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: Putting Document Names in Headers or Footers.

Putting Document Names in Headers or Footers

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 17, 2024)

When you print your document, it is often a good idea to include the document name in the header or footer. This allows you, at a later date, to recall the name of the file in which the document is stored. To include document names in the header or footer, follow these steps:

Choose Header and Footer from the View menu. You will see the Header and Footer dialog box.
Select either the header or footer, depending on where you want the document name to be, by clicking on the Switch button.
Position the insertion point where you want to include the filename.
Choose Field from the Insert menu. Word displays the Field dialog box.
From the Categories list select the Document Information category. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Field dialog box.

From the Field Name list, select FileName.
Click on OK. The filename of the current document will be inserted at the insertion point; it will automatically change if you save the document under another name.
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 (1080) 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: Putting Document Names in Headers or Footers.

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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