I'm trying to create a header that begins on the second page, inserts an em dash, the page number and another em dash, centered in vba - vba

Question

document.Application.ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Headers(WdHeaderFooterIndex.wdHeaderFooterPrimary) _
.PageNumbers.StartingNumber = 2
For Each section As Word.Section In document.Application.ActiveDocument.Sections
Dim headerRange As Word.Range = section.Headers(Word.WdHeaderFooterIndex.wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range
headerRange.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = Word.WdParagraphAlignment.wdAlignParagraphCenter
headerRange.Text = " — "
headerRange.Fields.Add(headerRange, Word.WdFieldType.wdFieldPage)
headerRange.Text = headerRange.Text & " — "
Next
The issue that I am having is I cannot get the dashes on either side of the page number. It will always place both of them before or after the page number.
I have tried concatenating, I have tried various placements of the dashes. I have tried the headerRange.Collapse with no success.
'document.Application.ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Headers(WdHeaderFooterIndex.wdHeaderFooterPrimary) _
' .PageNumbers.StartingNumber = 2
'For Each section As Word.Section In document.Application.ActiveDocument.Sections
' Dim headerRange As Word.Range = section.Headers(Word.WdHeaderFooterIndex.wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range
' headerRange.Text = "—"
' headerRange.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = Word.WdParagraphAlignment.wdAlignParagraphCenter
' headerRange.Collapse(Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd)
' headerRange.Fields.Add(headerRange, Word.WdFieldType.wdFieldPage)
' headerRange.Collapse(Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd)
' headerRange.Text = "-"
'Next

Answer 1

To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
You are doing this the hard way, in my opinion.
I look at using a macro for this as reinventing the wheel - Instead, use Templates or Building Blocks
Perhaps I am lazy, but setting things up in vba and formatting it is hard, at least to me.
You could create a template with your header and use that as the basis for new documents. Here is my page on Templates in Microsoft Word.
You could save this as a Building Block if you want to use it in existing documents. Remember that using a page number building Block for top of page replaces any existing header, for bottom of page replaces any existing footer.
Here is a temporary link to a template containing three page number building blocks with those for top and bottom of the page being centered. All have M-dashes on either side. The font and size will be determined by the Header or Footer styles in the document. The template contains instructions for using it.
If you want to use vba to insert these building blocks, there are examples shown on my web page with specific instructions on placement of the macros and building blocks. Here is my answer here about using vba to insert a Table of Contents a Building Block.
You could also have a macro to create a new document based on your template.
No matter how you decide to do this, keep in mind that each Word section has three headers, whether or not they are seen. In multi-section documents, these may, or may not, be linked to like headers in previous sections.
Here is my recap of Header and Footer Settings.