A section is a portion of a document with specific page formatting options. New sections need to be created for example when you want to introduce changes in the number of columns, in the page numbering, in the paper format and page margins, or apply different headers and footers to different fragments of a document. You can create new sections, or delete existing sections, view and adjust the formatting of the desired sections through the Sections panel of the Control Board.

If a document contains multiple sections, they are separated with section breaks. Section breaks are special formatting symbols like paragraph end marks or page breaks. Just as other special formatting symbols, section break marks are not printed on paper.

Section breaks behave just like paragraph end marks. Each section break mark signals the end of the corresponding paragraph.

Atlantis supports four types of section breaks:

With a continuous section break the next section might start on the same page:

Other section break types start a new page, ie they act like page breaks. These are the "next page" section break, the "odd page" section break, and the "even page" section break.

The "odd page", and "even page" section breaks are basically similar to the "next page" section break. Only the next section begins on the next odd-numbered page with the "odd page" section break and on the next even-numbered page with the "even page" section break:

Until you insert section breaks in a document, Atlantis treats the whole document as a single section. To insert the desired section break to your document, use the drop-down menu of the Insert Symbol toolbar button . You can also use the "Insert | Break" menu, or the Insert section break command of the Sections panel of the Control Board.

A section break mark encapsulates the formatting (number of columns, paper format, page margins, etc) of the section above it. So if you delete a section break, you actually merge the two sections that it delimited, sometimes with unpredictable results. Consequently, it is recommended not to delete section breaks directly in the document window, especially if the adjacent sections have different formatting. A much safer way is to use the Merge highlighted and previous section or the Merge highlighted and next section command buttons at the bottom of the Sections panel on the Control Board. These commands not only delete section breaks but also guarantee the proper merging of sections.

Tips:

• To change the type of a section break, just right-click the section break mark, then choose a new type from the menu:
  
  
  
  You can also change the type of the desired section break through the Section properties box the Sections panel of the Control Board.

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