Tops and Tails: Dress Up Word's Headers and Footers Beyond Page Numbers and Filenames Helen Bradley
Wed 9/11/02 -- You've been using Microsoft Word's headers and footers for years. You know they're great for page numbers, and maybe you include documents' names or folders in footers for easier identification ... and that's probably about it. Yep, headers and footers are pretty bland, basic tools. Or are they? This week, I'll show you some useful and interesting things you can do with them that you may never have thought of.
Page numbers with pizzazz. Page numbers don't have to be plain -- you can team them with AutoShapes for an individual look. Move to the Header and Footer area (View/Header and Footer) and, from the Drawing toolbar, choose a shape to place the page number inside, such as an oval, rectangle, or diamond.
Draw the shape and use the Fill Color and Line Color tools to color it. Right-click the shape, choose Add Text, and click the Insert Page Number button from the Header and Footer toolbar, then use the text formatting tools to format the numeral as you like. The result? A positively artistic page number.
Watermarks. In versions of Microsoft's word processor prior to Word 2002, you used the header and footer areas to add watermarks to your documents. Office XP's new Watermark tool (Format/Background/Printed Watermark) simplifies the process of creating watermarks, but for precise control, it's still smart to go the do-it-yourself route.
In the Header and Footer area, add the image to use as a watermark -- or insert a WordArt object or place some text inside a Text Box. (WordArt has an advantage in that it can be rotated to any angle, while text in a Text Box can only appear in horizontal or one of two possible vertical orientations.) Size the image or Text Box object to suit, and drag it into position on the page -- ignore the Header and Footer boundaries and put it anywhere you like. If you can't move it, change its Wrapping to "Behind text" or "None" to make it movable.
This image is a washout. When using an image as a watermark, you may want to lighten its colors so you can see the text on the page through it. Select the image and choose Color/Washout from the Picture toolbar (it's Image Control/Watermark in Word 2000 and 97), or use the Brightness and Contrast tools to make the adjustment manually.
Every day you write the book. Creating a document made up of multiple chapters imposes a new set of demands on your page numbering, especially if you'd like both the chapter number and page number to appear in a header or footer. The key to achieving this result is to use Styles to format the document, and the chapter numbers in particular. (See this column for some details on Styles.)
Select the chapter title (don't type Chapter or the number) and choose Format/Bullets and Numbering, then the Outline Numbered tab. Choose the bottom right option and click OK. The words "Chapter One" will appear automatically.
To add the next chapter title, use Heading 1 style (or press Control-Alt-1). To create page numbers, enter the Header or Footer area and choose Insert/Page Numbers; click the Format button; and enable the "Include chapter number" checkbox. Ensure the "Chapter starts with style" entry reads Heading 1, and click OK twice.
The page number will appear as 1-1 to indicate Chapter 1, Page 1; when a new chapter starts, the page numbering will continue to be consecutive and only the chapter number will change. You can add the word Chapter in front of the number in the header or footer to clarify this.
Sizing to fit. To fit large elements such as images inside a footer or header, increase its size. Turn on the Ruler display if it's disabled (choose View/Ruler), then locate the border between the page text and the header or footer on the ruler line. Drag this border down to enlarge the header, or up to enlarge the footer. You can achieve the same result by increasing the Top or Bottom margins in the Page Setup dialog.
A bit on the side. In addition to adding elements to a header spanning the full page, you can position elements down one side of the page. Use a Text Box to contain the type and use the Format/Text Direction option to rotate it to vertical. If you remove the border line from around the Text Box, it won't be visible; all you need then do is to increase the page's left margin setting so there's room for the Text Box to fit to the left of the body text. Use a Fill Effect such as a gradient to create an effect like that shown here.
