Formatting Sections in Word 2007

Adapted From: Word "X" For Dummies:

Most of the Word page-formatting commands affect every page in a document: The settings for margins, page orientation, paper size, and other types of formatting apply themselves not to a single page but rather to every page.

But sometimes you need a document that isn't formatted the same way page after page. For example, you may want to number Pages 1 through 4 in Roman numerals and then start over on Page 5 with Page 1 in regular numbers. Or, you may want the first page of a document to be blank. Or, you may need to display a table on Page 14 in landscape orientation. All those tricks are possible if you understand the concept of sections.

Understanding sections

A section is a part of a document that contains its own page formatting. You can direct page-formatting commands to affect only a section rather than span an entire document. With each section separate from the others, a document can have multiple page formats.

For example, in Figure 1, the document that's illustrated contains two sections. The first is four pages long and uses Roman numeral page numbers. The second section starts on Page 5, where the page number format is restored to normal but starting at page number 1 (in Arabic numerals).

The document illustrated in Figure 2 has four sections. The first is the cover page, followed by a regular document format. Section 3, however, contains one page in landscape format. That's followed by Section 4, which is back to normal.

Obviously, when your document's page formatting is the same from head to tail, there's no need to fuss with sections. For anything else, sections are truly a blessing.

• A section is basically an area in your document whose page formatting is different from or unique to the rest of your document.

• Text and paragraph formatting, as well as any styles you may create, don't give a hoot about sections.

Creating a section

Breaking up your document isn't hard to do. Word has wisely placed all its breaking commands on the Breaks menu: Click the Page Layout tab, and then click the Breaks command button, found in the Page Setup group. Page break commands are at the top of the menu; section breaks are at the bottom.

The simplest way to create a new section is to choose Next Page from the Breaks menu. This creates a page break, by starting a new page as a new section in your document.

In Print Layout view, the section break appears just like any other page break. To determine whether a page break is a real page break or something else, you must switch to Draft view and use the Show/Hide command: click the Show/Hide command button on the Home tab or press Ctrl+Shift+8.

In Draft view, the section break appears with the text Section Break (Next Page) in the middle of a double row of dots.

After the section is created, you can then modify the page layout and format for each of the sections.

• Use the Continuous section break to mix formatting styles within a page. For example, if you have columns of text sharing a page with regular text, the Continuous section break is the ideal way to separate the individual formats.

• You can use the Even Page and Odd Page options to start the next section on the next even or odd page - ideal for those futile times when you try to use Word to bind a book or pamphlet.

• Column and Text Wrapping breaks have nothing to do with sections. Text Wrapping breaks work like soft returns, except that they're designed to be used on text that wraps around a figure or table.