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adding header and footer option to avoid overwriting text (Acrobat 9)

Sara F.
Registered: Apr 5 2010
Posts: 14

Following is a problem description. I am working with an Adobe document that is like a template in that it has set section header pages (like chapter headings) that are mostly in the same style: Exhibit A, Exhibit B, etc. For each new document hundreds of pages are added around these original exhibit header pages. Then headers are added with page numbers, among other information.

I decided to add the headers to the original "template" document in order to save time. Everything went OK, except when I tried to add the option for shrinking the document to avoid overwriting text, as some pages that are added later often will have a problem with the headers overwriting the page text. I found that when I added in that option to the "template," the Exhibit Headings automatically moved to way down on the pages, and off center.

To correct that I would have to go into each page and use the edit object tool to correct the placement. That worked, but it did and will take much to much time when I am working with finished files that have hundreds of pages. I don't usually have time to do that much editing, so I have been using the headers WITHOUT the option for shrinking pages but not overwriting text.

It would be better if I could add the headers WITH the shrink pages option, AND have the text on the section header pages be near the top of the page, not three quarters of the way down. I have not been able to do that without editing each section header page individually.

Does anyone know a better solution/process? I have searched but not found one.

Sara F.

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 9.0, Windows
lkassuba
ExpertTeam
Registered: Jun 28 2007
Posts: 3636
Are you using the Document > Header & Footer > Add command to perform this function or the Watermark command?

Lori Kassuba is an AUC Expert and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com.

Sara F.
Registered: Apr 5 2010
Posts: 14
I am using the document>header & Footer>Add

Sara F.

lkassuba
ExpertTeam
Registered: Jun 28 2007
Posts: 3636
Sara F. wrote:
I am using the document>header & Footer>Add
When you insert the Header/Footer, have you tried setting and absolute position when inserting your header in the Add Header and Footer dialog? This is in the upper right corner of the dialog box.

Lori Kassuba is an AUC Expert and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com.

Sara F.
Registered: Apr 5 2010
Posts: 14
In the upper right corner of the Add Header dialog box, all I have are options for changing the margin settings. I was not changing any margins but still finding that when updating headers the text kept automatically getting quite a bit lower.

Sara F.

rbogie
Registered: Apr 28 2008
Posts: 432
when using the header/footer tool, experiment with a three step solution: step one, on the template pages (Exhibit A, etc.) the headers must be added WITHOUT selecting "shrink document to avoid overwriting ..."; step two, on the content pages (where the headings may overwrite content) add the header with "shrink document ..." selected; step three, combine the file created in step one with file created in step two and collate pages (thumbnails) as desired. be sure and use the same header settings (font, size, margins, etc.) in both steps one and two. this also assumes that identical header content is used in both steps.

another option, a simpler one, is not to use the header/footer tool, but to use the watermark tool. experiment with a text watermark positioned at top of page.
Sara F.
Registered: Apr 5 2010
Posts: 14
Thanks for the advice. One problem is that the finished files have two separate series of page numbers in the headers. That may make your first option unworkable.

Sara F.