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Removing Headers and footers

Anonymous
2023-11-16T04:32:56+00:00

I tried the common way to remove headers and footers but it won't allow me to remove them, so how do I just reset my word document?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For education | Windows

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  1. Charles Kenyon 167.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-11-16T19:30:00+00:00

    To clarify, every Word document will have header and footer parts, even if they are empty and use no room. That is part of the document structure.

    Stefan has asked a cogent question and Suzanne had told you how to remove the content from any header or footer.

    Are you using the desktop application or Word online?

    These behave differently and have different controls even though they work with the same documents.

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2023-11-16T13:01:25+00:00

    Click in the header/footer area, select all the content, and press Delete.

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  2. Stefan Blom 340.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2023-11-16T10:37:16+00:00

    Are you talking about removing headers/footers in a particular document?

    Or are you saying that you see header/footer content in each new, blank document that you create in Word?

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-11-16T07:22:42+00:00

    It did not work. Instead, it just keeps popping up the version previously with the headers and footers.

    Dear respected,

    To reset your Word document and remove any headers and footers that may be causing issues, you can try the following steps:

    1. Click on the "File" tab in the top left corner of the Word window.
    2. Click on "Options" at the bottom of the left-hand menu.
    3. In the Word Options window, click on "Advanced" in the left-hand menu.
    4. Scroll down to the "Show document content" section and click on the "File Locations" button.
    5. In the File Locations window, select "User templates" and click on the "Modify" button.
    6. This will open the folder where your templates are stored. Find the "Normal.dotm" file and rename it to "Normal.old".
    7. Close all open Word documents and restart Word. A new "Normal.dotm" file will be created, which should reset your document and remove any headers and footers.

    Please note that this will also reset any other customizations you may have made to your Word settings or templates.

    Best regards,

    Mia

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-11-16T06:23:23+00:00

    Dear respected,

    To reset your Word document and remove any headers and footers that may be causing issues, you can try the following steps:

    1. Click on the "File" tab in the top left corner of the Word window.
    2. Click on "Options" at the bottom of the left-hand menu.
    3. In the Word Options window, click on "Advanced" in the left-hand menu.
    4. Scroll down to the "Show document content" section and click on the "File Locations" button.
    5. In the File Locations window, select "User templates" and click on the "Modify" button.
    6. This will open the folder where your templates are stored. Find the "Normal.dotm" file and rename it to "Normal.old".
    7. Close all open Word documents and restart Word. A new "Normal.dotm" file will be created, which should reset your document and remove any headers and footers.

    Please note that this will also reset any other customizations you may have made to your Word settings or templates.

    Best regards,

    Mia

    Was this answer helpful?

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