Document Formatting

How to Customize Headers and Footers in LaTeX

The fancyhdr package lets you create professional headers and footers with page numbers, titles, and more.

Basic Setup

Load fancyhdr and set style:

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}

% Clear defaults:
\fancyhf{}

% Add content:
\fancyhead[L]{Left Header}
\fancyhead[C]{Center Header}
\fancyhead[R]{Right Header}
\fancyfoot[C]{\thepage}  % Page number center

Common Patterns

Typical academic headers:

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{}

% Chapter/section in header:
\fancyhead[L]{\leftmark}   % Chapter name
\fancyhead[R]{\rightmark}  % Section name
\fancyfoot[C]{\thepage}

% Author and title:
\fancyhead[L]{Smith et al.}
\fancyhead[R]{LaTeX Tutorial}
\fancyfoot[R]{Page \thepage}

Different First Page

Remove header from first page:

% In document, after \maketitle:
\thispagestyle{plain}   % Only page number
\thispagestyle{empty}   % Nothing

% Or define for title pages:
\fancypagestyle{plain}{
  \fancyhf{}
  \fancyfoot[C]{\thepage}
}

💡 Tips

•L = left, C = center, R = right
•\leftmark and \rightmark contain section/chapter titles
•Add \renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt} to remove the line

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