Headers and Footers

OfficeIMO provides full support for document headers and footers, including different content for the first page, odd/even pages, and section-specific headers and footers. Page numbers can be inserted in various formats.

Enabling Headers and Footers

Before adding content to headers or footers, you must enable them on the document:

using OfficeIMO.Word;

using var document = WordDocument.Create("headers.docx");

// Enable headers and footers for the current section
document.AddHeadersAndFooters();

Adding Header Content

Each section has three header slots: Default , First , and Even .

document.AddHeadersAndFooters();

// Default header (appears on all pages unless overridden)
document.Header.Default.AddParagraph("Company Name - Confidential");

// First page header (different from the rest)
document.DifferentFirstPage = true;
document.Header.First.AddParagraph("COVER PAGE HEADER");

// Even page header (for double-sided printing)
document.DifferentOddAndEvenPages = true;
document.Header.Even.AddParagraph("Even Page Header");

Adding Footer Content

Footers work identically to headers:

document.Footer.Default.AddParagraph("Copyright 2025 - All Rights Reserved");

document.Footer.First.AddParagraph("Draft Document");

Page Numbers

Add page numbers to headers or footers using AddPageNumber :

document.AddHeadersAndFooters();

// Add page number to the default footer
document.Footer.Default.AddPageNumber(WordPageNumberStyle.Normal);

Available WordPageNumberStyle values:

Centering Page Numbers

var footerParagraph = document.Footer.Default.AddParagraph();
footerParagraph.ParagraphAlignment = JustificationValues.Center;
document.Footer.Default.AddPageNumber(WordPageNumberStyle.Normal);

Different First Page

Set DifferentFirstPage to use separate header/footer content on the first page of a section:

using var document = WordDocument.Create("first-page.docx");
document.AddHeadersAndFooters();
document.DifferentFirstPage = true;

// First page gets a special header
document.Header.First.AddParagraph("TITLE PAGE");

// All other pages get the default header
document.Header.Default.AddParagraph("Chapter 1 - Introduction");

document.AddParagraph("Title page content...");
document.AddPageBreak();
document.AddParagraph("Second page content...");

document.Save();

Different Odd and Even Pages

For double-sided printing, enable different odd/even page headers:

document.DifferentOddAndEvenPages = true;

document.Header.Default.AddParagraph("Odd Page Header");   // Appears on odd pages
document.Header.Even.AddParagraph("Even Page Header");

Section-Specific Headers and Footers

Each section can have independent headers and footers. Add a new section and configure its headers separately:

using var document = WordDocument.Create("sections.docx");

// Section 1
document.AddHeadersAndFooters();
document.Header.Default.AddParagraph("Chapter 1");
document.AddParagraph("Chapter 1 content...");

// Section 2 with different header
var section2 = document.AddSection();
document.AddHeadersAndFooters();
document.Header.Default.AddParagraph("Chapter 2");
document.AddParagraph("Chapter 2 content...");

document.Save();

Adding Images to Headers

document.AddHeadersAndFooters();

// Add a logo to the default header using VML
document.Sections[0].Header.Default.AddImageVml("logo.png", width: 120, height: 40);

Removing Headers

Remove all headers from the document:

WordHeader.RemoveHeaders(document._wordprocessingDocument);

Or remove specific header types:

WordHeader.RemoveHeaders(
    document._wordprocessingDocument,
    HeaderFooterValues.Default,
    HeaderFooterValues.First
);

Header and Footer Paragraphs

Headers and footers support the full paragraph API -- you can add formatted text, hyperlinks, fields, and tab stops:

document.AddHeadersAndFooters();

var headerParagraph = document.Header.Default.AddParagraph();
headerParagraph.Text = "Document Title";
headerParagraph.Bold = true;
headerParagraph.FontSize = 10;
headerParagraph.ParagraphAlignment = JustificationValues.Center;

var footerParagraph = document.Footer.Default.AddParagraph();
footerParagraph.Text = "Printed: " + DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd");
footerParagraph.FontSize = 8;
footerParagraph.Color = SixLabors.ImageSharp.Color.Gray;