3.4. Adding Headers and Footers Headers and footers are where Word puts the bits of information that appear at the top or bottom of every page of most multipage documents (Figure 3-12). They remind you of the page number, chapter title, and so on, as you read along. For business memos and reports , headers are a great place to repeat the document's subject and publication date. (If you're the author of the report and want your boss to know, consider adding your name under the title.)
Note: Word's fields are bits of text automated with the help of some behind-the-scenes computer code. You can insert fields into your document to show information that's likely to change, like today's date or a page number. Because it's a field, this text updates itself automatically.
3.4.1. Introducing the Header and Footer Tools Unlike some of the other features in this chapter, the header and footer tools are on the Insert tab (not the Page Layout tab). As you can see in Figure 3-13, three menus appear in the Header & Footer groupHeader, Footer, and Page Number. Each of the menus provides predesigned page elements, known in Word-speak as Building Blocks. So, for example, if you select a header Building Block, it may add text and several graphic elements to the top of your page. | | Figure 3-12. Document headers give the reader additional information that's not found in the text. For example, the header for a business memo can include the subject, date, and page number. Word lets you enter this information manually or with the help of fields that automatically update the information. | | | | Figure 3-13. The Header, Footer, and Page Number menus help you insert predesigned page elements, known as Building Blocks, into your document. You can see what each one looks like right on the menu. At the bottom of the menu, you find options to create (or remove) custom headers, footers, and page numbers . | | 3.4.2. Inserting and Modifying a Header Building Block Go to Insert Header & Footer Header, and you see more than a dozen predesigned header options. You can keep these canned headers as they are, or use them as a starting point for your own imagination . The following steps show you how to use a Building Block to add a header to your document and then tweak it a bit by inserting an additional field. -
Go to Insert Header & Footer Header to open the Header menu . If you've used earlier versions of the program, you'll notice that the drop-down menus in Word 2007 are larger and much more visual. The Header menu is a good example, as it gives you a clear representation of the available predesigned headers. -
Use the scroll bar on the right to find the Tiles header . You can drag the box in the scroll bar to move quickly through the menu, or use the arrow buttons to browse through the examples. -
Click the Tiles header to insert it into your document . When you select the Tiles header, you're adding more than text to your document: A Building Block comes with all its own accessories. The Tiles header includes a box with a rule around it and two tiles of color . Inside the tiles are bracketed words. When you insert a header, a couple of other things happen too. The Header menu closes and a new Design tab appears on your ribbon, with a Header & Footer Tools tab above. Along with that, a whole slew of new buttons and tools appear on the ribbon (left to right): Header & Footer, Insert, Navigation, Options, Position, and the Close Header and Footer button. -
Click the bracketed words "Type the document title," and then type a title of your choice . The bracketed words are a prompt that you're supposed to enter new text in that spot. A single click anywhere on the words selects the entire group . Type your title, say, A Tale of Two Cities . When you type, the other words and the brackets disappear. When you add a title to the header, Word uses this text to update the title shown in the Document Properties (Office button Prepare Properties). For details, see the box in Section 3.4.3. -
. This standard Word tool lets you enter a date by selecting it. At the top, you see the month and year. Click the buttons on either side to move backward or forward through the months. Click a date on the calendar below to select a specific date. Word uses the year from the date you selected to update the Year text in the header. Or you can enter a year simply by typing it. You can modify Building Blocks after you add them to your document by typing your own text, which you'll do next . -
Click the header to the right of your title. If the title is highlighted, use the right arrow key to deselect the title, and then type a hyphen (-) followed by a space . You can also add automatically updating text by inserting a field, which is how Word creates those ever-changing dates and page numbers. Word has fields for lots of other stuff too. You can't create (or edit) a field by typing directly in your document, though. You must use the Field dialog box. -
Choose Insert Quick Parts Field . The Field dialog box opens showing an alphabetical list of field names on the left side, as shown in Figure 3-14. Fields store information about your document and keep track of other information that you can use in your documents. | | Figure 3-14. Using fields, you can add automatically updating page numbers, dates, and names. The Field dialog box shows a whole list of fields (left) and provides ways to format them (right) so that they work just right. | | -
Double-click the Author field name to insert it into the header . The author's name appears next to the title in the header. (If you're working on your own computer, it's probably your name.) This text is grayed out to show that it's a field and that you can't edit it directly. -
Double-click anywhere on the document's body text to close the Header & Footer Tools contextual tab . You have two options for closing the header and going back to editing your document. You can double-click anywhere outside the header, or, on the right side of the ribbon, you can click the Close Header and Footer button. Either way, the header fades out and the text of your document sharpens up. Your insertion point appears back in the body text, and you're ready to work. | POWER USERS' CLINIC Inspecting Your Document's Properties and Fields | | When you type to replace placeholder text in a Quick Part (like the header title in step 3 in Section 3.4.2), something else happens behind the scenes. Every Word document has properties defining information like author, title, and subject. You can check them out in the Document Information Panel: Choose Office button Prepare Properties. (When youre done, click the X button at the upper right to close the box.) When you give the header a new title, Word takes those words and inserts them in the Title field of the Document Information Panel. Word keeps track of the title and other document properties and uses them to fill in the fields you insert into your documents. You can insert a field in a header, a footer, or indeed anywhere in your document by choosing Insert Quick Parts Field. For example, the number of pages in a document is stored in the NumPages field. So if youd like to put "Page X of XX pages" in your header or footer, just replace X with the Page field and XX with the NumPages field. | 3.4.3. Adding a Matching Footer Building Block Most of the header Building Blocks have complementary footers. For example, the Tiles header used in the step-by-step example provides title and date information, while the Tiles footer provides company and page information (Figure 3-15). The steps for inserting the Tiles footer are nearly identical to the header steps. Just start with the Footer menu: Choose Insert Header & Footer Footer or press Alt+N, 0. | | Figure 3-15. Most of the header and footer Building Blocks come in pairs. By using a header and footer with the same name, you can be sure of having a consistent design. You can modify Building Blockslike this predesigned header and footerafter you insert them in your text. Just edit as you would any text. It's best to leave the page numbers as they are, though. This page number is grayed out to indicate that it's a field that automatically changes for each page. | | 3.4.4. Creating Custom Headers and Footers Microsoft provides a lot of competently designed headers and footers with Word, but you're free to create your own. After all, Microsoft's Building Blocks may not be to your taste, or maybe you have to follow company guidelines for your documents. It's not difficult to create your own headers in Word. Here's how to create a custom footer with a company name on the left and page numbers on the right: -
Go to Insert Header & Footer Footer Edit Footer . The insertion point moves from the body of your document to the footer space at the bottom. -
Type your company name, press Enter, and then type your city and country . Pressing Enter puts the city and country on a new line below the company name. Text that you type directly into the footer appears on every page unless you make changes to the header and footer options. -
Press Tab twice to move the insertion point to the right side of the footer . The first time you press Tab, the insertion point moves to the center of the page. If you enter text at that point, Word centers the text in the footer. The second time you press Tab, the insertion point moves to the right margin. Text that you enter there is aligned on the right margin. -
Type Page , and then press the Space bar . As you type, the insertion point remains on the right margin and your text flows to the left. -
Choose Header & Footer Tools Design Insert Quick Parts Field (or press Alt+JH, Q, F) to open the Field dialog box . The Quick Parts menu shows several different options: Document Property, Field, and Building Blocks Organizer. -
In the list of Field Names, double-click Page to insert the Page field in the footer . Remember, if you simply type a number into the footer, you'll end up with the same number on every page. Instead, you place the Page field in your footer to tell Word to insert the correct number on each page. The page number appears in the footer next to the word "Page." The number is grayed out, indicating that it's a field and you can't edit the number. -
Type of and then a space. Press Alt+JH, Q, F to open the Field box again, and then double-click the NumPages field to insert it in your footer after the space . The NumPages field keeps track of the number of pages in your document. When you're done, your footer looks like the one in Figure 3-16. | | Figure 3-16. This custom footer may not be as flashy as Microsoft's Building Blocks, but what Chapman and Hall wants, Chapman and Hall gets. The company name and city are plain typed-in text, while the page number and number of pages are fields that update automatically. | | 3.4.5. Removing Headers, Footers, and Page Numbers It's easy to remove any headers, footers, or page numbers that you've added to your document. You'll find a command at the bottom of each of the respective menus to do just that. If you want to remove a header, follow these steps: -
Go to Insert Header & Footer Header to open the Header menu . You see the same menu that you used to insert the header Building Block into your document. At the bottom of the menu, below all the Header examples, you see the Remove Header command. -
Click Remove Header . The Header menu closes, and the entire header disappears from your documenttext, graphics, and all. The steps for removing a footer or a page number Building Block are nearly identical. Just start with the Footer menu (Insert Header & Footer Footer) or the Page Number menu (Insert Header & Footer Page Number). |