Word Documents suddenly changed format!

Question

I use Mac 11.2.3 (Big Sur)

I suspect (hope) there will be an easy solution for this. Out of nowhere my Word Document format changed. I will attach what it looks like now. In addition, all my Word Documents from the past have this same "new" format. Even stationary with headers and footers have disappeared thought the body of all documents is the same. I suspect this has something to do with "Layout". I am somewhat techno-impaired but any help would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you!

Tom

Answer 1

Jim is correct about updating but that isn't the cause of your issue. It's not a  matter of formatting it's a matter of which View you're using. It looks like you're in either Draft [or possibly Web Layout] View, neither of which display Headers or Footers.

To display the document as you expect you can either:

• Go to View> Print Layout in the main menu, or
• Click the Print Layout View button at the right end of the Status Bar, or
• Click the Print Layout tool in the Views group on the View tab of the Ribbon

Note: Documents [both existing as well as new] open in the View currently in use or which was in use when the program last was Quit.

EDIT: I neglected to mention that you also can switch to Print Layout View by way of the built-in keyboard shortcut: Option+Command+P.

Answer 2

THANK YOU!!!!! THAT'S IT!!!

Answer 3

That absolutely is a problem...

Version 16.28 dates back to August of 2019 as indicated by the parenthetical info following the version number [(19081202)]. The interpretation of that is 19=2019, 08=8th month, 12=12th day, 02=2nd variation of the update. In all probability the version of Microsoft AutoUpdate [MAU] is equally obsolete so it is unable to recognize the availability of updates.

Use this link to update MAU then update Office.

Answer 4

Thank you for such a quick response! I am still having difficulty finding how to update as the “Help” link really did not help…ironic.Here is my version:Bob has fixed the problem but I would also like to know if I need to upgrade. Thank you!

Answer 5

Hi

Microsoft Office is telling you to install updates. Since you haven't said what version you currently have, here's instructions for installing updates for all versions of Microsoft Office:

INSTALL UPDATES:

How to check your version of Office:

If you can open your Office application go to the application menu. For example, in Microsoft Word, go to the Word menu. Then choose About Word. The resulting dialog tells you which version you have.

If you can’t open your Office application, in Finder, go to the Applications folder. Right-click on the application and choose Get Info from the menu.

If your version of Office is currently 14.anything or lower, your software will not run in Catalina or Big Sur. You should consider using LibreOfficeto replace Microsoft Office. LibreOfficeis a free, mostly compatible desktop suite. Microsoft has a free, on-line version of Microsoft Office at OneDrive.com, which is also a good substitute for older versions of Mac OS if you don’t mind the hassle of having to use the web.

If your version of Office is currently 15.anything, follow these instructions to install Microsoft Office updates:

Download a copy of the current version of AutoUpdate from this link, install and then run AutoUpdate to bring your installation to current update level, then restart your Mac. If the updater does not open automatically after download, double-click the downloaded .pkg file. Click this link to download the updater. The update is free.

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=830196

If your version of Office is currently 16.anything, follow these instructions to install Microsoft Office updates: Update Office for Mac automatically - Office Support