How to Insert Headers and Footers on Specific Pages in Microsoft Word (PC & Mac)

This tutorial shows how to insert headers and footers on specific pages in Microsoft Word. For example, you may want to have a different header and footer for each chapter in your document.

The bonus section at the end shows how to remove the header and footer from the first page of the document or the first page of the section.

If you need a refresher on inserting, editing, and deleting headers and footers, please see my previous tutorial “How to Insert Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word.”

Table of Contents:

• How to Insert Headers and Footers on Specific Pages
• How to Remove the Header and Footer from the First Page of the Document or Section

This tutorial is available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.

Watch more than 250 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365. These steps also apply to Word 2021, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, and Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac (a.k.a., Word for Mac).

How to Insert Headers and Footers on Specific Pages

The following steps will insert headers and footers on specific pages in Microsoft Word documents with or without existing headers and footers.

1. Select the Home tab in the ribbon.

1. Select the Show/Hide button to show your formatting marks.

1. Select the Layout tab in the ribbon.

1. Place your cursor at the beginning of the page where you want the header or footer to start.

1. Select the Breaks button in the Page Setup group.

1. Select the Next Page section break from the drop-down menu.

The section break should appear at the bottom of the previous page.

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1. Double-click in the header or footer area of the page where you want new headers or footers to start.

Double-clicking opens the Header & Footer tab, which only appears when the headers or footers are selected.

1. Deselect the Link to Previous button to disconnect the headers or footers in the section you just created from the previous section. When this button is deselected, its background color changes from dark gray to a light gray matching the rest of the ribbon.

Important Notes about the Link to Previous Button

Deselecting the Link to Previous button only disconnects the headers or footers—it doesn’t disconnect the headers and footers.

The Link to Previous button will also disconnect any page numbers in the headers or footers. Please see “How to Start Page Numbers on a Specific Page in Microsoft Word (PC & Mac)” for more information.

Skip to Step 11 if you have existing headers or footers.

1. Select the Header or Footer button in the Header & Footer group.

1. Select a style from the drop-down menu.

1. Enter your information into the header or footer placeholders or replace existing text.

1. Select the Close Header and Footer button.

The headers or footers you just created should now be different than the headers or footers in the previous section.

1. Repeat steps 3 through 12 until you have created new headers or footers in each of your sections, as necessary.
2. Reselect the Show/Hide button in the Home tab to hide your formatting marks (see figure 2).

How to Remove the Header and Footer from the First Page of the Document or Section

You may want to remove the header and footer from the first page of your document if it is a cover page or the first page of the section if it is a title page.

Important Note: Removing the header and footer will also remove the existing page number from the first page of the document or section.

1. Place your cursor in the first page of the document or the first page of the section.
2. Double-click inside the header or footer area to open the Header & Footer tab (see figure 8).
3. Select Different First Page in the Options group.

The header and footer should be removed from the first page of the document or section.

1. Select the Close Header and Footer button (see figure 13).

Related Resources

Updated June 30, 2024