# Headers and Footers

> Add headers, footers and Page x of y numbers in a Windows Forms TextControl with HeaderFooterCollection and PageNumberField, and set how users activate them.

- **Product:** TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms
- **Section:** Documentation
- **Kind:** Topic
- **Path:** TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms > Document Editor > Headers and Footers
- **3774 words**
- **Web URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/headers-footers/
- **LLMs URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/headers-footers/llms.txt
- **LLMs-Full URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/headers-footers/llms-full.txt

---

Headers and footers repeat on every page of a section: a letterhead, a report title, "Page 3 of 12". In a Windows Forms `TextControl`, users add them from the ribbon or the **Page Setup** dialog box and type into them after activating them with the mouse. Your code adds them, fills them with text and page numbers, decides how they're activated and follows the user between header, footer and main text.

The examples are methods of *Form1.cs* in the application from [Create Your First Windows Forms Application](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/getting-started/document-editor/first-application/llms-full.txt), called from the `Click` handler of a button. A section is a part of a document with its own page settings, which [Sections and Page Layout](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/sections/llms-full.txt) introduces. For headers and footers added without a user interface, see [Sections, Pages, Headers, and Footers](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-processing/sections-headers/llms-full.txt).

### How Headers and Footers Work

A [HeaderFooter](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfooter/llms-full.txt) is a text part with its own [Selection](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfooter/selection-property/llms-full.txt), paragraphs, tables and images. Each section has a [HeaderFooterCollection](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfootercollection/llms-full.txt) in [Section.HeadersAndFooters](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/section/headersandfooters-property/llms-full.txt). [TextControl.HeadersAndFooters](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/textcontrol/headersandfooters-property/llms-full.txt) is the collection of the whole document; a header or footer added to it goes to the first section, and every other section receives one connected to the previous section. Once a document has more than one section, use the collection of the section, because most collections of a `HeaderFooter` from the document's collection are then `null`.

![Class diagram of the header and footer classes: TextControl, WPF.TextControl and ServerTextControl with HeadersAndFooters, the activation properties and events, HeaderFooterCollection, HeaderFooter with its collections and PageNumberField.](https://docs.textcontrol.com/assets/img/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/headers-footers-classes.58889338.webp)

Each header or footer has a type from [HeaderFooterType](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfootertype/enumeration/llms-full.txt):

| Type | Appears on |
|---|---|
| `Header`, `Footer` | Every page, or the odd pages if the section has an even header or footer |
| `FirstPageHeader`, `FirstPageFooter` | The first page of the section |
| `EvenHeader`, `EvenFooter` | The even pages. Adding one also creates the odd header or footer |

A new section takes over the headers and footers of the previous one, connected to them so that both show the same content. [HeaderFooter.ConnectedToPrevious](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfooter/connectedtoprevious-property/llms-full.txt) set to `false` gives a section a header of its own.

### Add Headers and Footers in the Ribbon

The **Headers & Footers** group of the **Insert** tab has three buttons:

- **Header** edits the header of the current section, and its menu has **Edit Header** and **Remove Header**.
- **Footer** does the same for the footer, with **Edit Footer** and **Remove Footer**.
- **Page Number** is enabled while a header or footer is being edited. Its menu has **Insert Page Number**, **Format Page Number...** and **Remove Page Number**.

While a header or footer is activated, the input position is inside it. TX Text Control Words marks an activated header with a dashed line and a label such as **First Header**:

![TX Text Control Words with the first page header of an invoice activated: a dashed line below the header, the label First Header and a selected logo image in the header.](https://docs.textcontrol.com/assets/img/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/header-footer-tab.a3713148.webp)

The **Headers and Footers** tab of the **Page Setup** dialog box sets all headers and footers at once. **Header**, **Header on first**, **Footer** and **Footer on first** choose the design, **Different header odd and even** and **Different footer odd and even** add the even variants, and **Distance from edge** sets the positions. With **Apply to** set to **Whole document**, the **Header** and **Footer** lists offer **None**, **All sections equal** and **All sections different**; for the current section, **None**, **Same as previous section** and **This section different**.

![The Page Setup dialog box on its Headers and Footers tab, with the Header list open showing None, All sections equal and All sections different, and the distance fields for header, footer and first page.](https://docs.textcontrol.com/assets/img/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/page-setup-headers-footers.7b859779.webp)

[SectionFormatDialog](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/textcontrol/sectionformatdialog-method/llms-full.txt) opens this dialog box from code, and `SectionFormatDialog(1)` opens it on the **Headers and Footers** tab.

### Add a Footer With Page Numbers

A [PageNumberField](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/pagenumberfield/llms-full.txt) shows the number of the page it's on. It's only possible in a header or footer and is added through [HeaderFooter.PageNumberFields](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfooter/pagenumberfields-property/llms-full.txt). The following method adds a centered footer with "Page x of y" to the section with the input position:

```csharp
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using TXTextControl;

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    private void AddPageNumberFooter()
    {
        // Add a footer to the section with the input position
        Section section = textControl1.Sections.GetItem();
        section.HeadersAndFooters.Add(HeaderFooterType.Footer);
        HeaderFooter footer = section.HeadersAndFooters.GetItem(HeaderFooterType.Footer);

        // "Page x of y"
        footer.Selection.Text = "Page ";
        footer.PageNumberFields.Add(new PageNumberField(1, NumberFormat.ArabicNumbers));
        footer.Selection.Text = " of ";

        PageNumberField numberOfPages = new PageNumberField();
        numberOfPages.ShowNumberOfPages = true;
        footer.PageNumberFields.Add(numberOfPages);

        footer.Selection.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = TXTextControl.HorizontalAlignment.Center;

        // 0.5 inch from the bottom of the page, in twips
        footer.Distance = 720;
    }
}
```

The code works as follows:

- [SectionCollection.GetItem](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/sectioncollection/getitem-method/llms-full.txt) without a parameter returns the section with the input position.
- [HeaderFooterCollection.Add](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfootercollection/add-method/llms-full.txt) adds a footer and returns `true` if it was added, and [GetItem](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfootercollection/getitem-method/llms-full.txt) returns it. `GetItem` throws an `ArgumentException` for a type the section doesn't have.
- `footer.Selection.Text` inserts text at the input position of the footer.
- The [PageNumberField constructor](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/pagenumberfield/constructor/llms-full.txt) takes the start number and a [NumberFormat](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/numberformat/enumeration/llms-full.txt): `ArabicNumbers`, `Letters`, `CapitalLetters`, `RomanNumbers` or `SmallRomanNumbers`. [ShowNumberOfPages](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/pagenumberfield/shownumberofpages-property/llms-full.txt) makes the second field show the number of pages.
- [HeaderFooter.Distance](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfooter/distance-property/llms-full.txt) is the distance from the bottom of the page to the bottom of the footer in twips; the default is 567 twips, 1 cm.
- `HorizontalAlignment` is written with its namespace, because *Form1.cs* also uses `System.Windows.Forms`, which has a type of the same name.

Every page now shows its number and the number of pages, and the fields follow when pages are added.

### Control How Users Edit Headers and Footers

Two properties of the `TextControl` decide how a header or footer is entered and shown, and two events report it. The following methods set them up and move the input position into the header from code:

```csharp
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using TXTextControl;

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    private void ConfigureHeaders()
    {
        // Open headers and footers with a double-click and mark them with a line
        textControl1.HeaderFooterActivationStyle = HeaderFooterActivationStyle.ActivateDoubleClick;
        textControl1.HeaderFooterFrameStyle = HeaderFooterFrameStyle.DividingLine;

        textControl1.HeaderFooterActivated += TextControl1_HeaderFooterActivated;
        textControl1.HeaderFooterDeactivated += TextControl1_HeaderFooterDeactivated;
    }

    private void TextControl1_HeaderFooterActivated(object sender, HeaderFooterEventArgs e)
    {
        Text = "Editing: " + e.HeaderFooter.Type;
    }

    private void TextControl1_HeaderFooterDeactivated(object sender, HeaderFooterEventArgs e)
    {
        Text = "Editing: main text";
    }

    private void EditHeader()
    {
        Section section = textControl1.Sections.GetItem();

        // GetItem throws an ArgumentException for a header that doesn't exist
        bool hasHeader = false;

        foreach (HeaderFooter headerFooter in section.HeadersAndFooters)
        {
            if (headerFooter.Type == HeaderFooterType.Header)
            {
                hasHeader = true;
            }
        }

        if (!hasHeader)
        {
            section.HeadersAndFooters.Add(HeaderFooterType.Header);
        }

        // Move the input position into the header
        section.HeadersAndFooters.GetItem(HeaderFooterType.Header).Activate();
    }
}
```

The code works as follows:

- [HeaderFooterActivationStyle](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/textcontrol/headerfooteractivationstyle-property/llms-full.txt) is `ActivateClick` for a single click into a header or footer, or `ActivateDoubleClick` for a double-click.
- [HeaderFooterFrameStyle](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/textcontrol/headerfooterframestyle-property/llms-full.txt) marks an activated header or footer with a `DividingLine` to the main text, a `DottedFrame`, a `SingleFrame` or `NoFrame`.
- [HeaderFooterActivated](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/textcontrol/headerfooteractivated-event/llms-full.txt) occurs when a header or footer receives the input position, and [HeaderFooterDeactivated](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/textcontrol/headerfooterdeactivated-event/llms-full.txt) when it loses it. [HeaderFooterEventArgs.HeaderFooter](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfootereventargs/headerfooter-property/llms-full.txt) is the header or footer, and its [Type](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfooter/type-property/llms-full.txt) tells which one. The example writes it into the title bar of the form.
- [HeaderFooter.Activate](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfooter/activate-method/llms-full.txt) moves the input position into the header, as **Edit Header** does, and [Deactivate](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfooter/deactivate-method/llms-full.txt) moves it back to the main text. Both return `true` if they succeeded. Call `textControl1.Focus()` after `Activate` when a button of your own opens the header, so that the user can type into it at once.

[HeaderFooterCollection.Remove](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfootercollection/remove-method/llms-full.txt) removes headers and footers by type; `Remove(HeaderFooterType.Header)` removes the even header too, if there is one. `Add` and `Remove` also accept several values combined, such as `HeaderFooterType.Header | HeaderFooterType.Footer`.

### Put Images and Other Content Into a Header

A header has the same collections as the main text: [HeaderFooter.Images](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfooter/images-property/llms-full.txt) takes a logo, [HeaderFooter.Tables](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfooter/tables-property/llms-full.txt) a table and [HeaderFooter.Barcodes](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/reference/txtextcontrol/headerfooter/barcodes-property/llms-full.txt) a barcode, with the same `Add` methods as in [Images](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/images/llms-full.txt) and [Charts and Barcodes](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/charts-barcodes/llms-full.txt). An image in a header that lies behind the text appears on every page of the section, like a watermark. The blog article [Merging Multiple Records with First-Page Headers and Footers](https://www.textcontrol.com/blog/2025/04/14/merging-multiple-records-with-first-page-headers-and-footers/) combines first page headers with a mail merge.

### Next Steps

- [Sections and Page Layout](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/sections/llms-full.txt): give a section its own page settings and headers.
- [Fields, Hyperlinks, and Bookmarks](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/fields/llms-full.txt): the other fields of a document.
- [Footnotes](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/footnotes/llms-full.txt): notes at the bottom of the page.
- [Sections, Pages, Headers, and Footers](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-processing/sections-headers/llms-full.txt): headers and footers with `ServerTextControl`.

---

## Nearby

- **Previous:** [Charts and Barcodes](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/charts-barcodes/llms-full.txt)
- **Next:** [Sections and Page Layout](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/sections/llms-full.txt)