---
title: 'Everything You Need to Know About Headers & Footers in Microsoft Word'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=SE2br75WMSw'
video_id: 'SE2br75WMSw'
date: 2026-08-12
duration_sec: 600
---

# Everything You Need to Know About Headers & Footers in Microsoft Word

> Source: [Everything You Need to Know About Headers & Footers in Microsoft Word](https://youtube.com/watch?v=SE2br75WMSw)

## Summary

This tutorial covers everything you need to know about headers and footers in Microsoft Word, from basic definitions to advanced features like sections and images. It explains how to open, edit, and format headers and footers, insert page numbers, and customize them for different pages or sections.

### Key Points

- **Definition and purpose** [00:17] — A header is the area at the top of a page, a footer is at the bottom. They can repeat on every page and hold consistent info like titles, logos, dates, or page numbers.
- **Opening and closing** [00:44] — Double-click at the top of the page, or go to Insert > Header & Footer. Close by double-clicking anywhere or selecting Close Header and Footer.
- **Editing content** [01:36] — Headers work like normal text areas; you can change font, size, bold, etc. Preset tabs allow easy alignment: Tab once for center, twice for right.
- **Page numbers** [02:58] — Page numbers are inserted via the Page Number button. They are live fields that update automatically. You can change style or format (e.g., Roman numerals).
- **Different first page** [04:21] — Check 'Different First Page' to have a blank header/footer on the first page (e.g., for a title page) while others remain.
- **Odd and even pages** [05:19] — Check 'Different Odd & Even Pages' to create separate headers for odd and even pages, like in books.
- **Sections for custom headers** [06:00] — Insert a section break (Next Page) and turn off 'Link to Previous' to have different headers in different sections. Unlink header and footer separately.
- **Images and shapes** [07:25] — You can insert images (e.g., logos) and shapes (e.g., lines) into headers. Use layout options to position text around images. Adjust margins if content is cut off.

## Transcript

Headers and footers are one of those Word  features that seem simple on the surface,   but once you dig in, there's a lot more to  them than most people realize. I'm Elizabeth,   and in this video, I'll show you everything that  you need to know. First, a quick definition. A  
header is the area at the very top of a page,  above the main body content, while a footer   is the area at the very bottom, below the body  content. Both can repeat automatically on every  
page of your document. You put things there that  you want to appear consistently throughout, such   as a document title, your company name, a logo,  the date, or page numbers. There are two simple  
ways to open the header or footer area in a Word  document. The quickest way is to just doubleclick   in the very top of the page. The header area  is now highlighted with a dashed border.  
You'll notice that the main body of your document  has gone gray, meaning that it's temporarily   locked while you're editing the header and a new  tab appeared in the ribbon. This is your header  
and footer tab and this is the control center  for everything we're going to cover in this   video. The second way to open headers and footers  is directly within your ribbon. You'll select the  
insert tab and then select header and footer.  Here you'll see the buttons for header, footer,   and page number. Either of these methods work just  fine to close the header and footer and return to  
editing the body of your document. You'll just  doubleclick anywhere, or you could select close   header and footer. Once you're inside the header,  it works just like any other text area in Word.  
You can change the font, adjust the size,  bold, italicize, or change color, whatever you   need. You'll also notice that there are tabs  preset in the header. One flush on the left,  
one in the center, and one at the right edge. This  is a really handy built-in feature. You'll press   tab once to jump to the center and again to jump  to the far right. A common professional header  
could include the name of the company on the  left hand side, the document title in the middle,   and the date on the far right hand side. For  the footer, similar rules apply. I'll scroll  
down to the bottom of my page, double click into  my footer. Now, one noticeable change is that the   tab button actually provides you with a handful  of more options in terms of text placement.  
I'll select where I want my text and there I'm  done. Page numbers are probably the most common   thing that people put in headers and footers.  So, let's cover them fully. The easiest way is to  
select page number in the header and footer tab.  You'll see that you get a drop- down of locations   that you can insert the page number. Top of page,  bottom of page, page margins, or the current  
position that your mouse is in. bottom of the page  is the most common choice. You'll see that you   receive a gallery of common places and styles that  you could place the page number. Some are more  
simple. Others are going to be a bit fancier. Let  me go ahead and select one that's bold and going   to be in the far right of my footer. The page  number inserted automatically. And crucially,  
it's not just the number one typed in. It's a live  field that will update automatically on every page   of the document. If you change your mind and want  a different style, just go back to page number.  
This time, I'll select a plain number. You'll see  that it automatically defaulted to two because I'm   on the second page. If I want to change the number  format, I can come here to format page numbers.  
And this time I'll select Roman numerals. Done.  A very common need may be that you want the first   page of your document, maybe it's a title page  or a cover letter, to have no header or footer  
at all, while all the other pages do. In order to  do that, click on the options tab and then select   different first page. Now, Word has created a  separate footer and header for just the first page  
in my document, and it's completely independent  from the rest of the document. You could see that   it's removed the page number I had previously,  but yet on all of the other pages of my document,  
the page number remains. I'm going to leave  the first page of my presentation blank, which   is exactly how you would format a report that  starts with a clean title page. But on all of the  
additional pages, I want to have a very specific  header. I'll insert my text. Tab to where I want   my text. And now this will appear on every page in  my document with the exception of the first page.  
Another powerful option is to have different odd  and even pages. You'll check that box in the same   options group. Now you have separate headers  for oddnumbered pages and even numbered pages.  
This is how professionally printed books work.  Typically the book title appears on the left   hand side and the chapter title appears on the  right hand side. Word will label each of those  
clearly. In this case the odd page footer. You'll  design each one independently and Word alternates   them automatically throughout the document. A  more powerful and slightly trickier feature is  
having completely different headers and footers  in different parts of the same document. This is   done by creating sections. If you want a different  header starting on a specific page, let's say this  
one for the introduction. Then I'll need to  insert a section break before that page. I'll   click on the previous page and then under layout,  select breaks. Here you'll select next page under  
section breaks. Now when I click into this header,  you'll see that it's titled first page header,   but it's in section two of my document. You'll  also notice a label called same as previous.  
And there's a button in the ribbon with the same  name. By default, Word links each section's header   to the previous section so they stay the same. to  make them independent, which is what we want to  
do here. Click link to previous and turn it off.  Now I can type an entirely different header in   section two and it won't affect the section one  at all. And then I can continue to repeat this  
throughout my document. And one important note on  the unlinking, you'll need to do this for both the   header and the footer independently. Unlinking the  header doesn't automatically unlink the footer.  
Headers are not limited to text. You can also  insert images, which is how you add a company   logo to your letter head. With your cursor inside  of the header, select insert and then picture.  
Once you've selected your image, you can resize it  by dragging the corners together. Remember to keep   your logo on the smaller side. Headers are narrow  and a logo that's too large will push the body of  
the content down. Once you have your logo sized  appropriately, you can use the tab key to move it   exactly where you want on your letter head. Now  that I have my image, I want to add some text  
to this document as well. But you'll notice if  I move the cursor to the upper leftand corner,   it's not letting me write anything in my header.  There's a few ways that you can solve for this.  
The easiest is to select your image, click on  layout options, and then select through. You'll   actually see that it brought my image closer  to the body of my document, but we can adjust  
that in a moment. Now that I click back into my  header, you'll see that the cursor will actually   allow me to write wherever I want. I'm going to  go ahead and add the address to my business. And  
you can make edits to this just like you would  in any Word document. adjust the font, the size,   the color, etc. Once I have that looking the way  I want, I can then drag my image back into place.  
Or if I liked it down a bit, I can go ahead  and adjust the content of my document. You   can add additional things into this as well. For  example, I would select insert, select shapes, and  
then click on the line. I can then drag the line  exactly where I want it to go within my header.   And I can adjust the color as well as the width  of the line if I want. And I can of course move  
that around as well to get it looking exactly  how I want. One important note, watch your margin   settings. Headers and footers sit inside the page  margins. If your header content is getting cut  
off, select layout and then select margins. You  could click into custom margins, select layout,   and then you could select the distance from the  edge of the page for both your header and your  
footer. And that's everything you need to know  about headers and footers in Microsoft Word.   Thanks for watching and don't forget to watch  our other word tutorials on the channel.