Headers vs. Footers
Headers and footers are separate repeated-content regions in a paginated document. Word lets them contain text, page numbers or images and lets first pages or sections vary, while the choice of what appears at the top or bottom is controlled by the template or house style.
Use the header area for repeated content at the top of pages and the footer area for repeated content at the bottom. Which information belongs in each is a document or template decision, not a grammar rule.
Key details
Important caveats
Style Boundary
Content choice, alignment and whether a header or footer appears are template/house-style decisions; the cited controls are Word-specific.
Further guidance
Difference
A header is the repeated top-of-page region; a footer is the repeated bottom-of-page region. Both can contain document metadata or page numbers.
Section Behavior
In Word, headers and footers can be changed by section and can be treated differently on the first page.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Edit your existing headers and footers in Word (opens in a new tab)Microsoft Support · Header/footer editing, first-page differences and page-number placement in Word