Let’s take a look at adding a header or footer to a document in Microsoft Word. Just like the name says, a header appears at the top of every page and the footer appears at the bottom. Headers usually help identify the document. That’s where you might put the title or the name of the author. Footers are useful for things like page numbers or the last revision date.
When you have your document opened, you’re going to click the Insert tab in the top menu. Then look for the box that says Header and Footer. I want the text that I am adding to be at the top so I’ll click on the Option for Header. If you want the text at the bottom of the page, just click on Footer instead.
Now, you’ll see that Microsoft Word has a lot of preset options that let you choose where you want the header to appear and how it should look. Once you find one you like, click on that option. Here’s one of my favorites. There, you can see the header and the cursor is active so you can type your text.
By the way if you notice, when we’re working on the header, the top menu shows that we’re in the header and footer tool section. Right now, we’re looking at the design functions for the header and we’ll stay in the Header and Footer tool section until we close our header. The template I selected works for two lines of text. To move between different sections of the header, just move the cursor or click the tab key. Microsoft Word is assuming that want the date in the second line but you can actually type anything you want. When you’re done entering the text, click the button that says Close Header and Footer.
Now, you should see your Header at the top of the document. If it’s not there, make sure you’re viewing your file in print layout and not as a draft. You can click the View tab in the top navigation menu to double check. After you’ve created a header or footer, if you want to make any changes, just go back to the Insert tab in the top menu again. Again, click on Header or Footer. And below the list of preset style options, you’ll see an option to Edit Header or Remove Header. And I just want to make a small change to the texts so I’m going to click Edit Header to go back to that part of the document. Now, I can make my change. You can also change the formatting for text in a header or footer just like any other text in your document.
When you have the Header or Footer open, just choose the Home button from the top navigation. Highlight your text and make the formatting change as you want. When you’re done, you need to go back to the top menu and click design again to go back to the Header and Footer options. Then click Close.
One more tip. Let’s say we want to add information to the bottom of each page, we can just add a footer. So, go back to the Insert tab and choose Footer. Type your text. And when you’re done, click the Close Header and Footer button. And that’s how you add Headers and Footers to a Word document.
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