After more than two decades of using Word, this still baffles me. When you remove a section break, the section properties (e.g., header, footer, margins, etc.) are inherited from the following section. You may or may not want that. Sometimes when you erase a section break between two sections, your intention is for the second section to follow the first, not the other way around.



Is there an easy way to reverse what Word does normally and make the first section the dominant section on section properties?

You could use a macro to replicate the to-be-deleted Section's layout in the next Section before deleting it. The macro in https://www.msofficeforums.com/word/...next-page.html manages the process for most scenarios. Simply select a range that spans all of the Section breaks to be deleted. As you can see from the code, it's not a trivial exercise.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Thanks! As always, this is going to be very helpful.

I wonder if MS has really thought through how deleting sections work. Maybe it's just me, but I rarely want the second section to be dominant when merging two sections.

I'm sure MS knows "how deleting sections work". Word has functioned this way for over 20 years. It's all tied in with the fact that the last character in every Section carries the metacode for the Section's layout.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

The above macro has served me well, but the later section still seems to be dominant with respect to one trait - multi columns.

Hi NewDaddy,

The macro wasn't written to cater for every eventuality; only the most common ones. Catering for all the text column possibilities would require considerably more code, as you'll see if you take a look in the VBE at the attributes associated with the PageSetup.TextColumns property and object.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I see. Yes, I think I can further tailor the macro for my needs. Your take is a great start. Thanks!