Putting Footers (and Headers) on Slides

A footer is a line of text that appears at the foot, or bottom, of a slide. Figure shows a footer. Typically, a footer includes the date, a company name, and/or a slide number, and footers appear on every slide in a presentation if they appear at all. That does not mean you cannot exclude a footer from a slide or put footers on some slides, as we explain shortly. For that matter, you can move slide numbers, company names, and dates to the top of slides, in which case they become headers.

These pages explain everything a body needs to know about footers and headers - how to enter them, make them appear on all or some slides, and exclude them from slides.

Some background on footers and headers

PowerPoint provides the Header & Footer command to enter the date, a word or two, and/or a slide number on the bottom of all slides in your presentation. This command is really just a convenient way for you to enter a footer on the Slide Master without having to switch to Slide Master view. The Slide Master includes text placeholder frames for a date, some text, and a slide number. Anything you enter on the Slide Master, including a footer, appears on all your slides.

If a date, some text, and/or a slide number along the bottom of all the slides in your presentation is precisely what you want, you have got it made. You can enter a footer on every slide in your presentation with no trouble at all by using the Header & Footer command. However, if you are a maverick and you want your footers and headers to be a little different from the next guy’s - if you want the date, for example, to be in the upper-right corner of slides or you want footers to appear on some slides but not others - you have some tweaking to do. You may have to create a nonstandard footer or remove the footer from some of the slides.

Putting a standard footer on all your slides

A standard footer includes the date, some text, and/or the page number. To put a standard footer on all the slides in your presentation, click the Insert tab and then click the Header & Footer button. You see the Header and Footer dialog box. Choose some or all of these options to enter a footer:

Date and Time:
Select this check box to make the date appear in the lower-left corner of all your slides. Then tell PowerPoint whether you want a current or fixed date:

BUpdate Automatically:
Select this option button to make the day’s date (or date and time) appear in the footer and then open the dropdown list to choose a date (or date and time) format. With this option, the date you give your presentation always appears on slides.

Fixed:
Select this option button and enter a date in the text box. For example, enter the date you created the presentation. With this option, the date remains the same no matter when or where you give the presentation.

Slide Number:
Select this check box to make slide numbers appear in the lower-right corner of all slides.

Footer:
Select this check box, and in the text box, enter the words that you want to appear in the bottom, middle of all the slides.

Creating a nonstandard footer

As "Some background on footers and headers" explains earlier in this tutorial, you have to look elsewhere than the Header and Footer dialog box if you want to create something besides the standard footer. Suppose you want to move the slide number from the lower-right corner of slides to another position? Or you want to fool with the fonts in headers and footers? Follow these steps to create a nonstandard footer:

• Create a standard footer if you want your nonstandard footer to include today’s date and/or a slide number. If you want to move the slide number into the upper-right corner of slides, for example, create a standard footer first. Later, you can move the slide number text frame into the upper-right corner of slides.
  
  
• On the View tab, click the Slide Master button. You switch to Slide Master view.
  
  
• Select the Slide Master, the first slide in the Slides pane and then adjust and format the footer text boxes to taste.
  For example, move the slide number text frame into the upper-right corner to put slide numbers there. Or change the font in the footer text boxes. Or place a company logo on the Slide Master to make the logo appear on all your slides.
  
  
• Click the Close button to return to Normal view. You can always return to Slide Master view and adjust your footer.

Removing a footer from a single slide

On a crowded slide, the items in the footer - the date, footer text, and page number - can get in the way or be a distraction. Fortunately, removing one or all of the three footer text frames from a slide is easy:

• Switch to Normal view and display the slide with the footer that needs removing.
  
  
• Select the Insert tab and then click the Header & Footer button. The Header and Footer dialog box appears.
  
  
• Deselect check boxes - Date and Time, Slide Number, and Footer - to tell PowerPoint which parts of the footer you want to remove.
  
  
• Click the Apply button. Be careful not to click the Apply to All button. Clicking this button removes footers throughout your slide presentation.

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