Odd and Even Headers/Footers

[sarineochaos]

Hi! I'm new and in a bit of a bind.

I need to create a template for a conversion process...but that's not important.

What's important is I need different headers for the cover page, TOC pages, and the actual content pages--thus, I need two section breaks to create three sections.

I did this and it all went smoothly. Now, I need the header content to alternate between odd and even pages (i.e., content on left for odd pages appears on right for even pages).

This also went smoothly. Now the issue is this: Apparently what's an odd page and what's an even page is not determined by where the page falls in the document, but by the page number you set up for it; thus, if my TOC (section 2) ends on an odd number (page i, iii, v, and so on) and my body content (section 3) starts on an odd number (obviously, page 1), they both have the odd-page header and I end up with a "break" in my alternating content. Everything is fine and dandy if the TOC section ends on an even number, but it's an issue if it ends on an odd number.

Is there a way to set up Word so that it ignores the actual page number inserted in the footer and instead focuses on where the page itself falls in the page count? This will most likely fix my issue, but I can't find anything that would control this in the General or Advanced settings.

Please see the attached .png for a visual of my dilemma.

Please help!

[Charles Kenyon]

Brief answer: No.

The header/footer page determination of odd/even is the page number assigned to the page in the page number formatting.

The headers/footers in one Section can be linked to those in the previous Section. If linked they will be the same but even being the same, because of fields can display very different things. The most common fields to make these changes in what text is shown even though the underlying header/footer is the same are the StyleRef Field and the Page field. Another very useful field in a multi-section document is the SectionPages field. Field codes in Word - Word - Office.com

Header/Footer Settings Recap

However, you can set Sections to start on ever or odd pages which may get you what you want.

Typically, a new logical section in a document (like a chapter) will start on an odd-numbered page. There may be a blank page before it. This way the beginning of the chapter starts on the left hand side of a document printed on both sides. The start of a Word Section can correspond to the beginning of the logical section.

Another reference that may help is: How to set up a document with front matter 2007