Automate different headers and footers for landscape vs. portrait pages in Microsoft Word?

Question

Is it possible to have different headers and footers for a landscape and portrait page in one document, thus when you add a landscape page it needs to automatically use the landscape header and footer? And if I press enter on the landscape page it should create a new landscape page with its own header and footer...We've looked into section breaks, and adding Even/Odd page breaks, but then one needs to add a new header manually…Or is there another way to set up a document to make it issue to switch between headers and footers for different pages?I'm using MS Word 2013.

Answer 1

Yes, you can automate different headers and footers for landscape and portrait pages in Microsoft Word 2013 using section breaks. By setting up section breaks and configuring headers and footers to be different for each section, you can automatically switch between different header/footer styles for portrait and landscape pages.

Here’s how you can do it:

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Insert Section Breaks:
2. Place your cursor where you want to switch between portrait and landscape.
3. Go to the Page Layout tab.
4. Under Page Setup, click on Breaks, then select Next Page under Section Breaks.
5. This will create a new section in your document where you can apply a different orientation (portrait or landscape) and header/footer.
6. Change Page Orientation for the Section:
7. Place your cursor in the section where you want the landscape orientation.
8. Go to the Page Layout tab.
9. Click on Orientation, and select Landscape.
10. The section will now be in landscape orientation.
11. Unlink Headers and Footers Between Sections:
12. Double-click the header or footer of the first page of the new section (landscape section).
13. In the Header & Footer Tools tab, make sure that Link to Previous is unselected. This will unlink the new section from the previous section's header and footer.
14. Now, you can edit the header and footer specifically for this section without affecting the rest of the document.
15. Set Up Different Headers and Footers for Portrait and Landscape:
16. Now that the sections are unlinked, you can edit the header and footer for each section independently.
17. For portrait sections, you can set up your portrait headers/footers in the first section, and for the landscape section, you can create a separate header/footer layout.
18. Creating New Landscape Pages:
19. To add a new landscape page that follows the same header/footer, just insert a Next Page section break wherever necessary (repeat steps 1 and 2). Ensure that the "Link to Previous" option is unchecked for each new section.

Automating with Macros:

If you want to make this process automatic, you can use a macro to insert a landscape page with the correct header/footer configuration. Here's an example of how you can do that:

1. Press Alt + F11 to open the VBA editor.
2. Insert a new module by going to Insert > Module.
3. Paste this macro:

Sub InsertLandscapePage()

' Add a section break

Selection.InsertBreak Type:=wdPageBreak

Selection.InsertBreak Type:=wdSectionBreakNextPage

' Change page orientation to landscape

With ActiveDocument.PageSetup

.Orientation = wdOrientLandscape

End With

' Unlink headers and footers

ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekPrimaryHeader

Selection.HeaderFooter.LinkToPrevious = False

ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekPrimaryFooter

Selection.HeaderFooter.LinkToPrevious = False

End Sub

1. Run the macro to insert a new landscape page with its own header/footer.

Summary:

1. Use Section Breaks to divide your document into different sections for portrait and landscape pages.
2. Unlink the Header/Footer in each section to apply different content for each.
3. Use macros if you want to automate the process of adding new pages with the correct headers and footers.

Let me know if you need further help!