Word: Working with headers and footers

A couple of colleagues have been baffled by how Word 2007/2010 now deals with headers and footers compared to Word 2003, so here are two methods for opening the header/footer area. Once you’re in the header/footer area, you can add a new header/footer from the list of available headers/footers, insert your own, edit an existing one, or delete it. You can also save your custom header/footer to the Header (or Footer) Gallery, but I won’t deal with that in this post.

Method 1: Double-click inside the header/footer area

The quickest way to open the header/footer area is to double-click in the very top (or bottom) area of your page, above the first line of text.

Method 2: Use the ribbon

1. To open the header/footer area, go to the Insert tab.
2. In the Header & Footer group, click the small drop-down arrow to the right of Header (or Footer).

Once the header/footer area is open, you can:

• add a default header/footer by choosing it from the list (if you can’t see the list of default headers/footers, go to the Insert tab > Header & Footer group, then click the small drop-down arrow to the right of Header [or Footer])
• add your own header/footer or edit an existing one by selecting Edit Header (or Edit Footer) at the bottom of the list
  
• delete the existing header/footer by selecting Remove Header (or Remove Footer) at the bottom of the list
• adjust the settings for the header/footer by using the tools on the Header & Footer Tools > Design tab (NOTE: This tab is ONLY available when you are in the Header/Footer area; if you are in the main document, you cannot see this tab and have to open the header/footer area to access these tools.)
• switch between the header and footer by clicking Go to Footer (or Go to Header) on the Header & Footer Tools >Design tab

When you’ve finished making changes, close the header/footer area using one of these two methods:

• Double-click inside the main document (i.e. outside the header/footer).
• Click the Close Header and Footer button in the Header & Footer Tools > Design tab.