word document - how to create custom section headers?

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Do not use Next-Page Section breaks to create new pages.

These create new sections as well as new pages. Thus, with two next page section breaks you are displaying three pages, yes. But you are displaying the first page of three sections. In header/footer logic, you are not displaying the primary (odd-page) nor the even-page header for any of these three sections. That is, you have a document that contains nine header areas, and you are seeing three of those.

In your second document, your header in the second section is not linked to previous.

Please review again:  Header/Footer Settings Recap

Headers and footers follow those rules. They have since Word 97, at least.

I need section breaks because another feature the doc has is to be able to have sections hidden.

In my second document, Word was not allowing me to link to the previous section. I would run the command to link them, it appeared to run, but no change was made to the doc.

Do not use Next-Page Section breaks to create new pages.

These create new sections as well as new pages. Thus, with two next page section breaks you are displaying three pages, yes. But you are displaying the first page of three sections. In header/footer logic, you are not displaying the primary (odd-page) nor the even-page header for any of these three sections. That is, you have a document that contains nine header areas, and you are seeing three of those.

In your second document, your header in the second section is not linked to previous.

Please review again:  Header/Footer Settings Recap

Headers and footers follow those rules. They have since Word 97, at least.

I need section breaks because another feature the doc has is to be able to have sections hidden.

In my second document, Word was not allowing me to link to the previous section. I would run the command to link them, it appeared to run, but no change was made to the doc.

Hidden sections? Explain please.

Is this the same as Collapsed sections?

Look into the ability to do this without section breaks using the built-in headings. See the last entry on this page:

Why Use Word's Built-In Heading Styles? by Shauna Kelly

You can only link to the previous section if there is a previous section. There is no "command" to link to previous. There is a button in the Header/Footer Tools that is active if that option is available.

Hidden sections? Explain please.

Is this the same as Collapsed sections?

Look into the ability to do this without section breaks using the built-in headings. See the last entry on this page:

Why Use Word's Built-In Heading Styles? by Shauna Kelly

You can only link to the previous section if there is a previous section. There is no "command" to link to previous. There is a button in the Header/Footer Tools that is active if that option is available.

Hidden Sections aren't the same as Collapsed. I'm using the command

wrdDoc.Section(i).Range.Font.Hidden = True

to do this. The difference between the two is that Collapsed Sections leave the heading line visible, while Hidden Sections hide the heading line. For my purposes, Hidden Sections meets my needs. But, it's good to know about the Collapsed sections.

OK, I said command when I should have said button. The button won't work on my file. It seems to try to do what it needs to do, but it finishes gracefully without making any changes.