Delete a header or footer by opening the Design tab
To remove a header or footer from your Word document, open the document and go to the Insert tab at the top. Look for the Header or Footer button — they sit next to each other in the ribbon. Click whichever one you want to remove, then select Remove Header or Remove Footer from the dropdown menu. Word deletes it from every page at once.
If you cannot see the Insert tab, you may be in a view that hides it. Click somewhere in your document text first to make sure you are in the main editing area, not a comment or tracked change. Then the Insert tab should appear.
This method works the same way whether you are using Word on Windows, Mac, or the web version. The button locations are identical across all three.
Key Takeaways
- Headers and footers are removed through the Insert tab, not by selecting and deleting them manually.
- Clicking Remove Header or Remove Footer deletes it from the entire document, not just the current page.
- If your document has different headers on the first page or odd and even pages, you must remove each one separately.
- Deleting a header or footer does not affect the page margins or spacing of your document.
Remove headers and footers that differ by section
Some documents have different headers or footers on different pages — for example, a different header on the first page, or different headers on odd and even pages. Word treats each of these as a separate header or footer, so you have to remove them one at a time.
To learn about your document has multiple headers or footers, double-click in the header or footer area of your document. If you see a label that says "First Page Header" or "Odd Page Header", your document has multiple versions. Go to the Insert tab and remove each one by name. Word will tell you which one you are removing as you click.
If you want to keep the header on some pages but remove it from others, do not use the Remove button. Instead, go to the Design tab (which appears when you are editing a header or footer) and check the box next to Different First Page or Different Odd & Even Pages. Then delete the content from only the pages where you do not want it.
Delete header and footer content manually if Remove does not work
Occasionally the Remove button does not appear or does not work. This happens most often in documents that were created in an older version of Word or that have been heavily formatted. In these cases, you can delete the header or footer by hand.
Double-click in the header or footer area to open it for editing. Select all the text and objects inside it — use Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Mac. Press Delete or Backspace to remove everything. Then click outside the header or footer area to close it. The header or footer box itself remains, but it is now empty.
If an empty header or footer still appears on your pages, the document may have a blank line or space character inside it. Double-click the header or footer again, place your cursor at the very beginning, and press Delete repeatedly until nothing remains. Then close it again.
Understand the difference between headers, footers, and page numbers
A header is text or an image that appears at the top of every page. A footer is the same thing at the bottom. A page number is a special type of field that Word can insert into a header or footer, but it is not the same as the header or footer itself.
If you only want to remove page numbers but keep the header or footer, do not remove the entire header or footer. Instead, double-click the header or footer, select just the page number, and delete it. The rest of the header or footer stays in place.
Similarly, if you want to remove a header but keep the footer, remove only the header. Removing one does not affect the other.
Check your document after removal to confirm the change
After you remove a header or footer, scroll through your document to make sure it is gone from every page. Pay special attention to the first page and the last page, since these sometimes behave differently.
If the header or footer still appears after you removed it, the document may have a section break that created a separate header or footer in a later section. Go to the Insert tab and look for a Breaks button. Click it and select Show Breaks to see where your document is divided into sections. Then remove the header or footer from each section separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I remove the header from just the first page?
Yes. Double-click the header, then go to the Design tab and check Different First Page. This creates a separate header for page one. Delete the content from that header, and the first page will have no header while the rest of the document keeps its header.
What if I delete the header but it still shows up?
The document may have section breaks that created separate headers. Go to Insert, click Breaks, and select Show Breaks to see where sections divide. Then remove the header from each section. You can also try selecting all text in the header and pressing Delete multiple times to clear any hidden spaces.
Does removing a header change my page margins?
No. The header and footer are separate from your page margins. Removing them does not change how much space is left for text on each page. If you want more space for content, you need to adjust the margins themselves through the Layout tab.
Can I remove the footer but keep the header?
Yes. Headers and footers are independent. Use the Insert tab to remove the footer while leaving the header in place, or vice versa. Removing one does not affect the other.