I'm an editor, so I'm working with documents that other people have created. Many of the files have a few landscape pages which need to be aligned vertically. The landscape pages have to have portrait headers and footers, which we create with text boxes. Most of the time it works just fine, but periodically I come across a page that won't align vertically. Even when I set the section to vertical alignment in Page Setup, the text stays at the top of the page.





To correct the problem, I have to create a new section and copy the text into it. I can bring in the text from the non-aligned section just fine, but I have to create a new header with new text boxes. If I copy the header text boxes, the section stops aligning correctly, so I'm guessing something in there is causing the problem. Interestingly, the problem remains even if I delete the text boxes and header.



I've seen this problem several times, and I can't figure out what specifically causes it. I would really like to know how to just fix the issue when I run across it instead of recreating my whole layout. Any ideas?

A single page cannot be aligned vertically in a different fashion (i.e. Center) than surrounding pages without section breaks.
Sections / Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word (Ribbon Versions)

You could post a sample problem document - absent proprietary info and someone here will likely take a look at it.
How to attach a file in this forum.

Keep in mind that Word is really not a page layout program. Publisher is.


How to put a portrait page number on a landscape page by Bill Coan, MVP

I am attaching a sample file with the problem.

To clarify, the pages that need to be vertically aligned are separate sections. Each section is separated by a Next Page section break, then the layout for that section is changed to landscape with vertical alignment. Then there is another Next Page section break, and the layout for the subsequent section is formatted in portrait with top vertical alignment.

I don't need help creating portrait page numbers on the landscape pages - that is working fine. The format and file type are mandated by the federal government and corporate policy, so we will not be changing those. I'm just curious why the vertical alignment works most of the time, but periodically doesn't.

Attached Files

SampleAlignmentProblem.docx (53.1 KB, 7 views)

Your landscape page contains a table which is not in-line-with text or otherwise anchored to the text. It is free-floating. All that is in the body of the page is the table. The caption for the table is inside the table (not necessarily a good idea).

I had no trouble moving it to the center of the page by grabbing the handler but it is not changed by the alignment setting.

I then tried recreating your document. When I pasted in the textbox for your landscape footer, it moved the table to the top when it was in the center using the Vertical alignment. The same thing did not happen with the textbox for the header.

I copied the one for the header and put it in the left position for a footer and typed in the page number.


I cannot explain it. Life is too short.


Here is a sample of what I did: Dropbox - SampleAlignmentProblemdelete.docx - Simplify your life

Interesting, so it must be something in the footer textbox. These landscape pages will generally have a blank hard return after the table, but there will be no other text on the page. The title of the tables will absolutely always be in the first row of the table (U.S. DOE requirement, since most of these tables are several pages long and the caption has to be in a repeating header row).


Like I said, these pages usually work just fine, and I can set the vertical alignment to center and it actually centers all the pages in the section. But every once in a while I come across a page that acts like this, and it's just very strange. I guess I will keep manually recreating the landscape section and header/footer as a work around.

Someone with the technical expertise might be able to delve into the XML and figure it out.

Something you might consider doing is saving these landscape textboxes as a Header Building Blocks so that you can easily insert them.
Where can Building Blocks be stored?