Are you looking to add and print the Headers and Footers in Excel? This blog post guides you on how to add headers to the top and footers to the bottom of a worksheet, and then print those when you print the worksheet.

Header and Footer areas are used for inserting document information, such as the name of the document, the copyright, sheet name, page numbers, number of pages, and creation date. A header text is placed at the top of a page, while a footer is placed at the bottom of a page. This information explains to the user about the document.

Excel contains a few built-in and preformatted headers and footers that enable you to easily add to your document. These headers and footers can be inserted and then edited as per your needs.

You might ask to add the company name & logo in the header and page numbers in the footer. Headers and footers display only in Page Layout view and on printed pages.

In this article, you will learn how can add, edit, close, and delete the header and footer elements such as page number, number of pages, current date, current time, file path, file name, sheet name, and picture in Excel. Also explores to format of inserted pictures and adjusts the height of the header and footer.

Suppose you have received the employee details from the HR department. You may ask to print the employee’s record with Company Name, Logo, Current date, Current time, and Page Numbers.

 Get your copy of the example workbook used in this post to follow along!

Options to Access Headers and Footers in Excel

There are several ways to access the header and footer options in Excel.

Open Headers and Footers from the Page Layout Tab

Go to the Page Layout menu and click on the launch icon in the Page Setup group options.

In the Page Setup dialog box go to Header/Footer Tab. Here you can see the options to add a Custom Header and Custom Footer.

Open Headers and Footers from the View Tab

Click on the Page Layout command in the View tab.

Open Headers and Footers from the Insert Tab

Go to the Insert menu, Select the Header & Footer option in the Text group.

This option will take you right into the Header and Footer contextual tab and you will see an editable section in the worksheets for the headers and footers.

Add Custom Text in Excel Header and Footer

Access the Header and Footer tab by using any one of the above options.

In the Page Layout view, you will notice that the Header & Footer menu appears in the ribbon.

There are three sections in the header and footer, a left, center, and right area. By default, the cursor is in the center section.

You can click into any of the sections and type your text such as How To Excel then add any formatting from the Home tab or using the popup format options. 

To add a footer in Excel, click either the Go to footer navigation button from the Header & Footer tab or scroll to the bottom of the page.

Select the section of the footer and your text such as Copyright © 2016-2023 How To Excel. All Rights Reserved.

Add Page Number in Excel Footer

The advantage of using headers and footers is repeated information across each page. This helps the user to navigate a long document.

Page numbering is essential in any long document, especially when printed.

You can add automatic page numbering to your headers and footers.

Please follow the below steps to add the Page Number in your header or footer.

1. Click the Go to Footer navigation button in the Header & Footer tab.
2. Select the Right section in the Footer.
3. Click the Page Number element in Header & Footer Elements group of the Header & Footer tab.

In the Header & Footer tab, you have options to insert other useful document properties such as File Name, File Path, and Sheet Name.

These are predefined elements in the and when you click on any, you will notice it creates a shortcode in the header or footer such as &[Page]. This is the code that tells Excel to show the current page number of the document.

For Example, to insert the File Name in the Footer, just select the File Name element instead of selecting the Page Number element in step 3 and you will see Excel adds the file name shortcode &[File].

Edit Header and Footer in Excel

Many times, you will need to edit the Excel headers and footers. It might be necessary to update the custom text or to add more information to the header or footer, such as a Current date, Current time, File Name, and File Path.

Follow the below steps to edit the footer with the total Number of Pages along with the Page Number.

1. Go to the Insert tab.
2. Click the Header & Footer command in the Text group.

Excel will display the worksheet in Page Layout view.

3. Click the Go to Footer button to navigate to the footer.
4. Select the Right section in the Excel footer, where the Page Number is already inserted.
5. Type the text of, and insert the Number of Pages by selecting the element in the Header & Footer Elements group.

You should now see the code &[Page] of &[Pages] in the footer. This will show a text such as 1 of 10 for the first page of a document with a total of 10 pages.

If you need to switch between headers and footers when editing the information. You can use the Go to Header or Go to Footer commands in the navigation section. This helps you to easily move between headers and footers.

Close Header and Footer in Excel

When you are done with the changes of the header or footer in Excel, you need to return from Page Layout view to Normal view

Return to the Normal view, go to the View tab, and click the Normal button from the Workbook Views section.

Delete Header and Footer in Excel

If you need to remove the added elements from the header or footer. Just go to the Page Layout view. Select the element in the header or footer section, then press the Del or Backspace keys while the item is selected. 

Follow these steps to remove the Number of Pages in the Excel footer.

1. Go to the Insert tab.
2. Click the Header & Footer in the Text group. Excel will display the worksheet in the Page Layout view.

4. Click the Go to Footer button to navigate to the footer.
5. Select the text or elements to delete from the footer, and use the Del or Backspace key to remove it.

Insert Picture in Excel Header and Footer

There are other interesting options within the headers and footers.

For example, you can add a picture to the header. This is useful if you wanted to display the company logo on each page of the document.

Use any of the previous options to Access the Header & Footer tab, then follow the below steps to insert a picture in your header.

1. In Page Layout view. Select the Left section in the Header
2. Click the Picture element in Header & Footer Elements group. This will open the Insert Pictures dialog box where you will be able to choose an image from your local drive, a Bing search result, or your OneDrive cloud drive.
3. Select Browse in the From a File option, to access an image on your device.

4. Browse to the desired and press the Insert button.
5. Click anywhere else on the worksheet and the logo displays in the left section of the header on all pages.

Format Picture in Excel Header and Footer

The inserted logo might be too large to fit in the heading and you will need to change the height and width. You can use the Format Picture element to adjust the height and width of the picture.

Steps to adjust the height and width of the picture.

1. Select the section that contains the image.
2. Click the Format Picture element in Header & Footer Elements group. This will open the Format Picture dialog box.
3. Change the Height to 20 percent and make sure that you leave the tick mark for Lock aspect ratio, this will automatically adjust the Width of the image so it maintains the same aspect ratio.
4. Press the OK button.

You may need to try a few different percentages to find the perfect fit for your image.

You can use the Height in the Size and rotate section to more precisely set the size of the image. A Height of 1 cm should fit within the standard header size.

💡 Tip: You can use the Height in the Size and rotate section to precisely set the size of the image. A Height of 1 cm should fit within the standard header size.

Print Headers on Every Page in Excel

If you want to print the specific row heading on the top of each page. You can use the Rows or Columns to repeat options in the Sheet tab in the Page Setup dialog box.

For example, the column headings EmpID, Name, Address, and Country need to be printed on the top of each page.

Steps to set Rows or columns to repeat in print

1. Go to the Page Layout menu and click on the launch icon in the Page Setup group option. This will open the Page Setup dialog box.

2. Go to Sheet tab of the Page Setup menu.
3. Set the first row in Rows to repeat at top input box as $1:$1 in Print titles section.
4. Press the OK button.

You will now be able to see the first row is printed on top of each page in the document.

Adjust the Header and Footer Height

The content entered in a header or footer may vary, and you might need to adjust the height of the header and footer to accommodate all the content.

Follow these steps to adjust the height of the header and footer sections.

1. Click the Page Layout tab.
2. Click the Margins button.
3. Select Custom Margins.

4. Enter a new height for the Header or Footer.
5. Press the OK button.

This allows you to create headers and footers of a custom size.

Conclusion

Headers are located at the top of the page in the margin area, and Footers are located at the bottom of the page.

These are great places to add document metadata such as the name, time, date created, page number, number of pages, logo, or any custom text. This can be very useful for readers when printing your document.

Excel provides many options to easily add, edit, close, and delete headers or footers. You can even add images to your headings or repeat row and column headings across each page.

Do you know any other method to use Header and Footer in Excel? Let me know in the comments section below.