Header and footer columns

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navoff
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Header and footer columns

Post by navoff »

Okay, so here's my problem. I want to add some variables to the header and footers of my master page. I want the document title left justified in the header and the chapter title right justified in the header. So, I went to the properties of the page and set it for two columns and changed the column divider line to 0px. However when I hit the F2 button to open the frame editor, it only shows the left column. No matter what I've tried, I can't seem to make the right column editable or to show up in the frame edit window.

Except for the one time that I hit the F2 and it did show both columns in the edit window. I have absolutely no idea how I did it. I can not for the life of me get it to recreate the two columns in the frame edit window for any header or footer frame I've added to any other page. I finally just deleted the header frames in the other pages and copied and pasted the one I was able to edit into the other pages. But I still can't get the frame editor to display both footer columns for any page I've tried to edit.

While I realize I can always just add a table in a single column frame, what's the point of having a two column frame if it won't allow you to edit both columns? And, for the one that I was able to edit, even though in the frame editor it shows the full width of the two columns as "100%" and I eyeballed each column to be about 50%, I have to slide the column width over, save the changes and see where the variable text for the right column sits in the Page Layout Editor because it initially displayed off the page layout. Until you hit the save button, you can't tell where the text will wind up (and that's assuming that what displays in the Page Layout Editor is what would actually print).

If I'm missing something here, please tell me, but for the moment, this appears to be a flaw in the design of the frame editor.
JRP
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Sara D
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Re: Header and footer columns

Post by Sara D »

I am having this exact same problem. I thought maybe I had to manually insert a column break (even after setting 2 columns in the frame), but "Breaks" is not even an option the paragraph menu (although Flare Help) tells me that it should be. Does anyone know how to get to navigate columns in a frame or insert a column break if that's what needs to be done?
Rehmen
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Re: Header and footer columns

Post by Rehmen »

navoff wrote:Okay, so here's my problem. I want to add some variables to the header and footers of my master page. I want the document title left justified in the header and the chapter title right justified in the header. So, I went to the properties of the page and set it for two columns and changed the column divider line to 0px. However when I hit the F2 button to open the frame editor, it only shows the left column. No matter what I've tried, I can't seem to make the right column editable or to show up in the frame edit window.
I had exactky the same problem - after few attempts to edit the second column i stopped it returned to one column in header and put table in it /with just two cells)
doc_guy
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Re: Header and footer columns

Post by doc_guy »

Yeah, I don't bother with columns in my header/footer blocks. I use tables with no borders to get the layout I want here.
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RosiePiller
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Re: Header and footer columns

Post by RosiePiller »

Thanks for the suggestion to use tables. I'm able to insert a table, but I'm not able to get it to align properly with the margins (left up against the left margin, right up against the right margin). Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Rosie
Sara D
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Re: Header and footer columns

Post by Sara D »

Per Madcap support, you can't enter a manual column break when using multiple columns in a header or footer. The only way to get to the next column is to enter enough text in the previous column so that the text wraps. Basically, it is useless to use columns in headers/footers. I've had no problem with the alignment of table columns in the header/footer. I frequently use two column tables in the header/footer and am able to left align the left column and right align the right column. I simply use the align left/align right toolbar buttons. However, if I'm not using tables (just a single column of text, either a paragraph or some other heading), the alignment buttons do not work. Instead, I have to go into the Frame Properties and change the alignment there.
LTinker68
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Re: Header and footer columns

Post by LTinker68 »

Sara D wrote:I thought maybe I had to manually insert a column break (even after setting 2 columns in the frame), but "Breaks" is not even an option the paragraph menu (although Flare Help) tells me that it should be.
To see the column-break or page-break properties, set the Stylesheet Editor to "Show: Property Groups" (when in Advanced view), then expand the PrintSupport category.
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