LibreOffice 4.0 Writer Guide - The Document Foundation Wiki

Depending on which option you choose, an area will appear at the top or bottom of the page. In
this area you can enter text and graphics that will appear on every page unless Same content on
first page has been deselected..
Figure 141: A page with a page header
Items such as document titles, chapter titles, and page numbers, which often go into headers and
footers, are best added as fields. That way, if something changes, the headers and footers are all
updated automatically.
Fields are covered in Chapter 14, Working with Fields, but one example here may be useful. To
insert the document title into the header on a Default page style:
1) Select File > Properties > Description, enter a title for your document in the Title area,
and click OK to close the dialog.
2) Add a header (Insert > Header > Default).
3) Place the cursor in the header part of the page.
4) Select Insert > Fields > Title. The title should appear on a gray background (which does
not show when printed and can be turned off).
5) To change the title of the document, reselect File > Properties > Description and edit.
Formatting headers and footers
In Writer headers and footers are considered paragraphs and therefore you can format the header
or footer text using the same techniques you use for formatting text in the main body of the
document.
Tip
You can define styles for headers and footers so that you can quickly obtain a
consistent formatting in case you use several page styles. Writer includes three
named header and footer styles: header/footer, left header/footer styles, and right
header/footer styles. All six are identical and are available for the user to modify.
You can format the layout of headers and footers using two different methods. The first method is
to use the Header or Footer markers that appear within headers and footers.
For example, to use the Header marker:
1) Click the top of the page. The blue Header marker will appear.
2) Click the plus sign in the Header marker. The plus sign will change to a down arrow.
3) Click the down arrow.
4) Select Format Header. This opens the Page Style dialog where you can change the
margins, spacing, and height.
5) Click More to open the Border/Background dialog where you can add borders, background
colors, and background images to the header.
You can also format headers and footers by modifying the page style at Format > Page > Header.
136 LibreOffice 4.0 Writer Guide