph. That being the case, if you can adopt the solution proposed
above, you'll have much less work and frustration.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[bufossil]

Hi Suzanne:

Thank you so much for your contributions to these forums. It is wonderful
that you are so willing to share your knowledge and experience.

In this case, however, I don't think your suggestion will work, and here's
why.

First, you have precisely understood what happens in Word when you paste or
insert content into a header or footer. However, I cannot create the
template as your propose it. I actually author with Author-it software,
which publishes content to PDF, HTML pages, Word, and .CHM.

I must manually map/configure AutoText entries from Word back into
Author-it, so that Author-it knows how I want the Word output formatted. I
go into a properties window in Author-it, and specify what AutoText entry in
Word should be associated with certain kinds of content in the Author-it
database. (We have different headers for the TOC, for the body, for the
Glossary, and for the Index. We also have some books with 2.75" margins on
the left, and other books with 1" margins on the left. So, we must tell
Author-it what specific AutoText entries to use in each situation.)

The only solution I can think of is to see if I can find someone with Visual
Basic knowledge, and have them create an "AfterPublish" macro that removes
the empty spaces in the headers and footers after they are populated with the
AutoText entries.

Thank you again for your suggestion!

Tim