How to Add a Header and Footer in Excel

To print your spreadsheet data sometimes you need to display some basic information such as page numbers, printed date, workbook name, etc. related to your spreadsheet, you use the Header and Footer feature of Excel.

You can use the Excel predefined Headers and Footers or can customize them based on your preference.

 Steps to Insert a Header in Excel

1. First, go to the “Insert tab.
2. After that, click on the “Text” group and then click the “Header & Footer” option.
   
3. Once you click on “Header & Footer”, excel displays the header section for the current worksheet to add the header elements.
   
4. Once you are done with the header, just press anywhere in the sheet and you will get out of the header section and your header becomes active.

Steps to Insert a Footer in Excel

1. First, go to the “Insert tab.
2. After that, click on the “Text” group and then click the “Header & Footer” option.
   
3. Now, you will get the “Go to Footer” icon on the navigation group on the ribbon and you just need to click on it.
   
4. Once you click on the “Go to Footer” icon, excel then displays the footer section for the current worksheet to add the footer elements.
   
5. Once you are done with the footer, just press anywhere in the sheet and you will get out of the footer section and your footer becomes active.

In “Header and Footer”, you will always get three (right, middle, and left) boxes to enter the text, values, images, etc. for your header and Footer stuff. And based on your choice of which side you want to display your header and footer elements you can enter the data within that box.

Steps to Insert Predefined Headers and Footers in Excel

Excel has several predefined “Headers and Footers” elements that can be used for your document as quickly as by just clicking the mouse.

1. First, go to the “Insert” tab.
2. After that, click on the “Text” group and then click the “Header & Footer” option.
   
3. The moment you click the “Header & Footer” option, you will find the new “Header & Footer” tab with multiple predefined elements.
4. Now, you can select any one of them, you want to use as your header.
   
5. For example, if you want to use the” Number of Pages” element, just click on it and it will appear as a header within your worksheet.
   
6. You can also select the predefined “Header and Footer” elements by clicking on the “Header” and “Footer” options.
7. Once you click the “Header” and “Footer” it will show you the list of predefined elements to choose from.
   

To view, what your “Header” and “Footer” selection look like after the selection of any predefined element, simply click anywhere in the sheet and you will get back out of the header and footer section and can view the header and footer that you have selected.

Edit or Format the Header and Footer

Excel has the option of formatting and customizing the font size, style, color, and effect for your “Header & Footer” based on your preference.

1. First, go to the “Page Layout” Tab and click on the page setup dialogue box icon.
   
2. After that, click on the “Header/Footer” option and you will get the “Custom Header” and “Custom Footer” options.
3. Now click on the “Custom Header” or “Custom Footer” option, which you want to customize, change, or edit.
   
4. Now click on the font icon and you will get the pop-up menu opened within which you can change or select the font size, color, style, effects for your “Header & Footer”.
   
   

Remove the Header and Footer in Excel

1. To remove the existing “Header & Footer” go to the “View” tab and click the “Normal” icon.
   
2. You can also remove the “Header & Footer” by just clicking on the “Normal” icon on the status bar.