Headers and footers can be used to display information in the top and bottom margins
of your document.
They can include details like the author's name, page numbers, the date, and more.
To create your own header or footer from scratch, double-click the margin at the top or bottom
of your document.
This will "unlock" the header or footer area, so you can add whatever information you want.
You can also use the tools on the Design tab, which will appear on the right side of the
Ribbon.
When you're done, you can close the header or footer using the button here, or by pressing
Esc on your keyboard.
If you don't have a lot of experience with headers and footers, you might want to start
with a built-in preset instead.
Preset headers and footers give you several different designs to choose from, so they're
a great choice for any document.
To add a preset header or footer, go to the Insert tab… then click the command you want.
In this example, we're going to add a header.
You can choose one of the simple options at the top, or go ahead and scroll down for something
more unique.
Notice how we have access to the Design tab again.
For now, I'm just going to enter my information into the box here, which is known as a content
control field.
If we close the header, we can see what it looks like compared to the rest of the document.
To open or unlock it again, all you have to do is double-click the margin.
I forgot that I wanted to include the date, maybe right here below the document title.
To add this to your document, just click Date & Time on the Design tab… then choose how
you want the date to appear.
If you want the date to be updated every time you open the document, check the box next
to "Update automatically."
This is good if you want to show the date the document was printed, instead of the date
it was created.
Otherwise, leave this box unchecked… and it will remain at today's date.
There are many different ways to use headers and footers.
They can also be used to add page numbers to your work.
Page numbers are common in business documents, academic papers, and much more.
To learn how to use them, check out our separate page numbers video.