Word 2003 - cannot delete page number from footer 1

[Jtorres13]

Word 2003 - cannot delete page number from footer.
Office 2003 SP 3
Windows XP SP3

I double click the footer to open it. I place cursor at the end of the footer. Press Backspace once, the page number is selected. Press Backspace again, the page number is deleted. Press Backspace again (to delete tab character), the page number reappears!

I've tried the Delete key versus Backspace. I cannot delete the page number field in the footer. I've copied and pasted to a new document (thinking this one is corrupted), but that doesn't fix it either.

I've highlighted the footer (all black) and then hit Delete or Backspace, nothing happens. Document is not protected, I checked. Document is not Tracking Changes, I checked.

Document is legal confidential. I cannot attach it here. Please help.

 

[JPaules]

Did you try using the Header/Footer toolbar?

--
JP

 

[Jtorres13]

How do I use the toolbar to dlete an existing footer? I can add fields and page numbers but I cannot delete from the toolbar. Please explain.

 

[JPaules]

Don't have XP or 2003 right at this moment - let me check tomorrow.


--
JP

 

[SkipVought]

You do not delete the FOOTER.

You delete the stuff that's IN the footer when you View > Header & Footer.

Skip,

_{Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE!}

 

[MakeItSo]

Could be file corruption. Try "Open And Repair":
[ul]
[li]=>File->Open[/li]
[li]browse to the document, select it, but do not open it yet[/li]
[li]now click on the triangle on the right hand side of the "Open" button[/li]
[li]from the resulting drop-down, pick "Open and Repair"[/li]
[li]Save, close and re-open document.[/li]
[/ul]

Fixed?

Good luck!
MiS

[navy]"We had to turn off that service to comply with the CDA Bill."[/navy]
- The Bastard Operator From Hell

 

[fumei]

You do not delete the FOOTER."

More than that...it is not possible to delete the footer.

Contents? Yes. The footer itself? Nope.

All in all though, I also suspect the file may be corrupted. There was that thread quite a while back with a funny weird "field" something in the footer that could not be deleted. I got the OP to send me the file, and I never did find a way to fully delete the contents of the footer.

faq219-2884

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[Jtorres13]

Thank you the useful suggestions. Yes, I know you cannot delete the Footer itself. Please note in my original post I always referred to the problem as deleting the page number field located in the footer.

I will try the File | Open | Repair suggestions. Thanks.

As a side note:
Let's limit our posts to asking and answering with suggested solutions. No need to reiterate the impossibility of deleting the footer when I didn't even suggest that's what I as doing. Please always read original post before replying. I'll probably get flamed for this but I think we need etiquette not only for asking questions in forums, but also for answering them. It would make the proccess much faster and cleaner.

 

[SkipVought]

Jtorres,

just answering your question...

How do I use the toolbar to dlete an existing footer?

Skip,

_{Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE!}

 

[fumei]

1. "No need to reiterate the impossibility of deleting the footer when I didn't even suggest that's what I as doing. Please always read original post before replying. "

I was responding to Skip's post, not yours.

2. You are quite correct though, it is a good idea to respond to the actual thread. Which I tried to do by agreeing that it is likely the file has been corrupted.

If repair does not work, what about trying to force the contents into nothing?

ActiveDocument.Section(number).Footers(whichever one it is).Range.Delete. As in:

ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Footers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range.Delete

This should remove everything, no matter what it is - text, fields, graphics, Shapes, whatever. The footer of course will still be there, with a collapsed range.

faq219-2884

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[Jtorres13]

I Clearly, CLEARLY stated my problem in my original posting, detailing how I was selecting the page number field in the footer and using the backspace or Delete keys to try to delete it and it wouldn't work.

"I was responding to Skip's post, not yours." How about posting in the thread and not around it? Respond to the original poster.


I CLEARLY stated I opened the footer by double clicking it. Why didn't you bark at JPaules for suggesting using the header/footer toolbar for deleting. Now, that was unecessary given that I was already in the footer and the toolbar is not used for deleting anything.

Reiterating an already post about the file being corrupt was also unecessary. it's clear the file was corrput. Why beat the dead horse.

Finally, I did try the only useful, proposed suggestion (at the time of my last posting) on how to fix the problem offered by SkipVought and it worked.

I'm just trying to help you guys keep this forum as useful and relevant as possible by suggesting guidelines on how to post responses. I've responded and helped people here too. I'm not just asking questions, sucking the smarts out of you. Of course, I'm not a ViP or VP or MPV or whaever you want to call it, but I contribute my share.

 

[Jtorres13]

Correction, the good post was by MakeItSo. Thanks you. Straight to the point. no annecdotes, no flaming. Just try this, blah blah. Done.

 

[fumei]

1. Nobody is barking, except you perhaps.

2. It is quite legitmate to respond to posts by other people as well as the OP. I was adding to Skip's comment.

3. "Reiterating an already post about the file being corrupt was also unecessary. it's clear the file was corrput. Why beat the dead horse."

No..it was not clear. It seemed likely though, and all I was commenting on...was that I concur with that thought.

"All in all though, I also suspect the file may be corrupted."

Nobody was being flamed, and if you felt you were, then I am sorry you felt compelled to create that for yourself.

faq219-2884

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[MakeItSo]

@JTorres: Glad you got it sorted.
This sort of file corruption can be quite unnerving. Sometimes its the footer, sometimes a document will only print the first three pages then Word will crash, sometimes it will only print the first three or so pages WITH header footer, the rest without...
I recently encountered a most, most unnerving corruption with a book I wrote: on creating the final(!) high-res print postscript file, the TOC got corrupted and would show all chapters from No.3 onwards as being on page 29 -
Of course I only found out after the book was printed...

Had to make a 2nd edition of it right away.

Sometimes, Word really sucks...

Anyway: Read you around!

[navy]"We had to turn off that service to comply with the CDA Bill."[/navy]
- The Bastard Operator From Hell

 

[lionelhill]

Jtorres and Makeitso,

Thank you both for this useful thread. This happens to me very frequently in Word 2003, to such an extent that I never add the page number until I am completely finished with the file, and then if it goes wrong (which in Word 2003 it sometimes does, but that's another thread), I can use the back-button to undo adding it.

Thanks for letting me know that there is an alternative way out of this.