Add a Standard Header or Footer

Headers and footers are simply standard text that appears on every page of the report. A header is printed in the top margin of the page, and a footer is printed in the bottom margin. Both are centered vertically in the margins. Unless you specify otherwise, Excel does not automatically add either a header or footer to a new workbook.

Use headers and footers in a report to identify the document used to produce the report and display the page numbers and the date and time of printing. The place to add a header or footer to a report is in Page Layout view. You can switch to this view by clicking the Page Layout View button on the Status bar or by clicking the Page Layout View button on the Ribbon's View tab, or by just pressing Alt+WP.

When the worksheet's displayed in Page Layout Preview, position the mouse pointer over the section in the top margin of the first page marked Click to Add Header or in the bottom margin of the first page marked Click to Add Footer.

To create a centered header or footer, highlight the center section of this header/footer area and then click the mouse pointer to set the insertion point in the middle of the section. To add a left-aligned header or footer, highlight and then click to set the insertion point flush with the left edge of the lefthand section or to add a right-aligned header or footer, highlight and click to set the insertion point flush with the right edge of the right-hand section.

Immediately after setting the insertion point in the left, center, or right section of the header/footer area, Excel adds a Header & Footer Tools contextual tab with its own Design tab. The Design tab is divided into Auto Header & Footer, Header & Footer Elements, Navigation, and Options groups.