How to Remove a Footer in Google Docs

How to delete a header, as well

By
Tim Fisher
Photo of Tim Fisher, Lifewire GM and Writer
Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University

Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.

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Updated on February 4, 2021
Reviewed by
Ryan Perian
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Reviewed by Ryan Perian
  • Western Governors University
Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions.
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What To Know

  • Desktop: Double-click the header or footer section. Go to Options > Remove footer or Remove header.
  • Mobile: Three-dotted menu at the top right, Print layout, then edit button, select header or footer, erase it.

This article outlines how to remove headers and footers in Google Docs from a desktop and the mobile app.

How To Delete a Header or Footer

Removal involves opening that section of the document and using the delete option. The Google Docs website and mobile app go about this in different ways.

From the Website

On the website, you can delete headers and footers in a few quick steps.

  1. Locate the page with the header or footer you want to remove. If it’s the same on each page, just choose one of them.

  2. Double-click the header or footer section.

  3. Use the Options menu to the right to select Remove header or Remove footer.

    Google Docs remove header button.

From the App

Deleting headers and footers in the Google Docs mobile app is just as easy as doing so on a desktop.

  1. With the document open, use the three-dotted menu at the top right to choose Print layout.

  2. Tap the edit button on the bottom.

  3. Select the header or footer you want to delete, and erase it. If it's an image, you can tap it to find the delete option.

    Google Docs Android app deleting a header.

  4. Tap the checkmark at the top left to save.

Tips To Remember

There are a few ways Google Docs deals with headers and footers, so knowing what will happen in each circumstance is important to avoid confusion: You can have the first page of the document have a different header or footer than the other pages, and you can set up a different header/footer for odd and even pages.

Here’s what to know:

  • If the first page of the document is using a different header/footer than the other pages (i.e., the Different first page box is checked), deleting it will not remove it from the other pages.
  • Similarly, if the first page uses a unique header or footer, removing it from the second page (or third, fourth, etc.) will remove it from all the other pages, too (excluding the first page).
  • If the Different odd & even option is chosen, removing a header or footer will only delete it from that series. For example, if the footers for the first six pages are 1, Red, 3, Red, 5, and Red, removing the footer 3 will erase the other numbers but keep the colors. 
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