Headers & footers

If you want to add items such as dates, titles, or author names to all of the pages in a document, you can add headers and footers.

Add a header or footer

To insert headers and footers in your document:

  1. Open a document.
  2. Click the Insert menu.
  3. Select one of the following options:
    • Header: An area will appear at the top of each page, separate from the body of the document.
    • Footer: An area will appear at the bottom of each page, separate from the body of the document.
  4. Type the text for your header or footer in the newly created area. You can format the text within the header or footer, including changing the font, adding links, or inserting lists.
  5. To finish editing the header or footer, click anywhere in the main document.

Delete a header or footer

To hide a header or footer, you must delete all the content from it. Once you delete a single header or footer, that same header or footer will be removed in the rest of the document.

The header or footer will actually be hidden, not deleted, so you can add it again by clicking the header or footer area again and adding text.

Choose a different header or footer on the first page

If you want to have a different header or footer on the first page of your document, or add one to each page except the first page, you can customize how the header or footer appears on the first page.

  1. Open a document.
  2. Click the Insert menu.
  3. Select Header or Footer.
  4. In the header or footer area on the first page, check the box next to "Different first page header/footer".
  5. Add different text in the header or footer to make it different for the first page or leave the area blank if you want no text in it for the first page.

Note: Once you've turned this feature on, editing headers and footers on the second page onward will not affect the header or footer on the first page.