I have a very large document I am working on (trying to turn a hard copy of a 3,000-page court transcript into a Word Doc).

Although the text at the bottom of each page changes somewhat, the final four lines have a common format.

I want to place those final lines into a different font and size to the rest of the document.

The main part of the document is in Calibri (Body) size 11 in black.

I want to change the lower four lines to Book Antiqua size 8 in dark blue.

It is probable easier to show what it is, and what I want in the attached screenshots.

Is what I want to do possible?

Attached Images

	Chamberlain screenshot - bottom lines.jpg (30.6 KB, 20 views)
	Chamberlain screenshot - bottom lines2.jpg (42.7 KB, 20 views)

This sounds like a perfect application for a Footer.

I agree, looks like use for a footer.

Otherwise, a custom paragraph style that includes a frame positioned at the bottom of the page.

• Frames and Textboxes in Microsoft Word
• Footer on last page

I thought about Footers, but the issue is that the document is 3,000 pages and the information is constantly changing that is in the bottom four lines.

So as I understand footers I would need to copy and paste the information from every page into a specific footer. It is not as if it even has sequential page numbers.

Same goes for text boxes.

What I am trying to do is to automate a process whereby I can specify that the bottom four lines of each page have certain characteristics. Perhaps a macro?

Maybe I have been wrongly using footers and text boxes in the past, but I don't think they can do what I am after.

Word Doesn't Know What a Page Is by Daiya Mitchell, MVP


Read it!


If the information is on more than one page, you likely want to be using footers, perhaps using the StyleRef Field.


To have it on each page and not reflecting anything that is elsewhere typed, you probably want to use a (borderless) frame set to be at the bottom of the page.

If Word doesn't know what a page is, then why can I put in a Page Break, or Next Page section break?

If I was to replace the Page Breaks at the bottom of each page with a Section Break, could I then use a Macro to do what I am hoping to?

I think if you try to put 3000 Section breaks in a Word document it will become practically unusable. Section breaks carry a huge amount of formatting.

• What gets carried over when you start a new section?
• Working with sections by Dave Rado, MVP

If you add a page break, you tell Word to start a new page. If you add a Section break, you tell Word to start a new Section. In the absence of those, Word starts a new page during printing depending on the print parameters



There is no such thing as a page style in Word.


You can set paragraph styles for your bottom four lines.
You can use a frame as part of this style.
You can use the StyleRef field in footers to change the contents on every page.


Word is not a typewriter.
Basic Concepts of Microsoft Word - from Shauna Kelly

Absolutely NO. Do not use section breaks as page breaks. You absolutely don't want 3000 sections in your document. I would say you also don't want all those hard page breaks either.

The advice to put that information in a footer and allow the content to flow across pages is still the BEST recommendation for you UNLESS you need the result to exactly match the pagination, formatting etc of the original PDF - in which case, why bother converting to Word.

If your point of bringing the content into Word is to allow you to clean it up and reformat the content, then you should do it as efficiently as possible. The "4 lines on every page of 3000" in your original question SOUNDS AND LOOKS like it should be in the footer which is why it was recommended to you. If you choose not to do that, then please explain how your finished document should be different to the source PDF?

__________________
Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Thanks again for all your information.

I see the benefit of having the information in a Word Document is four fold.
a) It allows people to view it who don't have Adobe Reader or Acrobat

b) more importantly, it allows people to search the document effectively. The existing PDF is a rough mixture of images and text that is completely unworkable for people trying to use the document for keyword searches and the like.

c) As you point out, it is much easier to clean up the copy as a Word doc than in trying to do this in Adobe Acrobat.

4) The RTF files are smaller (186MB as compared to 22MB in this document) so easier for people to download (although I realise this would change when the PDF is created for a clean Word Doc rather than having "images" of text).

I am more than happy to use a Footer if that is the best way. I am just confused because in the past when I have used footers it has replicated the same text in the footer on every page.
In my example the text changes on every page, so a footer would not work.

As a workaround is there a way I can make a shortcut key, so that if I highlight text and hold down a certain combination of keys, that it will format the text as I want.

I'm not keen to do this for 3000 pages, but if that is the only way it can be done, then it may be a partial solution.

Again, look into the StyleRef Field.


I regularly use Adobe Acrobat to make the text in a pdf searchable.


Converted documents always have formatting anomalies in Word (and likely in other programs).