Excel is frequently used for data analysis and offers a broad variety of capabilities to make data more visually accessible because it is not simply a powerful tool for data storage and processing. A header and footer, either pre-defined or user-defined, can be included in a spreadsheet in all versions of Excel. Spreadsheets with properly formatted headers and footers are ready for use in a professional setting, such as reports. Since headers and footers are intended for printed pages only, they will not be shown in the worksheet view but will be in Print Preview and Page Layout. This article serves as a guide on how to add and remove the footer in Excel. Enjoy the ride!
The footer of an Excel file is the area of the page that appears just after the document’s main body. Excel’s footer features are quite flexible, allowing you to include anything from page numbers to the author’s name. The footer will only appear on the pages you choose. Unless you’re in “Page Layout” or “Print Preview” mode or have printed the page, you won’t be able to see the footer in Excel. As a result, you should probably only use Excel footers for documents that will be printed and distributed.
Here are the steps you need to take to add a footer to your Excel document:
To insert a footer in Excel, select the “Insert” tab and then the “Header & Footer” function. Here are the steps you can take to add a footer in this fashion:
Click the “Insert” tab on your toolbar, then the “Header & Footer” button. Step two involves selecting “Text” from the toolbar’s far right side and then clicking the tiny down arrow next to the “Symbols” option. When you do this, Excel will display the printed page, complete with header and footer, in its entirety. The “Header & Footer” tab in the menu bar at the top of the screen also loads automatically.
Changing the header is the default action when you click the “Header & Footer” tab in the toolbar. You can change to the footer edit mode by selecting “Navigation” and then “Go to Footer.” You may now choose which side of the footer to fill out. In addition, the toolbar provides a number of choices for automating the content of your footer.
The four-footer settings can be modified by checking and unchecking the corresponding boxes in the “Options” section of the “Header & Footer” toolbar. Choose from “Scale with Document,” “Align with Page Margins,” “Different First Page,” and “Different Odd and Even Pages.”
iv. Switch back to Excel’s standard view
You can switch back to the standard Excel workbook view once you’re done customizing the footer. The “Header & Footer” tab must be closed first by clicking anywhere outside the spreadsheet. Then, look for the three square buttons to the left of the zoom control scale at the screen’s bottom. These tabs allow you to adjust the Excel layout view. On the far left is the “Normal” view, in the center is the “Page Layout” view, and on the far right is the “Page Break Preview.”
Click the “Normal” icon, which looks like a little three-by-three grid, to switch back to the standard Excel workbook display. The center icon looks like a tiny clipboard inside a box, and selecting it will take you back to the view that contains the footer.
The “Page Setup” window’s “Header/Footer” choices also provide a means of including a footer. Here are the measures to take:
Click the “Page Layout” tab on the toolbar, and then expand the “Page Setup” options by clicking the small downward diagonal arrow to the right of the “Page Setup” options name. This will reveal the “Header/Footer” options. The “Page Setup” dialog box will now appear. Page, Margins, Header/Footer, and Sheet are tabs at the top of this window. Follow the link labeled “Header/Footer.”
There are sixteen distinct footer settings accessible via the “Footer” pull-down menu. When you select a possibility, a miniature version of the potential footer displays at the page’s end. The footer can contain any combination of the following information: page number, sheet number, book number, date, author’s name, file save location, the word “confidential,” and so on. If you add a footer and then change your mind, you can easily remove it by going back to this menu and selecting “None.”
The “Customize Footer” button sits between the header and footer menus, and it allows you to make changes to the footer. In a new tab or window, the footer’s left, center, and right sides will appear. You can manually enter content into each of these areas, or you can use the corresponding buttons to automatically insert footer components. Page number, time stamp, file location, file name, and sheet name are all examples of such details.
The icons on the far right allow you to insert and format images. Footer text can be formatted by highlighting the text you want to change and then clicking the “Format Text” button on the far left. The “Custom Footer” window can be closed by selecting “OK” when you are done.
Once you’ve decided on a footer style, you can fine-tune the details using the checkboxes that appear below the menu. Similar to the former approach, these allow you to adjust the footer’s size and placement relative to the document’s margins. There may already be blue checks next to these two items because Excel selects them by default. You can also change the first page, odd pages, and even pages by selecting the appropriate checkboxes.
To ensure that your footers print correctly, select “Print Preview” before closing the “Page Setup” dialogue box. When you close the “Page Setup” dialogue box, Excel reverts to the standard workbook view without footers, but when you print the page, the footers appear as you saw them in the “Print Preview” frame. When you are satisfied with how the footer looks, you may exit “Print Preview” by selecting “Back” at the very top of the options menu that appears on the left.
Users who wish to include a footer on each sheet may find the prior method inconvenient. The reason for this is that the likelihood of making a mistake increases with each repetition of the same process. Moreover, it may take a while, depending on how many sheets there are. So, here is a better way that will add a footer to all sheets simultaneously:
- Open your Excel file and, while holding CTRL, click on each sheet to which you’d like to add a footer. Select Insert from the main menu’s tabs now. Find the header and footer buttons in the text group. If you want to use a different footer, you can do so by clicking on it.
- Now, go to the page’s footer by scrolling to the bottom and clicking there. However, the footer text needs to be updated by your typing. After that, you may alter the footer on all the selected sheets with a single click on any spreadsheet cell.
Excel can be used both offline and online, however, the latter has fewer features than the former. The online edition of Excel, for instance, does not permit the addition of a footer. The following are the methods for adding footers in Google Sheets, which can be done online for free.
- Download a copy of your online Excel worksheet and save it locally. Start up Google Sheets by clicking the “+” button, then creating a new sheet and selecting “Upload” with the “Ctrl+O” keyboard shortcut. Navigate to the Excel file, and then open it in Google Sheets. Now you may access the print menu by pressing Control + P.
- Select a footer style from the drop-down menu that appears after you click the Header & Footer tab. To include a new text or image footer at the bottom of the page, select Edit Custom Fields Now.
- When you’re finished customizing your sheet’s footer, just hit “next” to proceed. When you select print, an Excel file with a footer will be saved on your hard drive.
If you’d like a page number to appear at the bottom of each page of your Excel spreadsheet whenever it’s printed, you can easily implement this feature by following these steps:
- To add a header and footer to your spreadsheet, open it up and select the appropriate option from the text group under the insert tab. You may now select the footer’s location by clicking the corresponding button.
- To find the page number for Footer Elements, click the design tab. When you select it, “&[Page]” will show up in the footer.
- If you click anywhere else in the worksheet, the real page number will show up, and you can now print the sheet.
There are a variety of situations in which having the file path in the footer might be useful. There are only a few easy steps required to add it:
- Open the document and insert the footer by selecting Header & Footer in the insert tab’s text group.
- If you double-click the footer, you may see the document’s metadata in the Footer Tab. Choose from a few different possibilities there. Here, we get to choose the location of the file.
- Simply doing so will add the document’s file location to your Excel spreadsheet’s footer. The file location will be included in the footer of any Excel, PDF, or printed version of that document.
The first step in including the sheet name in Excel’s footer area is the same as it was in the previous approaches. When you’re done customizing your Excel file’s footer and you export it, however, the exported file will include the sheet name in the footer. This makes it simpler to keep tabs on the number of sheets or the information contained therein:
- To add a footer, go to the Insert menu and select Header & Footer. Depending on the layout of your sheet, you may have to choose a side on which to place the footer.
- Select the footer by clicking on it, then pick the Design tab at the top and then the sheet name. When you click elsewhere, the “&[Tab]” in the footer will become the name of a new sheet.
Read Also: HOW TO INSERT SPARKLINES IN EXCEL: Step-By-Step Guide
To make Excel more unique, you might include a photo in the footer. However, if you want to display helpful images in relation to the data, it may be a good option. To avoid problems with image layout when exporting from Excel, add photos not through the insert but through the footer option.
Open the sheet where you want to add a picture as a footer and click on the Insert tab. To set the footer, simply click the Footer button at that point. The ideal position of the image’s footer would be in the center of the picture.
To edit the footer’s design, select the text there and head to the Footer tab up top. Images can be downloaded, viewed locally on a computer, or chosen from the internet here. Choose a picture and insert it as a footer in Excel.
The value of a single cell must be appended to the footer on occasion. That’s useful for a variety of purposes, including revealing the spreadsheet’s essential worth. To add a cell value to the Excel footer, please follow these steps:
- To add a footer to your spreadsheet, go to Insert > Header & Footer. At this stage, you should also decide where your footer will appear.
- Select the footer text and replace it with “&[A1]” now. In this case, we want the content of cell A1 to appear in the footer. Select any cell that suits your needs. Any additional clicks will send the current value to the footer.
Excel allows you to personalize the “Header and Footer” by changing the font, size, style, color, and effect.
- Start by selecting the page setup dialogue box icon from the “Page Layout” Tab.
- To access the “Custom Header” and “Custom Footer,” select the “Header/Footer” option afterward.
- Select the desired “Custom Header” or “Custom Footer” option and make your desired modifications.
- When you click the font icon, a new window will open where you may make adjustments to the “Header & Footer” font size, color, style, and effects.
Here are ways to remove the header and footer in Excel:
- You can get rid of the current “Header & Footer” by selecting the “Normal” symbol under the “View” menu.
- The “Header & Footer” can also be hidden by selecting the “Normal” icon from the toolbar.
Given that few people take advantage of it, let’s go through why you should include a header and footer in your next Excel document.
#1. Quick Information
You have complete control over what details, such as page number, current date, filename, path, etc., are displayed alongside your spreadsheet.
#2. Simple Organization
Headers and footers help you organize your spreadsheet’s complex data, such as formulas, graphs, and pivot tables.
#3. Design Professionals
A report created with this method will be both professional and visually appealing.
You may easily add custom headers and footers by selecting Print Preview, then Margins, then Custom Margins, and finally the Header/Footer Tab (where you’ll find all the convenient Design shortcuts).
To ensure that the document’s title, date, and page numbers appear consistently across all pages, use headers and footers. To add a header or footer, go to Insert > Header or Footer. Choose a template that was pre-loaded. Simply enter the desired header or footer text.
Use the Insert > Header / Footer menu option. To select a header or footer from a library of predefined templates, click the corresponding menu item in the menu bar.
If there is extra, site-related information that you want the user to have access to, put it in the footer. If you think a footer would detract from the site’s core content or contain unimportant details, you shouldn’t include it.
There are two potential roadblocks that may prevent you from reaching your footer. The following are the causes and potential remedies:
- The current view mode is Normal. Your footer can be accessed in the Page Layout view.
- It’s possible that the page margin is off. To change the margins on a page, select Page Setup>Margins.
There are instances when we can’t seem to figure out how to get out of the footer menu. Follow the instructions in the image below if you find yourself in a similar position at the footer.
- To begin, you must first use the ESC key.
- Click the Normal View button in the lower right corner to proceed to Normal View.
Final Thoughts
Spreadsheets can look more polished and professional with the addition of a header or footer. If you need to communicate your data to other members of your team or perhaps your stakeholders, they are a terrific alternative to explore. By the end of this piece, you’ll know how to add a preset or custom header and footer to a spreadsheet to add more information.
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