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: Adding Ampersands in Headers and Footers.

Adding Ampersands in Headers and Footers

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 20, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


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The ampersand character (&) is commonly used in company names (such as Burns & Foster, Inc.) or in standard business phrases (such as Mergers & Acquisitions). If you are creating a report in Excel, you may notice that the ampersand characters don't show up properly if you add them to headers or footers for your worksheet.

The reason ampersands don't show up is because the character is used as a "marker" that indicates a special formatting code is to follow. If you want to actually use an ampersand, then you need to double it—use two ampersands, such as "Burns && Foster, Inc." Even though you enter two ampersands in the header or footer, Excel only displays one ampersand in the resulting header or footer.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2988) 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: Adding Ampersands in Headers and Footers.

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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What is 9 + 6?

2022-01-30 21:18:29

Satheesh

Thanks.


2017-06-16 08:50:53

Dennis

How very strange however thank you


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