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: Copying Headers and Footers.

Copying Headers and Footers

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 27, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

If you have developed two documents that are closely related (perhaps they are even different versions of the same information), you may want to copy headers or footers from one document to the other. This is easy to do using standard editing techniques:

Select the first document.
Choose the Header and Footer option from the View menu. This displays the Header and Footer dialog box.
Use the controls in the dialog box to display the header or footer you want to copy.
Select all the elements (text and graphics) in the header or footer.
Press Ctrl+C. This copies the header or footer information to the Clipboard.
Select the second document.
Choose the Header and Footer option from the View menu. This displays the Header and Footer dialog box.
Use the controls in the dialog box to display the header or footer where you want to paste your header or footer you copied in step 5.
Position the insertion point in the header or footer, then press Ctrl+V. The information in the Clipboard will be inserted in the header or footer.
Close the Header and Footer for each of your documents.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1096) 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: Copying Headers and 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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Inserting the Total Number of Pages in Your Document

Word keeps track of many statistics for each of your documents. One statistic is the total number of pages in the printed ...

Discover More

Putting Style Names Next to Paragraphs on a Printout

If you use styles to format your document, you might want a way to print the document and show, to the left of each ...

Discover More

Errors when Copying References to External Cells

If you copy a cell that contains a reference to external data, do you get an error? It could be due to the complexity of ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!

More WordTips (menu)

Deleting a Header or Footer

When working with existing documents, you may need to delete a header or footer previously created. Here's how you can do ...

Discover More

Quickly Formatting Footers in Documents with Many Sections

Need to adjust all the footers or headers in a document that uses lots of them? It's easy to do if you understand how the ...

Discover More

Putting Document Names in Headers or Footers

Want to include the file name of a document on the printed copy without rearranging the layout? You can use a header or ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is five more than 8?

2024-01-17 07:48:15

Nabz

Thanks Allen!!

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.