[Issue] Unwanted change to footer and margin in DOC file

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briannainkansascity
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[Issue] Unwanted change to footer and margin in DOC file

Post by briannainkansascity »

Hi! I have a bunch of documents I'm trying to set up with a header and no footer and a .25" margin on all sides. When I save and close the documents, the software adds a footer and changes the margins at the top and bottom to .5

I'm saving it as Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP (.doc)

Thank you for any assistance,
Brianna

 Edit: Changed subject, was Involuntary Changing Footer and Margin 
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Last edited by MrProgrammer on Thu Oct 16, 2025 5:01 am, edited 3 times in total.
Reason: Add [Issue]; Add file extension to topic subject, since this problem doesn't occur with ODT files
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FJCC
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Re: Involuntary Changing Footer and Margin

Post by FJCC »

How exactly are you setting the margins? I just tried making a document with the layout you describe and saving it as a .doc and the formatting was preserved.

This is off topic, but why are you saving in that ancient format?
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Rizwan Akhtar
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Re: Involuntary Changing Footer and Margin

Post by Rizwan Akhtar »

It sounds like the software is reverting to default settings. Try saving your .25" margins and header-only layout as the default template, and turn off any auto-adjust or compatibility mode options before saving.
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RoryOF
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Re: Involuntary Changing Footer and Margin

Post by RoryOF »

Do I remember correctly that OpenOffice does not save margins smaller than the installed printer requires?
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Jan_J
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Re: Involuntary Changing Footer and Margin

Post by Jan_J »

@briannainkansascity
Try use native .odt, then check

@RoryOF
Libre Writer asks to confirm narrow margins, but saves them correctly. Attached 0 cm example generated by LO 25.2.

I do not have Apache OO installed, cannot verify.
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MrProgrammer
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Re: Involuntary Changing Footer and Margin

Post by MrProgrammer »

RoryOF wrote: Tue Oct 07, 2025 9:29 am Do I remember correctly that OpenOffice does not save margins smaller than the installed printer requires?
OpenOffice AOO 4.1.7 on MacOS 13.7.6 also asks to confirm narrow margins, but saves the values I ask it to use. This makes sense, since OpenOffice does not know what printer may eventually print the document.
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cwolan
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Re: Involuntary Changing Footer and Margin

Post by cwolan »

This could be Issue 119970 ("export to .doc file automatically inserts footer"), cf. [Issue] Writer always adds a footer at .doc export.
briannainkansascity wrote: Mon Oct 06, 2025 12:10 am When I save and close the documents, the software (...) changes the margins at the top and bottom to .5
In my tests, only the margin at the bottom changed.
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