Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Creating Sideheads.

Creating Sideheads

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 9, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365

Sideheads are document headings that are placed in the margins of your document. This can be done as part of an overall layout design to create a certain image for your information. You can create sideheads in Word using a text box. Follow these general steps to create your sidehead:

Switch to Print Layout view (if you are not already in that viewing mode).
Display the page on which you want to place the sidehead.
Since sideheads (by definition) are printed in the margin, make sure you have a large margin defined.
Add a text box to contain the sidehead text. Make sure the text box resides completely between the edge of the paper and the text margin.

Your sidehead has been placed, and you can type text in the newly placed text box. (Make sure you format the text box itself to reflect your design preferences.)

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11395) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Creating Sideheads.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is two less than 9?

2025-08-09 05:48:52

Robert Love

A disadvantage of this textbox-based approach is that it's fiddly work to get all the sideheads uniformly aligned. As an alternative I have sometimes formatted the entire document as a two-column table with the first column devoted to the sideheads. This approach comes with some disadvantages of its own, however. Such as that keep-lines-together and other paragraphing options don't work properly within table cells.

Has anyone else tried the two-column approach and beem satisfied with it?

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