Missing Header and Footer Toolbar

Dody experienced a problem with her Header and Footer toolbar. It used to be visible, but all of a sudden the toolbar is no longer displayed when editing either the header or the footer area.

It is possible that the toolbar is simply not being displayed where you are used to looking for it. When you choose View | Header and Footer, the toolbar should appear on the screen, but may not be floating over your document. The Header and Footer toolbar could be docked to one of the sides of your program window. It could be located at the top, bottom, left, or right sides of your screen, at the border of the program window itself. If so, you can drag the left edge of the toolbar (if it is docked at the top or bottom of the screen) or the top edge of the toolbar (if it is docked at the left or right of the screen) toward the middle of the screen so it will again float.

It is also possible that the toolbar really is being displayed, but has been dragged off-screen or is in a part of the screen that is not visible. (For instance, you could have changed to a lower screen resolution, and whereas the toolbar was visible at the higher resolution, now it is outside of the visible screen area.) If that is the case, you can use a small macro to return the toolbar to a visible area of your screen:

Sub ShowTB()
    ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdPrintView
    ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekCurrentPageHeader

    With CommandBars("Header and Footer")
        .Visible = True
        .Position = msoBarFloating
        .Left = 250
        .Top = 250
    End With
End Sub

This macro first places the insertion point within the header. It then makes sure that the Header and Footer toolbar is visible, that it is floating, and that it is located 250 pixels from the left and top of the screen, which should be in the visible area.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7747) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.