XL: Inserting and Formatting Text in Headers and Footers

Last reviewed: March 13, 1998
Article ID: Q142136
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 5.0, 5.0c
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows NT, version 5.0
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
  • Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
  • Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
  • Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, you may want to use a header or footer in a worksheet. The "More Information" section of this article discusses the formatting codes that you can use to automatically insert and format text in a header or footer, and it also contains a sample Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro (Sub procedure) that you can used to add and format text in the header and footer of a worksheet.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/default.asp

Formatting Codes for Headers and Footers

To use multiple lines in a header, use either of the following:

  • Use CHR(10) to insert a linefeed character
  • Use CHR(13) to insert a return character

Note that you cannot record these characters in a macro.

The following tables contain the format codes that you can use in headers and footers.

   Codes to format text:
   -------------   -------------------------------------------

   &L              Left-aligns the characters that follow
   &C              Centers the characters that follow
   &R              Right-aligns the characters that follow
   &E              Turns double-underline printing on or off
   &X              Turns superscript printing on or off
   &Y              Turns subscript printing on or off
   &B              Turns bold printing on or off.
   &I              Turns italic printing on or off.
   &U              Turns underline printing on or off.
   &S              Turns strikethrough printing on or off.
   &O              Turns outline printing on or off (Macintosh only).
   &H              Turns shadow printing on or off (Macintosh only).
   &"fontname"     Prints the characters that follow in the specified
                   font.
                   Be sure to include the quotation marks around the
                   font name.
   &nn             Prints the characters that follow in the specified
                   font size. Use a two-digit number to specify a size
                   in points.

Codes to insert specific data:

   Use this code  To do this
   --------------------------------------------------------

   &D           Prints the current date.
   &T           Prints the current time.
   &F           Prints the name of the document.
   &A           Prints the name of the workbook tab (the "sheet name").
   &P           Prints the page number.
   &P+number    Prints the page number plus number.
   &P-number    Prints the page number minus number.
   &&           Prints a single ampersand.
   &N           Prints the total number of pages in the document.

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

Note that the following code samples assume that the list has a header row starting in cell A1 and data starting in A2. Note also that the "~" indicates a step to be performed on each line of the loop, or at a specified time.

Use the following steps to create a sample macro that uses some of the formatting codes:

  1. Open a new workbook.

  2. Insert a module sheet into the workbook. In Microsoft Excel 97, point to Macro on the Tools menu, and click Visual Basic Editor. In the Visual Basic Editor, click Module on the Insert menu. In Microsoft Excel 7.0, point to Macro on the Insert menu and click Module.

  3. Type the following macro on the module sheet:

          Sub Format_Codes()
    
             'The line below will print the words "header text" underlined
             'and in font size 24. Even though the CenterHeader is
             'indicated, the "&L" will force it to the left.
    
             ActiveSheet.PageSetup.CenterHeader = "&L&U&24header text"
    
             'This line of code will format the words, "my text", in the
             'font Arial and use Bold. Notice that each piece is enclosed in
             'quotation marks.
    
             ActiveSheet.PageSetup.RightHeader = "&""arial,bold""my text"
    
             'To get more than one line, concatenate the linefeed or return
             'character into the string.
    
             ActiveSheet.PageSetup.CenterHeader = "First line" & Chr(13) & _
                "Second line"
    
             'The following will put the current date in the left footer,
             'the file name in the center footer and the number of pages and
             'the total number of pages in the right footer.  The last uses
             'simple concatenation to achieve the desired result.
    
             With ActiveSheet.PageSetup
               .LeftFooter = "&D"
               .CenterFooter = "&F"
               .RightFooter = "Page " & "&P" & " of " & "&N"
             End With
    
          End Sub
    
        NOTE: To type a format code, enclose it in quotation marks. To use
        the format code for font type, enclose the name in two sets of
        quotation marks (for example, type ""Arial""). You can also format
        user-supplied text.
    
    

  4. Return to Sheet1 and run the Format_Codes macro created in step 3.

  5. To view the results, click the Print Preview button on the Standard toolbar, or click Print Preview on the File menu.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q141578
   TITLE     : How to Display Quotation Marks in Function Results and
               Macros

REFERENCES

In Microsoft Excel 7.0, for more information about formatting codes, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text

   headers

and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Formatting Codes for Headers and Footers" topic.

For more information about Formatting Codes for Headers and Footers, click Answer Wizard on the Help menu and type:

   format header footer


Additional query words: 5.00 5.00a 5.00c 7.00 97 xl97 8.00
Keywords : kbcode kbprg kbualink97 xlprint PgmOthr kbfaq
Version : WINDOWS: 5.0, 5.0c, 7.0, 97; MACINTOSH: 5.0, 5.0a, 98
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto


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Last reviewed: March 13, 1998
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