Word headers and footers, added to the top or the bottom of your page layout, can be a great finishing touch. This is especially true if the document is intended to print or to conver to a PDF file. Word provides many tools you can use to create and manage headers and footers. The tips in this category will help you figure out exactly how to achieve just the look and functionality you want.

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'Headers and Footers' topic. Click the article''s title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

   Applying Standard Headers and Footers to a Document
When you attach a template to a document, it doesn't modify the documents headers or footers. This tip provides three different techniques you could use to add standardized headers and footers to a document.

   Automatically Changing Tab Stops in the Footer
If you use a tab stop in your footer to align information at the right margin, you may not get what you expect when you later adjust the right margin. Here's why that happens and what you can do about it.

   Changing Headers and Footers
Editing what is in your page header or footer is fairly easy, and you can use the same editing techniques you already know. The key is to make sure the header or footer is accessible, as discussed in this tip.

   Changing the Link to Previous Default for Headers and Footers
When you insert a new section in your document, Word assumes you want the headers and footers in that section to be the same as those in the previous section. If you don't want this assumption to be the default, you'll need to use a macro to make the change.

   Changing the Starting Page Number
Word normally numbers pages in a document starting at one and extending as far as the number of pages you have. If you want, you can adjust a starting page number for any section in your document. It's easy to do, as explained here.

   Changing the Type of Page Numbers Used in Headers or Footers
Like to have your page numbers displayed using different types of numbers? Here's how you can choose from the several different numbering formats offered by Word.

   Copying Headers and Footers
Need to get headers and footers from one document to another? You can use the steps in this tip to help make quick work of the task.

   Creating Page Footers and Headers
Headers and footers can add a final, professional touch to your printed document. Here's the quick way to add the headers and footers you need.

   Deleting a Header or Footer
When working with existing documents, you may need to delete a header or footer previously created. Here's how you can do it in the easiest manner.

   Deleting All Headers and Footers
Headers and footers add a finishing touch to documents, but sometimes they can be bothersome. You may need to remove them all from a document, and the easiest way is with a macro that does the work for you.

   Editing Headers and Footers
Headers and footers are a nice final touch in a document. You can easily edit them by using the methods described in this tip.

   Entering a Name in the Header of a Locked Form
When you lock a document as a form, then Word limits what you can do with that document. That includes not being able to change whatever is in the header and footer. This tip explains how you can bypass the need for putting a form field in an area of the document you can't change once the form is protected.

   Field in Footer Won't Update
Word provides a handy shortcut that allows you to update the fields in any text you've selected. When you select your whole document, you'd expect Word to update all the fields in your document, right? Wrong, and here's why.

   Floating Footer
Need some specific text to appear just below the end of the text on the last page of your document? You can accomplish what you need by ignoring Word's footers and using a text box, instead.

   Including a Printer's Name in a Footer
If you can produce output on a number of different printers, you may want Word to indicate on your printouts which printer was actually used. Here's a way you can include the printer name in the footer of your documents, as you print them.

   Including Headers and Footers when Selecting All
If you are creating a macro that, in the course of processing your document, needs to update all the fields in the document, you may be surprised to find out the process is more complex than anticipated. This tip explains why this is the case, and provides some code you can use to do the updating you need.

   Inserting the Date in a Header or Footer
Need today's date in the header or footer of your document? Here's how to get it there easily.

   Keeping Centered Headers and Footers Centered
Headers and footers provide a nice final touch for your printed documents. If you want to expertly align text in those headers and footers (regardless of whether you change page margins or dimensions), you'll love the information in this tip.

   Keyboard Shortcut to Access Header and Footer
Some folks like to avoid using the mouse whenever possible, preferring to leave their hands on the keyboard. If you are this type of person, you actively search for keyboard shortcuts you can use every day. This tip provides just such a shortcut for displaying the header and footer area and then jumping back to your document.

   Making Wider Footer Margins
Want the margins used in your footers (or headers) to be wider than the margins used in the rest of your document? There are a couple of tricks you can use to get the desired width.

   Multiple Footers on a Page
Trying to figure out how you want Word to handle footers in your document can be a challenge, primarily because Word allows you to define so many different types of footers. This tip examines how you can approach more complex footer needs using Word's approach to footers.

   Odd & Even Headers and Footers
Adding a running header or footer to a document can be a nice touch. If you want, you can even tell Word to use a different header and footer on odd pages than what it uses on even pages. Here's how.

   Paragraph Numbers in Headers or Footers
If your documents routinely use numbered paragraphs, you may want to place the number of the page's first paragraph in the header or footer of the page. This can be a bit tricky, but with these steps you can't go wrong.

   Placing the First Two Words from the Following Page In the Footer
Headers and footers can be used for all sorts of information to help orient your document reader. In fact, Word provides many tools for customizing those headers and footers. One thing not built in, however, is the ability to pull words from the beginning of one page and place them on the previous page. This tip includes a macro to attempt that very task.

   Positioning Headers and Footers
Headers and footers can add a finishing touch to your printed documents. Here's how you can position those headers and footers relative to the edges of the paper.

   Preventing the Left Margin of a Footer from Moving
When you print a document, does the position of the page footer seem to move left and right? This could have to do with how you are applying indents within the document, as discussed in this tip.

   Protecting Headers and Footers
If you don't want the information in a header or footer to be changed by users of your document, there are a couple of things you can try. This tip discusses one approach, using the protection features of Word itself.

   Pulling Headers and Footers from Other Files
You may have some standard headers and footers you want to make available in your document templates. This tip describes some ways you can approach managing these headers and footers.

   Putting a File Name and Path in a Default Footer
Want to add a filename and path to the footer of a template? You might be confused by what you see in documents created from that template. This tip explains why this occurs and provides information on how you can correct the situation.

   Putting Document Names in Headers or Footers
Want to include the file name of a document on the printed copy without rearranging the layout? You can use a header or footer and this tip explains how easy it is to do.

   Quickly Formatting Footers in Documents with Many Sections
Need to adjust all the footers or headers in a document that uses lots of them? It's easy to do if you understand how the footers and headers are related to each other.

   Removing a Watermark
Word allows you to add watermarks to your documents. If you inherit a document that includes a watermark, you may be at a loss as to how to get rid of it. This tip explains the process.

   Suppressing Headers or Footers
Don't want a header or footer to appear on just a portion of your document? It's easy to do when you understand that headers and footers can be controlled on a section-by-section basis.

   Turning Off "Link to Previous" by Default
When you add a new section to a document, you may want the headers or footers in that section to be different from those in the previous section. By default, Word makes them the same. This tip provides macros that can help you insert sections where the linking is turned off automatically.

   Using a Portion of a Document's Filename in a Header
Headers and footers add a nice finishing touch to a document you plan on printing. You may want all sorts of information in a header or footer, and some of it is easy to get there. Other information may require a macro-based approach, such as putting a part of a filename into a header. Here's how to do it.

   Using Last-page Headers and Footers
Headers and footers add a nice touch to your documents, particularly if they are printed. You may want Word to use a special header or footer on the last page of your document, but there is no built-in way to accomplish the task. Here's how you can do it easily.

   Why Does the Footer Expand?
When you add too much text into a footer for that text to display in the space you've allotted to the footer, then Word automatically expands the footer to compensate. This tip looks at why this behavior occurs.

   Word Count for Headers and Footers
Getting a word count for an entire document is rather easy. If you want a word count for a special part of a document (such as the headers or footers), that takes a bit more work.