How to Have a Different Footer on Each Page in MS Word

The footer is the part of a document found at the bottom margin of each page. It usually contains information like the page number that appears throughout your document. Footers can also help keep documents organized and look more professional. 

Corporate and academic standards typically call for more than just one footer in a document. 

The cover page, the appendices, and other pages in different orientations can all have different footers. 

MS Word offers more than one way to add different footers on each page. 

2 Ways to Have a Different Footer on Each Page in MS Word

  • Using preset footer options
  • By inserting section breaks


Method 1: Using the Preset Footer Options

Step 1: Open up a Word file. 

Step 2: Access the footer section. 

Once our document is opened, go to the Insert tab and click the footer drop-down menu. Then, select the Edit footer option found at the bottom of the menu. 

Alternatively, you can double-click the bottom margin of your document to access the footer section. 

Step 3: Access the footer design tools. 

Now that the footer section is enabled, you’ll be directed to the Header & Footer Design tab. You’ll see two unticked checkboxes from the Options group: Different First Page and Odd & Even Pages checkboxes. 

If you want the first page to have a different footer from the rest of your document, tick the Different First Page checkbox. 

On the other hand, tick the checkbox next to Odd & Even Pages if you want the odd-numbered pages to have a different footer from the even-numbered pages. 

Step 4: Add your content into your footer. 

You can now start adding your text or object in the footer section. Once finished, simply double-click outside the footer section to go back to the main text.

You can also press the Close Header and Footer button.


Method 2: By Inserting Section Breaks

Section breaks mark the point at which a part of your document ends and another one starts. They help organize the different parts of your document to easily configure different footers for each page. 

Here’s how you can create section breaks in your document. 

Step 1: Open up an MS Word file. 

Step 2: Create section breaks. 

Once our document is ready, click at the start of the page that you want in a different footer. Then, move your cursor to the upper left part of your window and click the Layout tab. After that, click the Breaks drop-down menu. Finally, select the Next Page option in the selection. 

For this example, we want the second paragraph with a different footer. So, we’ll insert section breaks before and after this paragraph. We’ll place our cursor right at the start of the second paragraph and insert the section break. 

Now, place your cursor at the end of the section and repeat the process. You’ll notice that MS Word moved the section to a separate page. 

Step 3: Access the footer section. 

Now that our section is set up, go to the Insert tab and click the Footer drop-down menu. Then, select Edit Footer from the list of options.

Alternatively, you can simply double-click the bottom margin of the page to access the footer section. 

Step 4: Unlink the section footer. 

To make this successfully work, we’ll need to break the connection between the footer in the current section and the previous one. So, with your cursor still inside the footer section, click on the Link to Previous button found on the Header & Footer Design tab. 

You can now insert your content in the footer section. Take note that you’ll have to repeat the same process for each page that you want to have a different footer. 

To go back to the main text, simply double-click outside the footer or click on the Close Header and Footer button. 

There you have it! You’ve just inserted section breaks to have a different footer on each page in MS Word. 


Conclusion

We hope you’ve found this article helpful! 

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