Ask Sam: How do I set up a different first page header in Word 2007?

Fiction writers usually need to have no header at all on the title page, but want a header including a page number starting with 1 on the second and all subsequent pages. Today I'll show you how to do just that.

There are two ways to get to the Header area in Word 2007:

• On the Insert tab, click the Header button and select Edit Header at the bottom of the list that appears
• If the header area of the page is visible, double-click it.

Either way, the cursor is placed in the Header area, which is labeled Header. A new ribbon tab, Design, appears and has focus. To set up your headers, perform these steps:

1. In the Options area in the Design tab, place a check next to Different First Page. The label of the Header area changes to First Page Header. You can insert first-page only header information here if you want, or leave it blank.
2. In the Navigation section of the Design tab, click Next Section. The label of the Header area changes to Header.
3. Set up your header information here. To insert page numbers, do this:
   • In the Header & Footer section, click Page Number.
   • Select Current Position. (Warning: If you select one of the "Top of Page" options, Word will blow away any header content that already exists!)
   • Select Plain Number. Word inserts a page number field at the cursor position.
4. Format the page number. When you insert the page number field, Word starts numbering at page one of your document, even if your first page header doesn't display anything. As a result, the first numbered page of your manuscript will be 2. You want it to be 1, so you'll need to format the page number by performing these steps:
   • In the Header & Footer section of the Design tab, click Page Number and select Format Page Number. The Page Number Format dialog is displayed.
   • Click the radio button next to Start at. The value of Start at is displayed as 1.
   • Change the value of Start at to 0 and click OK. The first page of your manuscript is now page 1, skipping the title page.
5. Either click Close Header and Footer or double-click the body of the document.

If you have more than one page of front matter, this won't work because you can't set the Start at value to less than 0. In that instance, you'll need to use Word section breaks-- but that's a topic for another day.

"Ask Sam" is a weekly feature. If you have questions about using Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) or Word (2003 or 2007), send e-mail to stfalco AT yahoo.com and I'll try to answer your questions here.

Ask Sam: Change spacing between bullets and list text

This week, I'm pleased to have my first reader question:

In Word 2007, when making a bullet list, how do I increase the spacing between the bullets and the text?

When you create a bullet or numbered list in Word, the bullet or number is separated from the list text by a quarter of an inch. There are several ways to change that distance. The method I've outlined below works in Word 2007 as well as Word 2003.

1. Click and drag to select the entire list. If you've only got one list item, you can simply put the cursor somewhere in that item.
2. Right-click the selection and click Paragraph on the context menu. The Paragraph dialog appears.
3. On the right side of the Indentation section, change the value of the "By" field to the amount of space you want to have between the bullet and the text.
4. Click OK.

Once you've set the Hanging Indent value, each time you press enter while working with that list, the new item will be formatted in the same way. These steps also work for numbered lists.

Thanks for the question! I hope this tip helps.

"Ask Sam" is a weekly feature. If you have questions about using Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) or Word (2003 or 2007), send e-mail to stfalco AT yahoo.com and I'll try to answer your questions here.

Ask Sam: Adding line numbers for easy critiquing

When a critique group discusses a manuscript, it can be difficult for everyone to find the same passage and follow along. When someone says paragraph two, does she mean the second complete paragraph, or is she counting the widowed lines from the previous page as a paragraph? Which sentence is she talking about? You can make it easy for everyone to zero in on a specific line by having Word number the lines in each manuscript. Open the story you want to work with and perform the steps for your version of Word.

Word 2003

1. Click File and Page Setup.
2. Click the Layout tab.
3. Click the Line Numbers button.
4. Check the Add line numbering checkbox.
5. Click OK to accept the default selection.
6. Click OK to close the Page Layout dialog.

To turn line numbering off when you're done with it, perform the same steps but in step four, clear the Add line numbering checkbox.

Word 2007
This is one of the rare instances where doing something in Word 2007 is easier than Word 2003. There are only three steps:

1. Click the Page Layout Tab.
2. Click Line Numbers.
3. Select Restart Each Page.

To turn line numbering off when you're done with it, perform the same steps but select "None" in the last step.

"Ask Sam" is a weekly feature. I have several topics lined up but I can use suggestions. If you have questions about using Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) or Word (2003 or 2007), send e-mail to stfalco AT yahoo.com and I'll try to answer your questions here.

Ask Sam: Where's my mouse pointer?

Ever lose your mouse pointer? It happens to me all the time. Maybe I park the pointer at the edge of the screen--or when I'm using multiple monitors, on the screen I'm not looking at. Sometimes I simply lose track of where it was when I last used it. Rather than hunt for the mouse pointer, I use one of Windows' accessibility features to locate it by pressing the Ctrl key.

To turn this feature on, perform the steps outlined below. Note: These steps assume that the default settings for how things appear are in place; if you've changed how the control panel appears, you may have to poke around a little to find the mouse pointer settings.

1. Click the Start Button.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. Depending on your Operating System, perform one of the following steps:
   • Vista or Windows 7: Click Ease of Access.
   • Windows XP: Click Printers and Other Hardware.
4. Depending on your Operating System, perform one of the following steps:
   • Vista or Windows 7: Click Change how your mouse works.
   • Windows XP: Click Mouse.
5. If you are using Vista or Windows 7, near the bottom, click Mouse settings. (XP users skip to next step.)
6. Select the Pointer Options tab.
7. Check "Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key"
8. Click OK and close the control panel.

Now press the CTRL key, and a circle will appear for a moment on the screen, centered on the mouse pointer location.

This is the first in a weekly series of tips and tricks for Windows and Microsoft Word. I have some topics lined up already, but if you have questions about using Windows (XP, Vista, or Windows 7) or Word (2003 or 2007), send an email to stfalco AT yahoo.com and I'll try to answer them here.