Different headers and footers per chapter and a different first page
Double-click the top of the page to open the header. On the Header & Footer tab, check Different First Page to keep the cover clean. For a different header per chapter, insert a section break (Layout › Breaks › Next Page) and turn off Link to Previous in the new section. To show the chapter title automatically, insert the StyleRef field pointing at Heading 1.
It happens with every long document: you want a clean cover page, each chapter's title at the top of its pages and the logo on every page… and Word changes everything at once. You type the chapter 2 title and it shows up in chapter 1 as well. You delete the header on the cover and it vanishes from the whole document. Word isn't broken: a header doesn't belong to a page, it belongs to a section.
Think of sections as train cars. A normal document is a single car: one header, one footer, and whatever you type in one repeats on all of its pages. If you want chapter 2 to have a different header, you need a second car (a section break) and you need to release the coupling that ties it to the previous one (Link to Previous). For the cover page you don't even need that: Word has a checkbox that leaves it blank.
In this guide you learn to control the three pieces (first page, odd and even pages, and sections), to show the chapter title automatically with a field, and to fix the classic “my header doesn't show”.
What you'll learn
- Open and close the header without getting lost, and what's on the Header & Footer tab
- Keep the cover page header-free with Different First Page
- Different headers on odd and even pages, like a book
- A different header per chapter with section breaks and Link to Previous
- Show the chapter title automatically with the StyleRef field
Step by step
Open the header with a double-click or from Insert › Header
The fast way: double-click the top margin of any page (or the bottom margin for the footer). The body text dims, the cursor moves into the header and a new tab appears on the ribbon: Header & Footer (in Word 2016/2019: Header & Footer Tools › Design).
The other way: Insert › Header & Footer › Header. The gallery offers ready-made designs (Blank, Blank (Three Columns)…) and, at the very bottom, Edit Header and Remove Header. For a serious document, start with Blank: less to undo.
While you edit the header, the body of the document is locked, and vice versa. Double-clicking switches between the two.
Check Different First Page to keep the cover page clean
With the header open, go to the Options group on the Header & Footer tab and check Different First Page. The tag on page 1 changes to First Page Header and the header is now empty: the cover shows no logo and no number. Every other page keeps its header.
If you want something different on the cover (rather than nothing), type it there: it's a header of its own, independent from the rest.
The checkbox works per section. If your document has several sections, “first page” means the first page of each section, not just the cover.
Turn on Different Odd & Even Pages if you print double-sided
In books, bound theses and double-sided reports, the left (even) page usually carries the document title and the right (odd) page the chapter title, with page numbers toward the outer edge. Check Different Odd & Even Pages in the same Options group.
Word creates two headers: Even Page Header and Odd Page Header. Type each one on a page of that kind (for example, the even one on page 2 and the odd one on page 3). The same goes for footers.
If you print single-sided or deliver a PDF to be read on screen, leave this box unchecked: it doubles the work for no gain.
Split the document into sections, one per chapter
A different header per chapter requires each chapter to be its own section. Put the cursor right before the chapter 2 heading and go to Layout › Page Setup › Breaks › Next Page (in Word 2016/2019 the tab is called Page Layout). Repeat at the start of every chapter.
Turn on formatting marks (Ctrl+Shift+8) to see the Section Break (Next Page) line. If you already use plain page breaks between chapters, replace them: a page break doesn't create a section. More in Section and page breaks: when to use each.
Turn off Link to Previous and type the chapter's header
Double-click the header on the first page of chapter 2. You'll see two tags: Header -Section 2- on the left and Same as Previous on the right. That second tag is the coupling: while it's there, whatever you type here is copied to section 1.
In the Navigation group, click Link to Previous to turn it off. The Same as Previous tag disappears and you can type “Chapter 2. Literature review” without touching chapter 1. Repeat in every new section.
Headers and footers unlink separately. If you only turn off the link in the header, the footer stays coupled (and vice versa). And with Different First Page or odd and even pages, each header type has its own link.
Show the chapter title automatically with the StyleRef field
There's a better way than typing the title by hand in every section: a field that reads it from the document itself. With the cursor in the header, go to Insert › Quick Parts › Field… (the Quick Parts button is also on the Header & Footer tab). Under Categories choose Links and References; under Field names, StyleRef; under Style name, Heading 1. Click OK.
On each page Word shows the most recent Heading 1 that has appeared up to that page. When the chapter changes, the header changes by itself; rename a chapter and the header follows. Best of all: with StyleRef you don't need section breaks or any unlinking, as long as your chapters use real heading styles.
Add a second StyleRef field pointing at Heading 2 and you get “Chapter 2 › 2.3 Method” in the header, like a technical book. For lawyers: with the clauses in Heading 1, the header tells the reader which article of the contract they're in.
Add the logo and legal information in the footer or header
With the footer open, use the Insert group on the Header & Footer tab: Pictures for the logo, and Date & Time or Document Info (author, file name, title) for data that updates itself. Keep the logo around half an inch (1–1.5 cm) tall: that's plenty for a footer.
For the company name, registration number, address or a confidentiality notice, type the text in the footer in a small font (8–9 pt) and keep the Footer style. If you want the logo on the left and the details on the right, pick the Blank (Three Columns) design from the gallery, or press Tab: the Footer style already has center and right tab stops.
Move between sections and close the header
With many sections, don't go page by page. In the Navigation group: Go to Header and Go to Footer switch between the two on the same page; Previous and Next jump to the previous or next section's header (and, with odd/even or first-page headers, to the next header type). You can check in a minute what each section contains and what's still linked.
To get back to the text: Close Header and Footer (the button with the red X, in the Close group), the Esc key, or a double-click in the document body.
If the header doesn't show: white space, view and margins
Three causes cover almost every case. 1) White space is hidden: if pages look glued together with no margin, hover over the line between them and double-click; the margin (and the header) comes back. 2) You're not in Print Layout: Draft and Web Layout views don't show headers; switch with View › Views › Print Layout. 3) You're on a first page with Different First Page turned on and that header is empty.
If it shows on screen but the printer cuts it off, the header sits too close to the edge: in the Position group raise Header from Top to 0.5" (1.25 cm) or more, or open Layout › Margins › Custom Margins… › Layout tab, where you'll find From edge and the same first-page and odd/even checkboxes.
Expert tips
- Let AI draft; you build the headers. ChatGPT or Copilot can write the chapters; what they can't do is create sections or unlink headers. Paste the text, apply Heading 1 to every chapter and let StyleRef do the rest.
- “Page X of Y” numbering: in the footer, Page Number › Current Position inserts the PAGE field (or press Alt+Shift+P); for the total, insert the NumPages field from Quick Parts › Field. To start numbering on page 3 or use Roman numerals, follow Page numbers: start on page 3.
- Unlink before you delete. If you delete the header in section 2 while it's still linked, it's deleted in section 1 too (and in every coupled section). First turn off Link to Previous; then delete or type.
- See the fields at a glance: Alt+F9 shows the field codes (for example
{ STYLEREF "Heading 1" }) across the whole document; press it again to hide them. F9 updates the selected field if it ever lags behind. - For contracts: file name and date in the footer. Insert Document Info › File Name and the SaveDate field: every printed copy says which file and which date it came from. More in Automatic fields: date, file name and properties.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
You type the chapter 2 header and chapter 1 changes too.
Section 2 is still linked to the previous one. Open the section 2 header, turn off Link to Previous (Navigation group) and type it again. Press Ctrl+Z if chapter 1 already changed.
You remove the header from the cover and it disappears from the whole document.
Don't delete the text: check Different First Page. Word creates an empty header for the first page only and leaves the rest untouched.
The StyleRef field shows an error or the wrong title.
If the field shows an error message saying there is no text of the specified style, no paragraph uses Heading 1 before that page. Apply the real heading style to your chapters (not manual bold) and the field fixes itself.
You turn on Different Odd & Even Pages and half the pages lose their header.
That's expected: you just created a second, empty header. Go to an even (or odd) page and type it. If you don't print double-sided, uncheck the box.
In Word for Mac go to Insert › Header (or Footer), or double-click the margin. The contextual tab is also called Header & Footer, with Different First Page, Different Odd & Even Pages and Link to Previous. The StyleRef field is inserted from the Insert menu › Field…, and the from-edge distance lives in Format › Document › Layout.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need section breaks if I use StyleRef?
Not if the only thing that changes between chapters is the title. StyleRef reads it from the text itself, page by page. You need sections when the header's structure changes (a logo in one part and not in another), when the page orientation changes, or when the numbering changes (Roman numerals in the front matter, for example).
How do I remove the header from just one page in the middle?
Isolate that page with two section breaks (one before, one after), unlink the header in that section and in the one after it, and delete the content in the isolated section. If it's the first page of a chapter, Different First Page in that section is enough.
Can I have the page number in the footer and the title in the header?
Yes, they're independent. That's the usual setup for theses and reports: chapter title (StyleRef) at the top and page number at the bottom. Remember that Link to Previous is turned off separately for each.
Why does the header look gray?
While you edit the body of the document, Word dims headers and footers to show they aren't edited there; when printing or exporting to PDF they come out in their real color. If they really print gray, check the font color of the Header style.
How do I reuse the same headers in another document?
Save them in a template: with the document set up (sections, fields and logo), go to File › Save As and choose Word Template (.dotx). Every new document based on it inherits headers, footers and styles. We cover it in Create a corporate template (.dotx).
Official sources
Microsoft documentation consulted for this guide.
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