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How to remove all headers and footers in Word?

Author Sun Last modified

Normally, you can remove headers and footers from a Word document by double-clicking the header or footer and deleting its content. However, this method becomes tedious if your document contains multiple sections with different headers and footers.

In this guide, we'll walk through multiple ways to efficiently remove headers and footers depending on your needs.

Remove the header and footer from the first page in the active document

If you only want to remove the header and footer from the first page, follow these steps:

  1. Open your Word document, go to the first page, and double-click the header area to enter editing mode.
  2. Under the "Header & Footer" tab, check "Different First Page".
    Different First Page option on the ribbon
  3. Click "Close Header and Footer". The header on the first page will be removed.
    Document with header
    Arrow
    Document with header removed
Tip: To remove the footer from the first page, repeat the same steps above, but double-click the footer area instead.

Remove all headers and footers in the active document

If your document uses the same header and footer throughout, follow these steps to remove them quickly:

  1. Double-click any header in the document to enter editing mode and select its content.
    The header is selected
  2. Press the "Delete" key on your keyboard and click "Close Header and Footer". All headers will be removed.
    Close Header and Footer button on the ribbon
Tip: To remove all footers, follow the same steps using any footer section.

Remove all various headers and footers in the active document with VBA code

If your document is divided into sections with different headers and footers, manually deleting each one is inefficient. Instead, use VBA to remove them all at once:

  1. Open your document and press "Alt + F11" to open the "Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications" editor.
  2. Click "Insert" > "Module" and paste the following code: 
    Sub RemoveHeadAndFoot()
'Update by ExtendOffice
    Dim oSec As Section
    Dim oHead As HeaderFooter
    Dim oFoot As HeaderFooter
    For Each oSec In ActiveDocument.Sections
        For Each oHead In oSec.Headers
            If oHead.Exists Then oHead.Range.Delete
        Next oHead
        For Each oFoot In oSec.Footers
            If oFoot.Exists Then oFoot.Range.Delete
        Next oFoot
    Next oSec
    Selection.WholeStory
    ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekCurrentPageHeader
    Selection.ParagraphFormat.Borders(wdBorderBottom).LineStyle = wdLineStyleNone
    ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekMainDocument
End Sub
  3. Press "F5" to run the macro. This will remove all headers and footers.
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Remove all various headers, footers, and watermarks in the active document with Inspect Document feature

If you prefer not to use VBA, the "Inspect Document" feature offers a safe way to remove headers, footers, and watermarks:

  1. Go to "File" > "Info" > "Check for Issues" > "Inspect Document".
    File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document
  2. In the dialog box, check "Headers, Footers, and Watermarks" only.
    Header, Footers, and Watermarks option in the Document Inspector dialog
  3. Click "Inspect", then click "Remove All".
    Remove All button in the Document Inspector dialog
  4. Click "Close" to finish. All related elements will be removed.

Note: If there are watermarks in the document, they will be removed as well.

Remove all header lines in the active document with an amazing feature

Removing horizontal lines under headers manually is tedious. With Kutools for Word's "Remove All Header Lines" feature, you can do it in one click, saving time and effort.

Kutools for Word, equipped with AI 🤖, offers over 100 handy features to simplify your tasks.

Once Kutools for Word is installed, follow these steps:

  1. Click "Kutools" > "Remove" > "Remove All Header Lines in Selected Range".
    Remove All Header Lines in Selected Range option on the Kutools tab on the ribbon
  2. In the confirmation prompt, click "Yes".
    Prompt box asking confirmation to clear header lines

All horizontal header lines will be removed.

Before removing horizontal header lines
Arrow
After removing horizontal header lines
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More related headers and footers articles:

  • Add Chapter Title To Header Or Footer In Word Document
  • Normally, you can insert the header or footer with document path, name quickly and easily in a Word file. But, have you ever tried to insert the chapter title to header or footer, so that, the content of the header or footer is depended on what chapter the page is in. This article, I will talk about how to solve this job in Word document.
  • Print Word Document Without Header And Footer
  • If there are header and footer in your Word document, when printing this document, the header and footer will be printed as well by default. But, sometimes, you needn’t the header and footer to be printed. In this case, the method in this article may help you.
  • Copy Page With Header And Footer In Word
  • In general, you can copy a page from one Word document to another easily. However, the page header and footer won’t be copied with page content simultaneously. Comparing to copying the page header and footer manually, this article will introduce a tricky way to copy page with header and footer in Word.

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