Section Formatting: Headers and Footers

Headers and Footers

Headers and Footers are text (and/or graphics) which appear at the top (for a header) or bottom (for a footer) of every page of your document. They are used for a variety of purposes, such as page numbering, document titles, copyright notices, company names and so on.

Inserting a Header and/or Footer

To insert a header or footer:

  1. Open the document to which you wish to add a header or footer - or create a new one
  2. Open the View menu and select Header and Footer

When inserting headers/footers, Word switches automatically to Print Layout View (which is already the default on IT Services PCs). The body text is greyed out with the header and footer areas shown by dotted boxes. The Header and Footer Toolbar is also displayed:

Note: You can hide the greyed-out body text by clicking on the [Show/Hide Document Text] button on this toolbar.

  1. If you want a header, type the required text (or insert a picture) into the header box - eg type the Title of the Document
  2. Click on the [Center] or [Align Right] button if you want the header placed centrally or on the right

Note that the header (or footer) can occupy more than one line - simply press <Return> to move to a new line.

  1. To insert a footer, click on the [Switch Between Header and Footer] button on the special toolbar

Tip: You can also use the <up arrow> and <down arrow> keys to move between the header and footer.

  1. Repeat steps 3 and 4, as above

Sometimes you want a header or footer to contain text or a graphic on both the left and right side of the paper. Here you cannot use the justification buttons; instead you use the tab settings. If you look carefully at the Ruler you will see that special center and right tabs have already been set up for you. To use them:

  1. Make sure the header or footer is left-aligned (click on the [Align Left] button if necessary)
  2. Type the text required on the left hand side
  3. Press <Tab> to move the insertion point to the centre of the page and type in any text required here
  4. Press <Tab> again to move to the right of the page and type in the text required

To change the page number setting:

  1. Click on the [Format Page Number] button on the Header and Footer toolbar
  2. To change the Number format use the list arrow provided and choose the format required
  3. To start page numbering at other than 1, click on Start at: and type the number (or letter) required into the box provided
  4. Press <Return> or click on [OK] to reset the numbering

Creating Different Headers/Footers

Using Sections

If you want to have several different headers/footers then you need to split your document up into sections. Each section can have its own header/footer. A good example of this is where you have a thesis and want the Chapter title to feature in the header (or footer).

To divide your document up into sections you insert section breaks at relevant points in the text. In this next exercise it assumes you don't have a suitable example file to work on - instead, just type in appropriate text to a new document:

  1. Create a new document by clicking on the [New] button (or open a suitable document if you have one
  2. Type your first chapter title - eg Chapter 1: Introduction
  3. Apply a heading style (if you want) using the list arrow attached to the [Style] button
  4. Press <Enter> and type in some text
  5. Open the Insert menu and choose Break... - you will see the following dialogue box:

Note that you can insert page breaks here, though pressing <Ctrl Return> is an easier method.

  1. In the lower section, select the type of section break you want - here select Next page then press <Enter> or click on [OK]
  2. Type your second chapter title - eg Chapter 2: Literature Review
  3. Repeat steps 3 to 6 as required

Your document has now been split into sections, as denoted on the status bar in the bottom left corner of the screen - it reads Page X Sec Y X/Z where X, Y, Z represent numbers.

Now add the required headers and footers:

  1. Press <Ctrl Home> to move to the first section
  2. Open the View menu and select Header and Footer - note how the section number is added to the title of the header/footer box:
  3. Enter the header text - eg Chapter 1 - Introduction - and set the justification required
  1. Press the <down arrow> key to move to the Footer
  2. Add a page number by clicking on the [Insert Page Number] button
  3. Press the <down arrow> key again until you reach the start of Section 2
  4. Click on the [Same as Previous] button on the Header and Footer Toolbar - note: this is a vital step which is often missed!
  5. Amend the header text to read Chapter 2 - Literature Review
  1. Repeat steps 6 to 8 until you reach your final section - note that the Footer doesn't change with each section, so Save as Previous is correct
  2. To return to normal typing, click on the [Close] button on the Header and Footer Toolbar

Beware: Users often have trouble with headers/footers in sections. This is invariably because they have forgotten the Same as Previous option. If this is not turned off then any change made to one header will be applied to the header in the previous section as well