Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Putting Headers and Footers on Multiple Worksheets.

Putting Headers and Footers On Multiple Worksheets

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 3, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

One of the typical last touches to a worksheet before printing is to place headers or footers. This is very easy to do if you have only a worksheet or two in which to place the headers and footers. What if you have quite a few worksheets in the same workbook, and you want them all to have the same header and footer.

Actually this isn't too hard to do, either. All you need to do is work with a group of worksheets as a single unit. Just follow these general steps:

  1. Decide which worksheets you want to have the same headers or footers.
  2. Select the first worksheet in the series (click the tab for that worksheet).
  3. Hold down the Shift key as you click on the tab for the last worksheet in the series. A range of worksheets should now be selected. Excel also adds the word [Group] to the title bar to indicate you have a group of worksheets selected.
  4. Set your header or footer as you normally would (as outlined in other issues of ExcelTips). Your changes are automatically made on all the sheet in the selected range.
  5. When done, select a single worksheet by clicking on its tab. (Click on the tab of a worksheet other than the first in the range.)

That's it; you've now set the headers or footers of all the sheets to be identical.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2600) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Putting Headers and Footers on Multiple Worksheets.

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. ...

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