Trying to get a footer on the last page only of a document

[markclark]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi,

I am using Word for mac 2008 on Mac OS X 10.5.

I am trying to create a document with a footer which will only appear on the last page of the document whether it has 1 or 100 pages. I have tried using a section break on the penultimate page and then clicking off the 'same as previous' option which almost has the desired result but doesn't work if the end user only has one page. Is there an easy solution?

 

[John McGhie]

Your method is correct, you just need some instruction to tell the user to
type BEFORE the section break, even on a single-page document.

There are always two section breaks in the document: the one you added, and
the Document Master Section Break, which you can't see: it occurs below the
last paragraph mark and is never displayed.

You need to place your last page footer in the default break, add your
section break above it, turn off "Same as Previous", then remove the footer
from the rest of the document.

Cheers

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi,

I am using Word for mac 2008 on Mac OS X 10.5.

I am trying to create a document with a footer which will only appear on the
last page of the document whether it has 1 or 100 pages. I have tried using a
section break on the penultimate page and then clicking off the 'same as
previous' option which almost has the desired result but doesn't work if the
end user only has one page. Is there an easy solution?

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[markclark]

Hi John,

Thanks for your response.
I think this is pretty much what I was doing but I don't end up with the footer on page 1 if it only end up being a one page document.
This is exactly what I did and what happened:

create new A4 word document.
go to 'view' headers and footers and type in 'test' into the footer.
click back into main page area and insert a section break.
click return BEFORE the section break to get a second page.
click into footer on page 2 (it says footer for section 2) and unclick 'link to previous.
Then on page 1, click into footer and delete first footer.
Now whenever I type or hit return until i get a new page Word 'flows the footer forward onto the last page of the document... great, just what i wanted... however... if I delete my returns I can't get back to having just one page with the footer.

I hope this makes sense and that there is a solution. Can I email you my word file so you can see what I mean?

Kind regards

Mark

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Mark:

If you have set your section break Layout to be "Different First Page" then
you will get either no header on the first page, or the one you want at the
end will land also on the first page. Turn that setting off and use just a
single footer.

Your section break needs to be "Continuous". If it's anything else, its
footer won't take effect until the second page.

The only other alternative might be to place a page-break on the first page,
so the user begins typing on Page 2.

Cheers

Hi John,

Thanks for your response.
I think this is pretty much what I was doing but I don't end up with the
footer on page 1 if it only end up being a one page document.
This is exactly what I did and what happened:

create new A4 word document.
go to 'view' headers and footers and type in 'test' into the footer.
click back into main page area and insert a section break.
click return BEFORE the section break to get a second page.
click into footer on page 2 (it says footer for section 2) and unclick 'link
to previous.
Then on page 1, click into footer and delete first footer.
Now whenever I type or hit return until i get a new page Word 'flows the
footer forward onto the last page of the document... great, just what i
wanted... however... if I delete my returns I can't get back to having just
one page with the footer.

I hope this makes sense and that there is a solution. Can I email you my word
file so you can see what I mean?

Kind regards

Mark

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi John;

Perhaps I'm just being overly dense, but I can't conceive of any way this
can be done without VBA... It's a *conditional* consideration, isn't it?

Doesn't the *first* Sec to appear at the start of a page the one that
determines which H/F that page displays? If that's accurate, the Footer will
show up on *every* page, which isn't what the OP wants. Also, if the Footer
is in Sec1 how can it not appear on the first page without the Different
First Page option set?

OTOH, if the footer is in Sec2 how can it ever appear at all unless Sec2 has
content that spans a page break? In the same vein Continuous Section Breaks
that occur on the same page can't have their own H/F AFAIK.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[John McGhie]

Well I'll be... You are absolutely correct: it appears the Continuous
Section Break can't have a header or a footer!!

Why wasn't I told?? I could have sworn I've done this a few times
before over the years...

OK, this means you will have to use a single section break (i.e. Don't add
any) and a complex field to cope with the case where the first page may also
be the last page:

{ IF { NUMPAGES } = 1 "Last Page Footer" { IF { PAGE } = { NUMPAGES } "Last
Page Footer" " " }

The "{" and "}" are field bounding characters, NOT curly braces: use Command
+ F9 to put them in. For this purpose, I would avoid the Insert>Field
dialog, just insert your field bounding characters and simply type the names
of the fields inside them.

Be careful of spacing: there is a space on the inside of each field bounding
character, and one between the last pair of double-quotes.

This field reads "IF {The number of pages in the document} = 1, then print
"The Last Page Footer", ELSE IF {The current page number} = { The number of
pages in the document} then print "The Last Page Footer", ELSE print nothing
(a space).

It works, I tested it...

Sorry about that.

Hi John;

Perhaps I'm just being overly dense, but I can't conceive of any way this
can be done without VBA... It's a *conditional* consideration, isn't it?

Doesn't the *first* Sec to appear at the start of a page the one that
determines which H/F that page displays? If that's accurate, the Footer will
show up on *every* page, which isn't what the OP wants. Also, if the Footer
is in Sec1 how can it not appear on the first page without the Different
First Page option set?

OTOH, if the footer is in Sec2 how can it ever appear at all unless Sec2 has
content that spans a page break? In the same vein Continuous Section Breaks
that occur on the same page can't have their own H/F AFAIK.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

it appears the Continuous
Section Break can't have a header or a footer!!

<snip>

Well, I wouldn't go that far A sec created by a Continuous Section Break
most certainly can have a H/F, they just don't appear on the first page of
that section if it starts on a page that includes one or more preceding
sections. IOW, it doesn't take effect until the first *full* page contained
in the sec to which it belongs.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac