How to set header & footer to be displayed vertically in MS Word?

Question

I have a Word document which has portrait page orientation with headers and footers. Now I have to put some tables & illustrations that are too wide to fit into the portrait page - the page need to be oriented landscape.

But when I change page orientation of the page (which is within section bounds) the headers and footers are on the top and bottom of the wide side of the page - which is logically correct, but it breaks the layout of the document. I need the headers and footers to be on the narrow sides of the page, irregardless of the page orientation.

I know, that I can insert the table as a (rotated) picture and never change the orientation of any page of the document - but it is a messy solution.

Does the Word has some mechanism for controlling orientation of headers and footers, or did I just hit the wall of Word limitations as a typesetting tool?

Answer 1

Well firstly I'd say you don't want to be changing the page orientation, assuming you have more than just one page on your document. Because the Header and Footer will always be the same on every page and will be affected by the page orientation.

There is a simple way to change the Text Direction of data in a Table... In Office 2007, select your table > under the Table Tools menu > Layout tab > Alignment section > Text Direction.

Just click that button to flip your text 90 degrees. This will probably lead to more work to rearrange your table to suit :(

Also, not sure what do with your illustrations other than rotate them all manually?

Answer 2

There's currently no standard functionality for this.

There is a request for it - please go to this link & vote on it if you'd like to see this feature implemented: https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/11050872-same-footers-and-headers-for-printout-in-portrait

In the meantime, there seem to be a few (nasty) hacks; see the following link for all details, their first solution's quoted below. http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/LandscapeSection.htm

Portrait page number in Word 2007 Word 2007 essentially automates the creation of a text box as described below. Here’s how:

Double-click in the header area to display the Header & Footer Tools Design tab of the Ribbon. In the Header & Footer group, click Page Number, then Page Margins. Note: This group and button are also accessible from the Insert tab without accessing the header.

In the gallery, choose one of the Page X or Plain Number selections. The “vertical” ones look tempting but in fact are rotated the wrong direction, so you’re probably better off with the Plain Number. If you want numbers at the top of the page, choose Right, or Left for numbers at the bottom. You’ll probably need to reformat whichever number you choose, removing a border or reducing the font size. Since the number is in a text box, the Text Box Tools tab is available when you select the number. In the Text group, use the Text Direction button to rotate the number to the correct orientation. You may need to fine-tune the size and placement of the text box. You can try to drag it where you want it, or you can use Arrange | Position | More Layout Options to specify the location precisely.

Answer 3

Go to Insert tab in Word. In the Header & Footer group, click Page Number, then Page Margins. In the gallery choose one of Plain Number selections. A page number will appear on the margin of the page as well. Then select the current page number on the page margin (not on the bottom!). While it is selected go to Insert tab in Word to the Table group and chose Insert table. The page number on the margin of the page will apper in a single cell after that. Select this cell. Among the other tabs in Word now you will see Table Tools. On Table Tools tab go to Layout and click Text direction, chose the text direction you need. After that go to Design on Table Tools tab and select a table style without borders in the Table style gallery. You can also format the font style of the page number on the margin of the page in context menu (right click on the number). After that you can go to the page footer and delete the page number there. The page number on the margin of the page will remain. Ready.