Header And Footer Tools Design Tab Word

Now that we have finished editing and formatting the body of our document, there are a few things we can do to make it even better. Let's begin by creating a header that provides the date of the latest revision. Word does not consider the headers and footers to be part of your main document. When the headers and footers are in view, the rest of the document is grayed out and not currently editable.

The Header and Footer tools are on the Insert tab.

Step 1. To switch to the Insert tab, on the Ribbon,

Click the Insert tab

Step 2. To begin choosing a Header and Footer view, in the Header & Footer group,

Click

We have several options for the format of our header including columns, different colors, and different fonts. For today, we want to choose a blank header.

Step 3. To choose the blank header,

Click Blank

The document itself is grayed out, and a space at the top of the document is designated as the header by a dotted line. The Header & Footer Tools Design contextual tab opens. This tab gives us many content and formatting options. At this point, the font style, size, and other formatting can be altered.

We will add the revision date to the header using a code, but before we do that, we will begin by typing in the text placeholder.

Step 4. In the text placeholder, type:

Revised: Spacebar

With the text in place, we are ready to add the date code.

Adding a Date Code

We can add a date code that will automatically change when we open the document. This feature is particularly useful when used to track different versions of a file.

Step 1. To view the Header and Footer Design contextual tab, if necessary, on the Ribbon,

Click the Design tab

NOTE for MacOS Users: To see the header and footer tools, Click the Header & Footer tab, if necessary.

Step 2. To begin adding a Date Code, in the Insert group,

Click

The Date and Time dialog box opens. We can choose the appropriate date format.

Step 3. Choose any date and time format.

Step 4. To set the date to automatically update,

Click the "Update automatically" checkbox

Step 5. To close the Date and Time dialog box,

Click

Adding Page Numbers

Page numbers can be added in a document through the header and footer as well as through the Insert Page Numbers command. Since we have the Header and Footer Design tab open, let's insert page numbers on the footer of our page.

The process of adding page numbers varies between Windows and MacOS.

NOTE for MacOS Users: Skip forward to the heading, "Adding Page Numbers on MacOS".

Adding Page Numbers on Windows

Let's see how to add page numbers when working in Windows.

Step 1. To begin inserting page numbers, in the Header & Footer group,

Click add page numbers button

We want the page numbers to be centered in the footer.

Step 2. To choose the footer,

Point to Bottom of Page

Step 3. To choose the centered page number,

Click Plain Number 2

The page numbers now appear in the footer of each page.

NOTE: To suppress the header on the first page, on the Header & Footer Tools Design Tab in the Options group, click the "Different First Page" checkbox.

Step 4. To close the header and footer and return to the document, in the Close group,

Click close header and footer button