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What is a Section ?

A new document will typically only have one section although you can create more if necesary.

Page numbers are done on a section basis and you can specify the starting value for your pages

Margins are done on a section basis and you can change these from (File > Page Setup).

The last paragraph mark in a document or section stores both the paragraph and section attributes. If you copy this paragraph mark to a different document you will not only copy the paragraph attributes but the attributes for that section as well

You should only ever use section breaks if you need to include both types of page orientation (Portrait & Landscape) or you need two pages with different margins or headers & footers.

Each section within a document can have its own page size, margins, orientation, printer paper source, number of columns, headers and footers.

Section Attributes

1) Column formatting

2) Footnote and Endnnote appearance and location

3) Headers and Footers

4) Page numbering

5) Page orientation and page size

Splitting a document into sections allows you to customise the following:

Sections enable you to apply any setting from the Page Setup dialog box to specific portions of your document.

Sections give you a way to establish different settings for different parts of the same document.

The most common use for sections is if you want to include both portrait and landsacpe pages in the same document.

Section Breaks

Just as a Paragraph mark contains all the formatting for a paragraph, a Section break contains all the formatting for the precedding section.

You can quickly copy all the formatting within a section by copying the section break.

Section Marks

Section formatting is stored in an "invisible" character called a section mark.

Section marks only appear when you are working in Normal view.

There is also one invisible section mark located at the end of the document.

So if you can see two section marks in Word there are actually three.

The last section mark sits between the last visible section mark and the end of the document.

You can select, copy, move or delete section marks just like any other character.

This is often the cause of what appears to be strange layout and formatting behaviour.

You cannot move, cut or copy the section mark at the end of your document.

You will see any breaks automatically in Normal View, but to see then in Print Layour view you must have the Paragraph formatting displayed.

You can change the formatting within this section by placing the insertion point anywhere within the section and the selecting (File > Page Setup).

Make sure the Apply to drop-down list is "This section"

Things to Remember

You can use the (Edit > Find) dialog box to search for section breaks, click Special and then Section break.

Each section can have a different first page header and footer