As a lawyer, I endorse macropod's warning.
What you are referring to as documents really should be templates if they are used as the basis for new documents/communications.
What I have done with parts of templates that may be changed is to store things like names/addresses/phone numbers/logos as
AutoText stored in a
Global Template. The templates contain an AutoNew macro that update, then unlink
AutoText Fields in the
document templates when a new document is created based on that document template.
To update a particular element in all of the templates, all that needs to be done is to update the AutoText entry in the global template (and then distribute the updated global template to users). When new documents are created from the document templates, the new/revised information is included automatically.
We've used this process in form letters and even legal pleadings.
When preparing templates for use in multiple locations, local information is kept in separate global templates. I've done this with four levels of management/offices.
You will never delete footers because they are document parts. You can delete the content, though. Keep in mind that a document can have many footers. Each section of a Word document contains three unique footers, even though you may never see them all.
Header/Footer Settings Recap
Returning to your question, you should look at: