Working in Sections

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Since Word includes features that stretch to give you a variety of formats and controls for long documents, you need a way to limit the changes made to individual portions of your document. That's what sections are all about. By using sections, you can control a change from a single-column format to multiple columns and back again. You can create layouts that look different on odd and even pages. You can modify the margins of a section and then revert to the regular document formatting when the section is completed.

Creating a Section

Starting a section is almost as easy as starting a column. You can begin a new section anywhere-in the middle of a page or at the beginning of a new one. To start a new section, follow these steps:

1. Place the insertion point where you want to start the new section.

2. Choose Insert, Break. The Break dialog box (shown previously in Figure 19-9) appears.

3. Click one of the section break types (further described in Table 19-3) and click OK. The section is created, and the text flows accordingly.

   Tip 

   Create sections in Page Setup  If you have a larger vision of your document when you first use Page Setup, you can elect to create sections there as well. Choose File, Page Setup to display the Page Setup dialog box, and then click the Layout tab. The first group of settings on the Layout tab in the Page Setup dialog box deals with sections. You can choose Continuous, New Column, New Page, Even Page, or Odd Page in the Section Start list, just as you can in the Break dialog box. As always, you can change any of your selections at any time, and making changes in the Break dialog box later will carry through to the settings you entered in the Page Setup dialog box.

Table 19-3: A Quick Look at Section Types

Section Type	Description	Use
Next Page	Creates a new section at the top of the next page.	You want to start a new section with different formatting specifications on the next page in the document.
Continuous	Creates a new section beginning at the document insertion point.	You want to begin a new section in the middle of the current page.
Even Page	Creates a new section beginning on an even page. If the current page is an even page, an odd page is inserted and left blank.	You want to create a new section with a format used uniquely for even pages.
Odd Page	Creates a new section beginning on an odd page. If the current page is an odd page, an even page is inserted and left blank.	You want to create a section for odd pages only.

Selecting Multiple Sections

Word gives you the means of selecting different portions of your document at the same time. Whether you want to copy large and nonsequential sections, run the spelling checker on selected text, or reformat or delete selected blocks, you can use the multiple-select feature to select noncontiguous blocks and sections. To select multiple sections, follow these steps:

1. Select the first section you want to work with.

2. Press and hold the Ctrl key, and scroll to the next section and select it.

3. Continue adding sections as necessary and then perform the operation you have in mind. No longer is Word limited to an all-or-nothing selection method, which means you can work with just the text you want, when and how you want to.

Removing Section Breaks

You can remove the section breaks in your Word document in the same way you delete column breaks-simply select them and press Delete. Once you delete a section break, the document settings that were in effect before the break are applied to that section.

Saving Formats as Your Own Templates

A reminder: any time you go to any significant trouble to create your own format, especially if there's a chance you'll use the format again, consider saving the format you've created as a template you can use again as the basis for other documents.

To create a template from a document you've made, follow these steps:

1. Choose File, Save As. The Save As dialog box will appear.

2. Type a name for the template in the File Name box.

3. Click the Save As Type arrow and choose Document Template (*.dot).

4. Click Save to save the template file.

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