Headers and Footers in Word Documents

• Sep 19, 2023
• 3 minutes to read

Headers and footers belong to document sections. If a section does not have header or footer, the previous section’s header and footer (if any) are used. When you create a new section, it is automatically linked to the previous section and the content from the first section header is automatically inserted in the second section header.

Create Headers and Footers

You can use the Section.BeginUpdateHeader and Section.BeginUpdateFooter methods to access the section’s header or footer. Pass one of the HeaderFooterType enumeration values as a type parameter to define the header or footer’s type. Use the following API to access headers and footers in code:

API	Description
Section.BeginUpdateHeader Section.BeginUpdateFooter	Accesses the document’s header or footer.
Section.HasHeader Section.HasFooter	Checks whether the given section contains a header or footer.
Section.EndUpdateHeader Section.EndUpdateFooter	Finalizes the header or footer update.

The code sample below creates an empty document header:

View Example

HeaderAndFooterActions.cs

using (RichEditDocumentServer wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer())
Document document = wordProcessor.Document;
    Section firstSection = document.Sections[0];

    // Check whether the document already has a header (the same header for all pages).
    if (!firstSection.HasHeader(HeaderFooterType.Primary))
    {
        //If not, create an empty header.
        SubDocument headerDocument = firstSection.BeginUpdateHeader();
        headerDocument.Paragraphs.Append();
        firstSection.EndUpdateHeader(headerDocument);
    }
}

HeaderAndFooterActions.vb

Using wordProcessor As New RichEditDocumentServer()
Dim document As Document = wordProcessor.Document
    Dim firstSection As Section = document.Sections(0)

    ' Check whether the document already has a header (the same header for all pages).
    If Not firstSection.HasHeader(HeaderFooterType.Primary) Then
        'If not, create an empty header.
        Dim headerDocument As SubDocument = firstSection.BeginUpdateHeader()
        headerDocument.Paragraphs.Append()
        firstSection.EndUpdateHeader(headerDocument)
    End If
End Using

Modify Headers and Footers

Headers’ and footers’ content are in a separate SubDocument. Call the Section.BeginUpdateHeader or Section.BeginUpdateFooter method to access the header’s or footer’s content. Headers and footers can contain inline images, floating objects (text boxes or images) and tables. You cannot add comments to headers’ or footers’ text.

Note

The header or footer fields belong to a separate FieldCollection. Retrieve the header’s or footer’s SubDocument and call the FieldCollection.Update method to update these fields.

View Example

HeaderAndFooterActions.cs

Document document = server.Document;
document.AppendSection();
Section firstSection = document.Sections[0];
// Modify the header of the HeaderFooterType.First type.
SubDocument myHeader = firstSection.BeginUpdateHeader(HeaderFooterType.First);
DocumentRange range = myHeader.InsertText(myHeader.CreatePosition(0), " PAGE NUMBER ");
Field fld = myHeader.Fields.Create(range.End, "PAGE \\* ARABICDASH");
myHeader.Fields.Update();
firstSection.EndUpdateHeader(myHeader);
// Display the header of the HeaderFooterType.First type on the first page.
firstSection.DifferentFirstPage = true;

HeaderAndFooterActions.vb

Dim document As Document = server.Document
document.AppendSection()
Dim firstSection As Section = document.Sections(0)
' Modify the header of the HeaderFooterType.First type.
Dim myHeader As SubDocument = firstSection.BeginUpdateHeader(HeaderFooterType.First)
Dim range As DocumentRange = myHeader.InsertText(myHeader.CreatePosition(0), " PAGE NUMBER ")
Dim fld As Field = myHeader.Fields.Create(range.End, "PAGE \* ARABICDASH")
myHeader.Fields.Update()
firstSection.EndUpdateHeader(myHeader)
' Display the header of the HeaderFooterType.First type on the first page.
firstSection.DifferentFirstPage = True

Use the following API to change header/footer options in code:

API	Description
Section.DifferentFirstPage	Defines whether to display a different header/footer (if any) for the section’s first page.
Document.DifferentOddAndEvenPages	Specifies whether the even-numbered pages should have a different header or footer than odd-numbered pages.
Section.LinkHeaderToNext Section.LinkFooterToNext	Links the current section’s header or footer to the next section’s header or footer.
Section.LinkHeaderToPrevious Section.LinkFooterToPrevious	Links the current section’s header or footer to the previous section’s header or footer.
Section.IsHeaderLinkedToNext Section.IsFooterLinkedToNext	Checks whether the current section’s header or footer is linked to the next section’s header or footer.
Section.IsHeaderLinkedToPrevious Section.IsFooterLinkedToPrevious	Checks whether the current section’s header or footer is linked to the previous section’s header or footer.
Section.UnlinkHeaderFromNext Section.UnlinkFooterFromNext	Unlinks the current section’s header or footer from the next section’s header or footer.
Section.UnlinkHeaderFromPrevious Section.UnlinkFooterFromPrevious	Unlinks the current section’s header or footer from the next section’s header or footer.