8.1 Sections, headers, footers and page numbers
A report can have a cover page, roman-numbered front matter and normal pages, all correct.
Before:07. Word — CoreUnlocks:13. Portfolio & Certification
A report with a cover page, roman-numbered front matter and normally numbered chapters is held together by section breaks, and this topic covers them along with headers, footers and per-section page numbering. It opens the long-documents module because sections are the skeleton everything else hangs on. The classic confusion is Link to Previous: headers and footers inherit from the previous section by default, so an edit in chapter three mysteriously changes chapter one until that link is deliberately broken. Section breaks versus page breaks is the other distinction that pays for the topic.
Work through these
Section breaks vs page breaks
A page break moves text to a new page; a section break lets the new part have different margins, orientation, headers or numbering. Confusing the two is why so many long documents misbehave.
Link-to-previous, and why the whole document changed
Headers and footers are linked to the previous section by default, which is why editing one changes them all. Breaking that link deliberately is the fix and it is not obvious.
Different first page, odd/even headers
A different first page and different left and right pages are standard requirements for reports and for anything printed double-sided. Both are checkboxes once you know they exist.
Page numbering that restarts and reformats per section
Numbering that restarts at a section, and changes format between front matter and body, is exactly what a report needs. It is also exactly what people do by hand. It is configurable, and this item shows the shape of it.
Practice file
- wd-02-long-report.docx
A structureless multi-page report: no heading styles, a hand-typed contents page with wrong page numbers, two uncaptioned tables. Add sections, styles, a real TOC, captions and cross-references.
Opens in Word. Every name, number and address in these files is made up. No account needed to download.
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