Word – Formatting Word header and footer for landscape sections so that they are readable in portrait mode

You can do this, but it requires separate headers/footers for that section that are placed in textboxes, tables or frames that float in the header/footer.

The same methods that worked in Word 2003 are the only ones available in Word 2019/365 although the controls have changed in the interface. Here is a video that demonstrates how to do this in Ribbon versions.

This is addressed in my chapter on Sections and Headers/Footers and Page Numbers.

Here is my demonstration document: Portrait Headers and Footers in Landscape Sections demo It was prepared in response to this question on the Microsoft Answers Forum. You can see several informed and useful techniques in other answers there.

Here is the best source on this: How to put a portrait header and footer on a landscape page by Bill Coan. Note that the references to steps refer to information on inserting a landscape page in the original that are not quoted here.

Here is a partial quotation:

How to put a portrait header or footer on a landscape page

There are several alternative methods of putting a portrait page number, header, or footer on a landscape page. There is only one method that is comparatively easy (using “dummy pages”), and it is frequently not satisfactory. The other methods are all quite involved and require a fair amount of trial and error, but the instructions below will give you a good start.

If all you need is a page number, Word 2007 has made this much easier (though not exactly obvious), so let’s start there.

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.

Note: Since the page number is in an ordinary text box, you can actually make the text box large enough to contain a header or footer if desired. Or you can follow the directions below for doing the entire task manually. Using “dummy pages” and two print runs (all Word versions)

If your document is not likely ever to need to be emailed to others, but will only be distributed in hard copy, this is probably the simplest method of printing landscape pages with a portrait header/footer, and it works in any version of Word.

In your document, insert manual page breaks (Ctrl+Enter) to create the required number of pages for your landscape section. These “blank” pages will have the same header and/or footer as the text pages.

In a separate document, or in a separate landscape section at the end of the document, set up your landscape pages with the appropriate margins and no header or footer.

Print the portrait document (or portrait portion of the combined portrait/landscape document).

Load the “blank” pages back into your printer, being careful to orient the pages in such a way that the landscape pages will print correctly, and print the landscape section or document.

Using a text box (Word 97 and above)

This is simpler to set up than using a table in a frame; but unfortunately, certain fields do not work in text boxes—most problematically, the StyleRef field doesn’t. If you want to use a StyleRef (or any sort of cross-reference) field, then you will need to use a table in a frame rather than a text box.

Also, if you need part of the header or footer to word-wrap, (for example, if you have a title on the left, which may need to word-wrap, and a page number on the right), then you will need a table; and tables in frames are much easier to manage than tables in text boxes.

Here is the procedure for using a text box:

Review steps 7–15 in the section on “Inserting a landscape page” as needed for instructions on unlinking the header and footer of the landscape section from the portrait sections preceding and following. It is very important that you do this before proceeding any further.

Delete the material in the header or footer of your landscape section; or cut it to the Clipboard for reuse in Step 7.

With the cursor positioned in the empty header, draw a text box:

In Word 2003 and earlier, use the Text Box tool on the Drawing toolbar:

(or select Insert | Text Box).

In Word 2007, use Insert | Text | Text Box | Draw Text Box.

Size and position the text box as desired. You can put the text box anywhere on the page and it will still be treated as part of the header or footer. For a header, you want the text box to be in the right margin of the page; for a footer, it should be in the left margin.

Remove the border from the text box, if desired, by right-clicking its border and choosing Format Text Box (Format AutoShape in Word 2007) and then choosing “Line Color”: “No Line” on the Colors and Lines tab. (In Word 2007, when a text box is selected, the Text Box Tools tab provides a button for Shape Outline.)

With the cursor in the text box, choose Format | Text Direction (or use the Text Direction button on the Text Box toolbar or, in Word 2007, the Text Box Tools tab), choose the desired text direction, and click OK.

Enter the desired text in the text box, using the buttons on the Header and Footer toolbar or Header & Footer Tools Design tab if needed. Or paste the contents of the Clipboard into the text box (see Step 2). Set up your tabs, if needed, by using the built-in Header and Footer styles (use the Tabs dialog if you need to adjust them; you can't use the ruler, obviously).

Repeat Steps 2–7 (if needed) for the footer.

Return to the main document by clicking Close or Close Header and Footer or by double-clicking in the document body.

Note: When using this method, it is very important to have both header and footer unlinked from both preceding and following sections. Depending on the placement of your text box, Word may spontaneously decide to anchor it to the header instead of the footer (where you created it) or vice versa; if the header or footer isn’t unlinked from those of the surrounding sections, the text box will appear throughout the document.

Using a table in a frame (Word 97–2003)

Note: Although frames can still (with considerable difficulty) be accessed in Word 2007, that version also removes most of the limitations of text boxes, so use of frames in Word 2007 is not recommended.

Review steps 7–15 in the section on “Inserting a landscape page” as needed for instructions on unlinking the header and footer of the landscape section from the portrait sections preceding and following. It is very important that you do this before proceeding any further.

Delete the material in the header or footer; or cut it to the Clipboard for reuse in Step 11.

With the cursor positioned in the empty header, insert a one-row, one-column table using the Insert Table button on the Standard toolbar (or use Insert | Table). Let it be the default size. Remove the border.

Select the table. Set the column width to, say, half an inch (1.27 cm), and decrease the space between columns to 0 (in Word 2000 and above, you have to go to Table | Properties | Options, and set both the “Left” and “Right” measurements to 0).

With the table still selected, insert a frame using the Insert Frame button on the Forms toolbar.

(See my page on Frames for instructions on inserting Frames in Ribbon versions.)

Drag the frame into the left margin (for the footer) or the right margin (for the header), and position it so that the top of the frame lines up exactly with the top margin of the page. You can get much better control by holding the Alt key down while you drag.

Alternatively, you can select Format | Frame, or right-click on the frame border and select Format Frame. Set the Horizontal position to say 0.5" (1.27 cm) relative to Page, for the footer, or around 10.5" (27 cm) for the header. (If the Horizontal position box says “Left”, you will need to overtype the word with the measurement you want). Set the Vertical position to be exactly equal to the top margin of the page (by default, 1", or 2.54 cm). Using drag and drop is probably easier, though.

The Frame dialog looks a bit different in more recent versions of Word but has the same controls.

Select the table; and, holding the Alt key down, drag the bottom of the table down so that it lines up exactly with the bottom margin of the page. Alternatively, format the cell height to Exactly the distance between your top and bottom page margins.

If you need additional cells (because your header or footer is normally in a table, so that you can have word wrap), click in the table and select Table | Split Cells; choose 1 column and either 2 or 3 rows, as appropriate (this maintains your row height, whereas inserting rows does not).Then fine-tune the relative heights (pseudo “widths”) of the rows by dragging the cell borders.

Change the text direction (Format | Text Direction).

In Ribbon Versions you need a control from the Table Layout tab to change text direction. Frames do not have a built-in control to change text direction. In Word 97-2003 use the control on the Tables and Borders Toolbar. In Ribbon versions, add the control to the QAT. These will work on text in the frame.

Apply styles as appropriate. If one cell, use the built-in Header or Footer styles (which will automatically give you any tab stops you need). If two or three cells, use the styles that you use in your “ordinary” headers.

Enter the desired text in the table, using the buttons on the Header and Footer toolbar if needed. Or paste the contents of the Clipboard into the table (see Step 2). Set up your tabs, if needed, by using the built-in Header and Footer styles (select Format | Tabs if you need to adjust them; you can't use the ruler, obviously).

Note: In some recent versions of Word, text in frames can be rotated (using Format | Text Direction) without the need for inserting a table. You will still need a table, however, if you would ordinarily have used one to lay out your header or footer.

A text-wrapped table in Word 2000 and above is actually a table in an invisible frame. So you can use the same steps as those described for using a table in a frame, except that instead of inserting a frame, you can go to Table | Properties | Table, and set the “Text Wrapping” to “Around.” Then click on the “Positioning” button, (instead of using Format | Frame) to set the horizontal and vertical positions relative to the page.

The advantage of this method is that it's slightly easier to set up. The disadvantage is that, because the frame is invisible, it's much less obvious what's going on, and if other people ever have to maintain your document in the future, they are therefore more likely to run into problems. So, on balance, we would normally recommend using visible frames rather than text wrapped tables.

Note: In Word 2007, it does not seem to be possible to drag a wrapped table anchored to the header to any position outside the header area, though it can be placed in the left or right margin using Table Properties | Table | Positioning.

For an alternative viewpoint on this subject, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article “WD97: How to Add a Portrait Page Number to a Landscape Page.” [Lene Fredborg, 18-Jun-2018: Removed outdated link to http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=162235](There is a Word 2000 equivalent of that article, but it's pretty much identical).

The Word 2000 article is the latest direction directly from Microsoft on this subject. Again, it is valid for current versions but the interface is different.