There Are Two Ways to Insert a Header And/Or Footer Into a Document

On many documents the author will need to create either a header or footer or both. A header is information that is printed on the top of each page in a document. A footer is information printed on the bottom of each page.

There are two ways to insert a header and/or footer into a document.

1. Double click in the header area in the top margin or double click in the footer area in the bottom of the page.
2. Using the ribbon, select the Insert tab, Header button or the Footer button.

Whichever way you select, the document will switch to the Header and Footer view.

The above illustrates the Insert tab, Header & Footer Group on the ribbon.

The following illustrates clicking in the top margin for a header.

The following illustration shows the footer view when the user clicks in the bottom margin.

In the Header/Footer view the document is dimmed which means the document can’t be edited in this view. To switch back to the normal view, just double click within the document.

There are three tab stops available to the user when double clicking in the header or footer view. The three tabs include a Left Tab stop, Center Tab stop, and a Right-align Tab stop.

The user can enter page numbers by selecting the Page Number option on the Header/Footer group on the Insert tab. The following illustrates the options available.

Using the page number option, Word will update the page numbers as a page is added or deleted.

When the user double clicks in the bottom margin or the top margin, the Header/Footer view appears and also the contextual tab appears on the ribbon. The contextual tab is called Header/Footer Tools with one tab called Design. The illustration is shown below.

There are six groups on the Design tab. They are: Header/Footer Group, Insert Group, Navigation Group, Options Group, Position Group, and Close.

1. Header. The header button allows the user to select from 24 different header formats. It also allows the user to edit the header or delete the header.
2. Footer. The footer button allows the user to select from 24 different footer formats. It also allows the user to edit the footer or delete the footer.
3. Page Number. This allows the user to position the page number either top, bottom, margin or current position (position of the insertion point). It also allows the user to delete page numbers.

The Insert group is divided into four buttons.

1. Date/Time. This allows the user to decide the format for the date and time.
2. Quick Parts.

The quick parts button allows the user to select different document properties, insert a field, select from a building block organizer and to get more information online.

Document parts are headers, footers, cover sheets, table of contents, boilerplate text, etc. The building blocks organizer allows the user to choose from different building blocks. It is really a library of cover sheets, watermarks, page numbers, etc.

1. Insert Pictures. This allows the user to insert pictures from digital cameras, scanned pictures or from the built-in picture library.
2. Insert Clipart. This allows the user to insert clipart.

This group just allows the user to navigate between headers and footers as well as sections.

A section is a part of the document that can have its own formatting, margins, headers, footers, page orientation, etc. A section is like a completely different document found within a document.

To insert a section break, go to the Insert Tab, Breaks button the following dialog box appears.

The user can create a break on the next page, continuous break which will be on the same page, on even pages, and on odd pages. A section break appears as a dotted line with the words “section break.”

If you have a section break on a new page, the header and/or footer can be different from the rest of the document’s header and footer.

The user can navigate between sections and can Link to Previous section. This just means that the header or footer can link to or be the same information as the previous section. If you don’t want the same information, just deselect the Link to Previous button.

There are three buttons on the Options group. They are:

1. Different First Page. This means that a unique header/footer can be placed on the first page.
2. Different Odd and Even. This specifies that odd-numbered pages can have a different header or footer than the even-numbered pages.
3. Show Document Text. The document not included in the header/footer can be shown or not. If you click on this option, the document text will not been seen—just the header/footer information. Click the check mark, and the document reappears.

The Position Group has three buttons.

1. Header Position From Top. This specifies the height of the header area.
2. Footer Position From Bottom. This specifies the height of the footer area.
3. Insert Alignment Tab. This will help the user align content within the header and/or footer.

The last group is to close the Header & Footer Tools contextual tab.

A footnote is a reference or comment that appears at the bottom of a page. When the user creates a footnote, Word will attach a reference marker which is a small superscript number to the footnote. The same number will appear at the bottom of the page next to the insertion point. The user will then key in the text of the footnote.

An endnote is similar to a footnote except the text of the endnote will appear at the end of the document. The reference marker for an endnote is a Roman numeral.

Word will automatically keep the reference markers in sequential order. If a footnote or endnote is deleted, Word will renumber the other footnotes/endnotes in sequential order. Similarly, if a footnote or endnote is added, Word will automatically renumber the footnotes and endnotes.

The following steps will create footnotes.

1. References Tab
2. Footnotes Group
3. Insert Footnote

The above steps will place the insertion point at the bottom of the page. An underline will appear. The function of the underline is to separate the footnotes from the text in the document.

Below the underline will be the reference marker. The insertion point is located to the right of the reference marker. The user can now key the footnote text. After keying the footnote, the user will click back in the body of the document and continue keying.

The same procedure is used for creating endnotes except instead of selecting the Insert Footnote button you will select Insert Endnote button. Remember that endnotes will appear at the end of the document and not on the bottom of the same page as the reference markers for footnotes.

It is simple to delete a footnote or endnote. The user just deletes the reference marker in the document text.

To edit a footnote or endnote, click in the bottom margin or at the end of document and edit the note.

A header is information that is printed on the top of a page. Likewise a footer is information that is printed on the bottom of each page.

The easiest way to create a header or footer is to double click in the top or bottom margin. Doing this will put the user in the header/footer view. The second way is to use the header/footer buttons on the Insert tab in the Header/Footer group.

Word 2007 has a header/footer library which allows the user to select from 24 different formats.

Different headers/footers can be used on the first page, the odd and even numbered pages, and also for section breaks.

Footnotes are references that appear at the bottom of a page and are marked by small superscript numbers (reference markers). The reference markers that appear in the text correspond to the reference markers that appear in the footnote.

Endnotes are references that appear at the end of the document. The reference markers that are used for endnotes are Roman numerals. The Roman numeral that appears in the text corresponds to the Roman numeral appearing at the end of the document.

Word keeps all the reference markers in sequential order. Word automatically manages the markers correctly even when footnotes are deleted, moved, or inserted. Word manages the endnote markers the same way.

Footnotes and endnotes can be edited by merely clicking on the note, making the edits, and then clicking back into the document.

There are many more commands for footnotes and endnotes as well as headers and footers. These commands are beyond the scope of this lesson. More advanced lessons will cover these additional options.

The following illustrates an excerpt from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address and the footnote. Notice the reference marker 1 corresponds to the footnote 1. There is also the divider line which divides the footnotes from the document text.

And so my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.[1]

[1] Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O.: for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1989; Bartleby.com, 2001.