Add Headers and Footers to Notes and Handout Pages in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

Similar to how you can add Headers and Footers to your slides, you can also add Headers and Footers to your Notes and Handout pages. Different from the slides which are primarily presented through a display device such as a monitor or a TV screen or a projector, Notes and Handouts are essentially intended for printing. Let us explore how to add Headers and Footers to make your printed Notes and Handout pages look more professional and useful.

The terms Header and Footer have been taken from the word processing programs, these denote repeated elements that show at the top and bottom of every page. Headers and Footers look similar on PowerPoint Notes and Handout pages. Look at Figure 1, below, where all Header and Footer elements that you can add placed in Notes (left side) and Handout (right side) pages.

Figure 1: Header and Footer elements in Notes and Handout pages

Typically, the Header and Footer denotes four placeholders for Notes and Handout pages:

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 Notes and Handout pages in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac:

1. Open the presentation where you want to add any Header or Footer elements on your Notes and Handout pages. Choose the Insert | Header and Footer menu option, as shown in Figure 2, below.
2. 
   Figure 2: Header and Footer option within Insert menu
2. Doing so opens the Header and Footer dialog box, make sure you select the Notes and Handouts tab, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 3, below.
3. 
   Figure 3: Notes and Handouts tab within Header and Footer dialog box
4. Note that the options you select or deselect within this tab will affect the Notes and Handout pages you see on screen or print. All these options are explained below, as marked in Figure 3, above:

A. Date and time

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

Update Automatically

6. Select this radio button and then open the drop-down list, as shown in Figure 4, below, to choose a date (or date and time) format.
7. 
   Figure 4: Date (or date and time) format drop-down list

Fixed

8. Select this radio button and enter a date in the text box, as shown in Figure 5, 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.
9. 
   Figure 5: 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

10. 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 6, below. Typically, users like to type in stuff like Company's name, etc. in this area.
11. 
    Figure 6: Add header text

C. Page number

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

D. Footer

13. This check-box when selected makes the Footer 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 footer, as shown in Figure 7, below. Typically, users like to type in stuff like Confidential, Draft, etc. in this area, or even copyright notices.
14. 
    Figure 7: Add footer text
15. You can similarly add and edit Headers and Footers in your slides. Look at our Add Headers and Footers to Slides in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac to learn more.
3. Now, click the Apply to All button to apply the Header or Footer to Notes and Handout pages in your presentation. You can click the Cancel button to abandon all options selected.
4. Save your presentation often.