Working with Headers and Footers in Excel

In Excel, you can add or change headers or footers to provide useful information in worksheet printouts. For example, you can add predefined header and footer information or insert elements in the report, such as page numbers, print dates, filenames, etc.,. Headers print on the top of each page. Footers print on the bottom of each page. To define where in the printout the headers or footers should appear and how they should be scaled and aligned, you can choose from several header and footer options. These are different from column headings, which you can print at the top of each page.

For the Excel Spreadsheets, you can work with headers and footers in Page Layout view, or use the Page Setup dialog box to specify the same headers or footers for more than one worksheet at the same time. For other sheet types, such as chart sheets, or for embedded charts, you can only work with headers and footers in the Page Setup dialog box.

Microsoft Office Excel offers the most commonly used headers as presets that you can choose from a dropdown list. Select File, Page Setup, Header/Footer, click on the Header or theFooter dropdown and choose one of the preset options. The preset options can be placed either on the top of the report, on the bottom of the report, or both.

You also have the option to create your own custom headers and footers. Select File, Page Setup, Header/Footer, click on the Custom Header or the Custom Footerbuttons. Decide if you want your header or footer on the left, right, or centered. Click in the appropriate box and type in what you want printed as part of your header or footer.

Follow the steps to add/change the Headers and Footers:

Click the worksheet to which you want to add headers or footers (or that contains headers or footers that you want to change).
Click on the Insert tab then click on Header & Footer in the Text group.
Do one of the following:

To add a header or footer, click the left, center, or right header or footer text box at the top or the bottom of the worksheet page.
To change a header or footer, click the header or footer text box at the top or the bottom of the worksheet page respectively, and then select the text that you want to change.