Why does repeat header row not work?

If you have a large table that spans across several pages, you have a few options to control its appearance.

Repeat Row Headers

If the table has a header row, you can repeat it on the top of each page.

1. Select the header row.
2. Click the Layout tab in the Table Tools ribbon group.
3. Expand the Data group, if necessary.
4. Click the Repeat Header Rows button.
   

The header row will now be automatically repeated whenever the table appears across multiple pages.

To turn this off, just click the Repeat Header Rows button again.

Adjust Page Break Options

Occasionally, a table will get split up over a page break, making it difficult to consume. Word has settings to prevent this from happening.

1. Select the table.
2. Click the Properties button on the Layout tab.
   

The Table Properties dialog box opens.

You can also right-click the table and select Properties from the menu.

3. Click the Row tab.

The Row properties let you control the height of the row, as well as two options for how the row appears when the table spans multiple pages.

• Allow rows to break across pages toggles whether the row can be split when the table expands to another page. When turned off, the row will move to the next page entirely instead of splitting.
• Repeat as header row at the top of each page lets you use the selected row as a header.
4. Clear the Allow row to break across pages checkbox.
5. Click OK.
   

Any previously broken rows move to the next page to keep the rows intact.

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Aug 25, 2009, 7:00:38 PM8/25/09

to

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have set the first row in my table as a header row and checked the box for it to repeat across pages in Table Properties, but it won't repeat. Help!

John McGhie

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Aug 26, 2009, 5:14:51 AM8/26/09

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The easy trap to fall into is the "Floating Table" trap. Go to
Table>Properties and check that Text Wrapping is set to "None". If it
isn't, the table is floating ion the graphics layer of the document, it's
not part of the text page, and header replication does not operate.

Other things:

Make sure you do not have one row that extends across to the next page!

You can do this inadvertently if you have one column that straddles all the
rows.

If you set the table property "Allow row to split across pages" and end up
with one row that will not fit on a single page, Word can't split the table
and it thus won't replicate the header row.

The other trick is that sometimes the "Header" is in fact not part of the
same table. To find out, hover the mouse over the top of the first column
of the header and move until the pointer turns to a black arrow.

Click once to select the column and look where the selection goes. If the
selection does not include the rest of the table column, you do not have a
"Table with a header row" you have "Two tables, with one looking like the
header of the second". This often happens if you have been cutting and
pasting off web pages.

The cure is to delete the header row, then create a new row by selecting the
top row of the new table and choosing Table>Insert>Rows above...

That will be part of the same table, and it will replicate.

Hope this helps

On 26/08/09 9:00 AM, in article ,
"" <> wrote:

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:

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Aug 25, 2009, 7:20:37 PM8/25/09

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I figured it out after much tearing out of hair. Another row in the table was also somehow selected to be the header row.

John McGhie

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Aug 26, 2009, 9:16:26 AM8/26/09

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Oh, well done! I didn't think of that one :-)

Cheers

On 26/08/09 9:20 AM, in article ,
"" <> wrote:

> I figured it out after much tearing out of hair. Another row in the table was
> also somehow selected to be the header row.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum

Barb in Toronto Canada

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Jun 17, 2013, 1:40:18 PM6/17/13

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Thanks so much for this post. It helped me troubleshoot my problem. So Happy!

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Aug 1, 2013, 6:11:41 AM8/1/13

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On Wednesday, August 26, 2009 2:20:37 AM UTC+3, wrote:
> I figured it out after much tearing out of hair. Another row in the table was also somehow selected to be the header row.

This fixed my problem.
Thanks!

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Aug 9, 2013, 1:23:10 AM8/9/13

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YOU ARE AWESOME TO THE PERSON WHO DEFINED FLOATING TABLE.

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Sep 5, 2013, 2:44:15 PM9/5/13

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Nov 8, 2013, 9:37:23 AM11/8/13

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Brilliant! This has been annoying my whole office all afternoon. Changing text wrapping to none fixed it.

will

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Nov 14, 2013, 6:46:25 PM11/14/13

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Thank you John. The "other trick" was the issue for me.

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Nov 30, 2013, 6:41:41 AM11/30/13

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Brilliant! The text wrapping worked.

> > On 26/08/09 9:00 AM,wrote:

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Jan 28, 2014, 11:38:09 AM1/28/14

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This explanation was very helpful, John. Thanks!

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Jan 30, 2014, 6:13:27 PM1/30/14

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This response was VERY helpful John!! Thanks so much.

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May 9, 2014, 10:01:44 AM5/9/14

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I have tried all the fixes suggested and still nothing is working!

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Aug 1, 2014, 8:59:44 PM8/1/14

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Very helpful-thanks a lot

RMM

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May 12, 2015, 2:41:29 PM5/12/15

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THANK YOU SO MUCH! I could not figure out why and going to the properties and choosing text wrapping None worked for me!

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May 28, 2015, 3:58:40 PM5/28/15

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None of these suggestions worked for me. I challenge Mr. McGhie to figure my table header problem out.

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Jun 26, 2015, 5:19:39 AM6/26/15

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Check the header row isn't comprised of merged cells. This can happen if you copied someone else's table from excel into word.

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Jul 1, 2015, 2:44:59 AM7/1/15

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Thank you so much for the text wrapping tip. That's what fixed it for me :)

stevewah

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Dec 15, 2015, 4:44:36 PM12/15/15

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Make sure that you didn't accidentally set EVERY row in the table to repeat as header. e.g. you select the table, go to properties > row, then check repeat. to be sure, select the whole table, uncheck this, then reselect just the header row and check it. sounds stupid, but it can be easy to miss

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Mar 16, 2016, 4:29:00 PM3/16/16

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On Tuesday, 15 December 2015 16:44:36 UTC-5, stevewah wrote:
> Make sure that you didn't accidentally set EVERY row in the table to repeat as header. e.g. you select the table, go to properties > row, then check repeat. to be sure, select the whole table, uncheck this, then reselect just the header row and check it. sounds stupid, but it can be easy to miss

That's what worked for me!

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Nov 1, 2016, 8:25:20 PM11/1/16

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Thank you! This worked for me!

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Nov 4, 2016, 12:10:04 AM11/4/16

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Hi... your solution resolved my issue. It made my day... thanks a lot :)

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Dec 5, 2016, 8:38:15 AM12/5/16

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On Tuesday, December 15, 2015 at 4:44:36 PM UTC-5, stevewah wrote:
> Make sure that you didn't accidentally set EVERY row in the table to repeat as header. e.g. you select the table, go to properties > row, then check repeat. to be sure, select the whole table, uncheck this, then reselect just the header row and check it. sounds stupid, but it can be easy to miss

This was my problem! I tried EVERYTHING! I'm glad you provided a solution and then also explained how to fix it. THANK YOU!

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Nov 21, 2017, 8:12:21 PM11/21/17

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On Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 7:14:51 PM UTC+10, John McGhie wrote:

Many thanks, this fixed my issue :)

Antonín Kazda

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Nov 10, 2021, 4:00:53 AM11/10/21

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Dne středa 26. srpna 2009 v 11:14:51 UTC+2 uživatel John McGhie napsal:

THERE IS ALSO ONE BIG PROBLEM, THE HEADER MARK HAS TO BE UNDER TABLE. Point with a mouse above the table that is not marked, right click, ¨EDIT HEADER¨ sould appear. If the paragraph mark isnt under the table, the table is located under the header, that means, the table isnt included in header area. Easily, just cut the table and insert it above the paragraph mark in the header area. Problem fixed.

Why are my header rows not repeating?

What happens if you hit repeat header rows?