(Legacy) Microsoft Word 2007: Creating Headers and Footers

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Note: This article is based on legacy software.

You can create headers and footers in your Word document so that information such as the author's name, document title, or page numbers will appear in the top and/or bottom margin of your document. You can create a header and footer that appears the same on every page, or you can customize the pages with different headers and footers.

Inserting a Header or a Footer

By default, headers and footers appear on every page of your document. Word gives you have several presets to select from; you can also begin with a blank header or footer.

  1. From the Insert command tab, in the Header & Footer section, click HEADER header buttonor FOOTER footer button
    The scroll list of preset headers or footers appears.

  2. Select the desired header or footer style 
    HINT: To start with a blank Header/Footer, select Edit Header or Edit Footer

Editing Header or Footer Content

Once you have inserted a header or footer you can edit or format the content. Additional options appear in the Header & Footer Tools Design Tab.

  1. Double-click within the header or footer

  2. To edit the content of a header, on the Ribbon, click HEADER » select Edit Header 
    To edit the content of a footer, on the Ribbon, click FOOTER » select Edit Footer 

  3. Edit text as desired

  4. From the Ribbon, select additional customizing options as desired

  5. Click CLOSE HEADER & FOOTER

The Header & Footer Tools Design Tab

The Header & Footer Tools Design command tab appears on the Ribbon only when an existing header or footer is active. This special command tab providing several unique header and footer formatting options.

  1. To access the Design tab of the Headers & Footers Tools, double-click a header or footer
    A new contextual command tab appears next to the other command tabs in the Ribbon and gives you access to the header and footer functions.

Header & Footer Group 
The Header & Footer group lets you to format the appearance of the header or footer and/or format page numbers.
header and footer group

Insert Group
The buttons in the Insert group let you add graphics and preformatted text elements (e.g., time and date, document properties) to your headers and footers. 
insert group

Navigation Group 
The Navigation group buttons let you navigate between headers and footers and from the header in one section to the header in another section.
navigation group

Options Group 
This group provides the options of creating a different header on the first page. You can also select to have a different header/footer on the odd & even pages, this is useful if you need to adjust the alignment of the headers/footers for facing pages. If Show Document Text is deselected (i.e., there is no checkmark), then your document's text will not show--only your header/footer will show.
options group

Position Group 
This group allows you to adjust where your header appears on the page(s). The default setting is 0.5 inches from the top and bottom of the page. 
position group

Close Header and Footer Group 
From here you can exit the header/footer text box and continue editing your document. 
close header and footer group

Creating a Different First Page Header and Footer

If you want the header/footer of your document to be different on your first page, you first need to create a header or footer. You can customize headers and footers in the Header & Footer Tools Design tab, which appears only when you select a header or footer.

  1. On the first page of the document, double click within the header or footer 
    The Header & Footer Tools Design tab appears.

  2. From the Header & Footer Tools Design command tab, in the Options group, select Different First Page 
    The label on the first page header text box changes from Header to First Page Header.

  3. In the First Page Header text box, insert the desired information

  4. To edit the First Page Footer, click GO TO FOOTER go footer button

  5. In the First Page Footer text box, insert the desired information

  6. To create subsequent headers and footers, in the Navigation section, click NEXT next button

  7. In the Footer text box, insert the desired information

  8. Click GO TO HEADER go to header

  9. In the Header text box, insert the desired information

  10. To return to your document, click CLOSE HEADER AND FOOTER

Creating Odd and Even Page Headers and Footers

You can create different odd and even page headers and footers, which display different information on the odd and even pages of your document.

  1. On the first page of the document, double click within the header or footer 
    The Header & Footer Tools Design tab appears.

  2. From the Headers & Footers Tools Design tab, in the Options section, select Different Odd & Even Pages

  3. In the Odd Page Header text box, insert the desired information

  4. Click GO TO FOOTERgo to footer

  5. In the Odd Page Footer text box, insert the desired information

  6. To create the header and footer for even pages, in the Navigation section, click NEXTnext section button

  7. In the Even Page Footer text box, insert the desired information

  8. Click GO TO HEADER go to header

  9. In the Even Page Header text box, insert the desired information

  10. To return to your document, click CLOSE HEADER AND FOOTER