Adding a header and footer to the worksheet

Excel 2016 2013 2010 2007 2003
Headers and footers are widely used in Microsoft Word documents, but you should know that Excel also has headers and footers.
The header shows the information at the top of every printed page. The footer shows the information at the bottom of every printed page. By default, new workbooks do not have headers or footers.

To add a header and footer to your worksheet, follow the next steps:

   1.   Do one of the following:

  • On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Header & Footer:
    Header and Footer in Excel 365   or   Header and Footer in Excel 365

    Note: After clicking the Header & Footer button, Excel automatically switches the spreadsheet to the Page Layout view.

  • On the View tab, in the Workbook Views group, click Page Layout:
    Page Layout view button in Excel 365

Excel displays the worksheet in Page Layout view, where Excel shows sections Add header and Add footer:

Page Layout view in Excel 365

You can also click Page Layout view Page Layout View in Excel 365 on the status bar to display this view:

Page Layout view in status bar Excel 365

   2.   Click the left, center, or right header or footer text box at the top or the bottom of the worksheet page (note that headers and footers consist of three sections: left, center, and right):

Add Header in Excel 365
Add Footer in Excel 365

Clicking any text box selects the header or footer and displays the Header & Footer tab:

Header and Footer tab in Excel 365

   3.   On the Header & Footer tab, in the Header & Footer Elements group, select the element that you want:

  • In the Header & Footer group, from the Header or Footer dropdown lists, choose one of the proposed header or footer templates:
    Header templates in Excel 365

    Some items in these lists consist of multiple parts, separated by a comma.

  • In the Header & Footer Elements group, select one or several of the proposed functions (you can also use codes):
    Button Code Function
    Page Number button in Excel 365 Page Number & [Page] Displays the page number
    Number of Pages button in Excel 365 Number of Pages & [Pages] Displays the total number of pages to be printed
    Current Date button in Excel 365 Current Date & [Date] Displays the current date
    Current Time button in Excel 365 Current Time & [Time] Displays the current time
    File Path button in Excel 365 File Path & [Path] & [File] Displays the workbook's complete path and filename
    File Name button in Excel 365 File Name & [File] Displays the workbook name
    Sheet Name button in Excel 365 Sheet Name & [Tab] Displays the sheet's name
    Picture button in Excel 365 Picture Enables you to add a picture

    See Adding watermarks to workbook for more details.

    Format Picture button in Excel 365 Format Picture Enables you to change an added picture's settings

    See Adding watermarks to workbook for more details.

    Notes:

    1. You can combine text and codes and insert as many codes as possible into each section.
    2. To insert an ampersand (&) into headers or footers, enter the ampersand twice.

      For example, to enter the text Headers & Footers, type Headers && Footers.

    3. To apply different fonts and sizes in headers and footers, just select the text and use the formatting tools:
      • On the Home tab, in the Font group, use the formatting tools:
        Font group for headers and footers in Excel 365
      • On the mini toolbar that appears automatically when you select text:
        Mini toolbar for headers and footers in Excel 365
    4. You can add more than one line in any section of headers or footers: press Enter to force a line break. See more about page margins.
    5. Excel doesn't provide a possibility to insert the content of a specific cell into the header or footer.
  • In the Navigation group, there are two buttons that help to switch between headers and footers:
    • Go to Header button in Excel 365 Go to Header is active when any section of a footer is active.
    • Go to Footer button in Excel 365 Go to Footer is active when a cursor is positioned in a header section.
  • In the Options group, specify any of the options:
    • Select the Different First Page option (unselected by default) to specify a different header/footer for the first printed page.
    • Select the Different Odd & Even Pages option (unselected by default) to specify a different header or footer for odd and even pages. See How to create different headers and footers on odd and even pages for more details.
    • If the Scale with Document option is selected (selected by default), the font size in the header and footer will be resized accordingly if the document is scaled when printed.
    • If the Align with Page Margins is selected (selected by default), the left header and footer will be left-aligned, and the right header and footer will be right-aligned.

Note: To return to the Normal view, on the View tab, in the Workbook Views group, click Normal:

Normal view in Excel 365

You can also click Normal view in Excel 365 Normal on the status bar:

Normal view in status bar Excel 365

See also this tip in French: Comment ajouter un en-tête et un pied de page à la feuille de calcul.

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