In a typical Google Docs document, the header and footer automatically appear on all pages. Ideally, that’s rarely an issue. What if you want to use separate headers and footers for each page or group of pages in Google Docs? That requires some tweaking.
Sometimes, even the simplest of adjustments can cause us to lose sleep at night. If you try to find an option in the Document settings to have separate titles, you will be disappointed. That’s because there isn’t a dedicated switch to achieve it.
You will have to resort to the help of header and footer customizations in Google Docs. Check out what you need to do. But before diving into the steps, it’s important to understand paragraph breaks. We also covered how to create separate headers and footers for the first page at the bottom.
What is a break in Google Docs?
When you create a document in Docs, all pages use the same formatting like headers, footers, footnotes, page numbers, margins, etc. Now, if you want to divide your document into parts, what will you do? For example, if you are writing a book with many chapters and you want each chapter to have the chapter name in its title. Basically, you want to use a different header for some set of pages.
That’s where the section break appears in the picture. It helps to divide your document into sections. Each section acts as an independent document in terms of its format. You can change margins, footers, numbering, etc.
So to insert different header and footer for different pages in Docs we will have to add a paragraph break before the header or footer that you want to change as shown below.
To do that, you will have to add a section break first and then cut the link between consecutive sections by unchecking the ‘Link to previous section’ option. You will have to unlink the header and footer separately.
Here are the steps:
Step 1: Open the Google Docs document that you want to customize the header and footer.
Step 2: Go to the page where you want a different header or footer. Now place the cursor at the end of the last sentence of the previous page. Yes, the previous page, not the current page.
Step 3: Click Insert in the top menu and select Breaks, then Section Breaks (next page).
Step 4: As soon as you click on it, your cursor will automatically move to the next page and a section break will be added. Now click on the header of the current page where your cursor has jumped. Uncheck Link to previous section.
Step 5: Add your header content. Press Esc to close the title.
Step 6: Scroll down on the same page and click on the footer area. Uncheck Link to previous section here. As mentioned earlier, header and footer work independently in sections. Then add your footer content.
You will see the header and footer different from the above pages. But pages below the current page still have the same header and footer. That’s because they are all part of the current section.
You will have to repeat the steps above for all pages if you want each page to have a different header or footer. Usually one wants to have different headers or footers for different chapters. Since each chapter has many pages, you will have to do this after a series of pages.
In short, you don’t need to place the cursor on the page where you want a different header or footer, but on the page before it. And that too after the last word.
How to view and remove breaks
To see all section breaks in your document, go to the View menu and select Show section breaks. A blue dotted line indicates it. To hide section breaks, uncheck Show section breaks.
To remove a section break, place the cursor at the end of the last word of a sentence before the section break. Then press the Delete key on your keyboard.
The first page usually contains the Table of Contents page. If you don’t want a header or footer on that page, or want a separate header/footer, a dedicated option is available.
To do so, click the header or footer that you want to change on the first page of the document. Check the box next to Different First Page. Enter your header and footer for the first page. In case you don’t want a header or footer for it, remove the existing text.
You don’t have to enter page numbers manually in Google Docs. A native feature also exists for that.
To add page numbers, go to Insert > Headers and Page Numbers > Page Numbers. Then choose whether you want to add numbers to the header or footer. You can also start numbering from the second page by selecting the second option.
To delete, click the header or footer that you want to delete. Then click Format in the top menu and select Header & Footer. Select Remove Header or Remove Footer depending on the area you clicked on.
No breaks, please!
The method mentioned above is the best way to create separate headers and footers in Google Docs. However, I don’t deny the fact that it would be tedious if you had to do it for every page. We hope Google introduces a direct way to achieve that like they did in the case of separate titles for the first page.
Next up: Are you messing with Google Docs settings while tinkering with it? Do not worry. See our guide to learn how to reset settings on Google Docs.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
