Add Headers and Footers to Notes and Handout Pages in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

We have already explored how you can add Headers and Footers to your slides, additionally, you can also add Headers and Footers to your Notes and Handout pages. Unlike slides which are primarily presented through a display device such as a monitor, TV screen, webinar, or a projector, Notes and Handout pages in PowerPoint are essentially intended for printing. These printed pages often accompany a delivered presentation, or in some cases, they comprise the presentation. In this tutorial, we will explore how you can add Headers and Footers to make your printed Notes and Handout pages more professional-looking, relevant, and useful.

The terms Header and Footer typically come from word processing programs, these denote repeated elements that show at the top and bottom of every page. Headers and Footers work similarly on PowerPoint Notes and Handout pages. Explore Figure 1, below, where all Header and Footer elements that you can place in Notes (left side) and Handouts (right side) are shown.

Figure 1: Header and Footer elements in Notes and Handouts

Typically, the Header and Footer denotes four placeholders:

A. Date

Date, marked in blue within Figure 1, above.

B. Footer

Footer, marked in orange within Figure 1. You can add a message, a company name, or anything you want to be visible on all slides here.

C. Page number

Page number, marked in green within Figure 1.

D. Header

Header, marked in red within Figure 1. You can add a message, a company name, or anything you want to be visible on all slides here.

In this tutorial, we'll learn how to make these Header and Footer elements visible on your slides in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows:

1. Open the presentation where you want to add any Header or Footer elements. Choose the Insert tab of the Ribbon, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2, below.
2. 
   Figure 2: Insert tab of the Ribbon
2. Within the Insert tab, locate the Text group, then click the Header & Footer button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below.
3. 
   Figure 3: Header & Footer button

Alternate Options

You can also click either the Date & Time or Slide Number buttons, they all end up summoning the same Header and Footer dialog box.
3. You'll see the Header and Footer dialog box, make sure you select the Notes and Handouts tab, as shown in Figure 4, below.
4. 
   Figure 4: Notes and Handouts tab within Header and Footer dialog box
5. Note that the options you select or deselect within this tab will affect the Notes and Handout pages you see onscreen or print. All these options are explained below, as marked in Figure 4, above:

A. Date and time

6. Select this check-box to make the date appear on your Handout and Notes pages. Then, choose whether you want the Date and time to Update Automatically, or set them to Fixed:

Update Automatically

7. Select this radio button and then open the drop-down list, as shown in Figure 5, below, to choose a date (or date and time) format. You can even choose the Language and Calendar type, changing these options may show different options within the drop-down list, as shown in Figure 5.
8. 
   Figure 5: Date (or date and time) format drop-down list

Language and Calendar Options Not Available?

The Language and Calendar type options may be greyed out if you don't have more than one proofing language installed for PowerPoint 2010 (and Office 2010). Once you have additional languages installed, both these options will be available, as shown in Figure 6, below.
9. 
   Figure 6: Adding date and time formats for foreign languages and calendars

Fixed

10. Select this radio button and enter a date in the text box, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 7, below. By default, this uses the current date. Also, the date remains the same no matter when or where you edit or deliver your presentation.
11. 
    Figure 7: Fixed radio button selected

'Fixed' Can be Anything

If you choose the Fixed option, you can actually add anything else, even if it is not a date! Type whatever you want to appear within the Date placeholder.

B. Header

12. This check-box, when selected, makes the Header visible on Notes and Handout pages in your presentation. Also, when this check-box is selected, the text box below gets activated where you can enter the content of the header, as shown in Figure 8, below. Typically, users like to type in stuff like Company's name, etc. in this area.
13. 
    Figure 8: Add header text

C. Page number

14. Select this check-box to enable the page number to be visible on your Notes and Handout pages.

D. Footer

15. This check-box when selected makes the Footer visible on Notes and Handout pages in your presentation.
16. Also, when this check-box is selected, the text box below gets activated where you can enter the content of the footer, as shown in Figure 9, below. Typically, users like to type in stuff like Confidential, Draft, etc. in this area, or even copyright notices.
17. 
    Figure 9: Add footer text
18. You can similarly add and edit Headers and Footers in your slides. Look at our Add Headers and Footers to Slides in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows to learn more.
19. Now, click the Apply to All button to apply the Header or Footer to Notes and Handout pages in your presentation.
4. Save your presentation often.