Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Deleting a Header or Footer.

Deleting a Header or Footer

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 7, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

If you want to delete the headers or footers defined in your document, follow these steps:

Position the insertion point in the section that has the header you want to delete.
If you are using Normal or Outline view, choose Header and Footer from the View menu. In Print Layout view, you can simply double-click on the Header or Footer you want to delete. You will see the Header and Footer dialog box, and the header area of the page.
If you want to delete the footer, click on the Switch icon in the Header and Footer dialog box.
Select the contents of the header or footer.
Press the Del key, or press Ctrl+X.
Click on Close.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (259) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Deleting a Header or Footer.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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