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Word 2007 DIY: Insert a Footer with File Name & Path in Two Clicks

October 28th, 2008 | by Loren |

The title is not meant to be deceiving: Word 2007 doesn’t come with this, but you can set it up yourself. Here are the directions to customize Word so you can have the “two-click insert for file name and path” that many folks feel is missing from Word 2007. Yes, it will take a little set-up time, but it is a one-time investment. When you are done you will be able to insert a footer that includes the file name and path field codes from either the Quick Access Toolbar (two clicks) or from the Insert tab, Header & Footer group (three clicks).

These directions will refer to creating a footer. If you prefer to make a header, just follow the same steps, except you’ll choose header instead of footer when the directions call for it.

If you already have a document with the footer you want, you could start from opening that document and selecting the footer, and going to step 7 in the directions.

If you want to start from scratch, start with a new Word document and begin at step 1.

  1. Activate the footer by going through the Insert tab, Header & Footer group, Footer, then click Edit Footer.
  2. This step will make sure that the footer will line up with varying page margins: In the Header & Footer Tools, Design tab, Position group, click the Insert Alignment Tab button, and in the Alignment Tab box, set a Left tab, then click OK.

  3. Insert the file name and path field: click the Insert tab, then in the Text group, click Quick Parts, then choose Field…
  4. In the Field box, set the Categories… to All, and scroll down to FileName and click to select. In the right side of the Field box, select the check box to Add path to filename.
  5. In order to control how the filename and path displays, choose Lowercase from the Format: options in the center of the Field box.
  6. Click OK to insert.

  7. To save the footer you just made: select the footer by pushing Ctrl + A, then through the Header & Footer Tools, Design tab or the Insert tab, Header & Footer group, click the Footer button and choose Save Selection to Footer Gallery…
  8. In the Create New Building Block box, type in a Name: for the footer (this will be the name next to it in the Footer Gallery list).
  9. Make sure Gallery: is on Footers.

  10. Create a new Category: – this will make your footers appear at the top of the Gallery list. In the drop-down list by Category: choose Create New Category. In the Create New Category box, type in an exclamation point followed by something like My Footers. (!My Footers) Click OK to finish.

That’s all the steps – to test it, open a new Word document (Ctrl + N), click the Insert tab, and in the Headers & Footers group click Footer, your !My Footer category should be at the top of the list, with your filename and path footer listed underneath.

You could make it one-click quicker by adding the Footer button to the Quick Access Toolbar.
Click the Office button, then Word Options. Click Customize in the left pane, and in Choose Command From: choose All Commands. Scroll down the list until you see Footer. Select Footer and click the center right arrow button to add to the list of commands already on the Quick Access Toolbar. Use the Up or Down order buttons on the right side to position it where you want. OK to finish.
Now you can insert the file name and path footer from the Quick Access Toolbar with just two-clicks.

One last thing to be aware of: when you exit out of Word, you will get a message that start with “You have modified styles, building blocks…Do you want to save changes to “BuildingBlocks.dotx”? You have to respond Yes in order to save the footer you created and saved to the Footer Gallery.

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  1. 51 Responses to “Word 2007 DIY: Insert a Footer with File Name & Path in Two Clicks”

  2. By Big_Lu on Jun 27, 2010 | Reply

    Followed every step…it did not work! Nice try

  3. By elissa on May 17, 2010 | Reply

    Thank you! This was a GREAT help!

  4. By Loren on Feb 2, 2010 | Reply

    Hi Kim – to add to the Quick Access toolbar, click the small down arrow just to the right of it and choose More Commands. It open with a list of Popular Commands; if AutoText isn’t there change that to All Commands. Select the features you want, then click Add (or double-click) to send them to the toolbar.
    The AutoText should list everything you have saved.
    Hope that helps.

  5. By Kim on Feb 2, 2010 | Reply

    Twocomputers wirelessly networked at home. Trying to synchronize settings so both have same features. Word 2007 on one computer somehow managed to add to Quick Access Toolbar an AutoText icon which inserts my file & pathname. Would like to do same on other computer but cannot remember how I did it and cannot find through numerous how-to searches. Help?

  6. By Lynn on Jan 19, 2010 | Reply

    What a pain Word 2007 is for displaying your file/path on a saved document. Too much- i miss the easy two step method… It does amaze me how Microsoft makes changes and we their “customer” have no say in any of it!!!

  7. By Sally on Jan 10, 2010 | Reply

    Step 9 is really just one of the drop-downs in the step 8 popup “Create New Building Block”. Thank you so much for such a useful process for someething I value – being able to look up the location of a file I’ve created! These days files could be on a network, in the cloud, or on your own PC. Locating it is so helpful with the filename and path info.

  8. By Lee on Jan 7, 2010 | Reply

    Thank you for the very complete and accurate information. So often the info you need is so hard to find. I am sure you have tried the F1 for help in Word, and it’s unbelievable all the unrelated garbage they thrown at you, sometime not remotely related to your search.

  9. By John on Nov 12, 2009 | Reply

    The filename and path are updated automatically when you print the document. If you don’t want a printout, do a print preview instead and it updates itself.

  10. By David on Nov 9, 2009 | Reply

    Thank you so much. I couldn’t find a solution in the so called ‘Help’ section of Word. Amen to all the others who have critized this backward improvement.

  11. By chuck on Nov 7, 2009 | Reply

    Good Lord; thanks for your help Loren, but Please shoot the idiots who hired the idiots responsible for sucjh clever, unnecessary complexity , at MS . We buy software to improve productivity, not to marvel at the naiveté or arrogance of the apparently oblivoius next generation of budding developers in Redmond. It’simple; keep the simple simple !!! What once took 30 seconds in previous versions, now requires us to imagine and navigate the help catacombs and to sift through yards of wasted time and productivity.

  12. By grace on Nov 5, 2009 | Reply

    followed your instructions to insert a footer but got completely lost from No.9. I think I will give up for today. Who on earth at Microsoft thinks we can manage without this. I bet there are some red faces there, if not, they are not in touch with what goes on.

  13. By grace on Nov 5, 2009 | Reply

    Something is not right. Got down to No9 on the instructions and then got very confused. So had to abandon.

    Help!

  14. By Claudia on Oct 29, 2009 | Reply

    It works it works!!! Now I can file path reference all my documents.(Great for teachers) I have been wanting to do this for three years. Thank you for your clear instructions!!!!!!

  15. By Wozza on Oct 20, 2009 | Reply

    Great work! Helped me heaps. I’ve wasted hours trying to work this one out. Poor work MS. Bring back Word 2003!

    But back to the common question.
    How can you automatically put the new file name when a doc is moved?
    Right click>Update for the new person is fine if they know it has to be done, but most of the time they have less of an idea than me.

    Thanks heaps.

  16. By Judy on Oct 16, 2009 | Reply

    Thanks so much for your input on header/footers. I was really struggling. I love your site and the excellent detailed instructions. You are a life saver!

    Judy
    10/16/09

  17. By Brian Rogers on Sep 9, 2009 | Reply

    It’s already in the building blocks organizer, under Filename

  18. By Bob Walsh on Sep 2, 2009 | Reply

    Great tip. Wow! What a waste of time. If you find a way to update the path name automatically when the document is change please let us know. Thanks.

  19. By Tarquin on Aug 18, 2009 | Reply

    You can right click and update the field to reference the new location of the file. Just go into the header/foot, right click the path’s field and hit update.

  20. By Don Herman on Aug 17, 2009 | Reply

    This was very helpful getting it set up.

    Still have issue with path/name not being correct if moved or renamed?

    Has there been an answer to the question about how to get the set file path name to update if the file path is changed? Many thanks.

  21. By Magoo on Jul 23, 2009 | Reply

    Loren,

    Thank you SOOOOO much! You saved my computer from being thrown across the room!!! I will return to your site next time I need to do something in Word 2007 that is no longer available, or hidden beyond my patience level.

  22. By Z on Jul 10, 2009 | Reply

    I don’t know why it was “taken out” of the menu in the first place….it is a much needed function….will try and hope it works..

  23. By Sally on Jul 8, 2009 | Reply

    Thanks – very helpful information!

  24. By FRU on Jun 25, 2009 | Reply

    I can’t find how to show footer on the last page of document with multi pages

  25. By Gretchen on Jun 9, 2009 | Reply

    This site is indeed awesome. Has there been an answer to the question about how to get the set file path name to update if the file path is changed? Many thanks.

  26. By Tim on Jun 5, 2009 | Reply

    Many thanks for your help…I get the feeling I will be visiting your website quite often.

  27. By Tammi on May 28, 2009 | Reply

    I need to know if there is a way to have the header or footer of a MS word 2007 document set to filename change automatically if you change the file name?

  28. By Remy on May 14, 2009 | Reply

    I can’t believe how convoluted it has become to insert the filename and path in the footer of a Word document. Is there anyone at Microsoft listening? It is really bugging me. It was so easy in the 2003 software, why did they make it harder?

  29. By sArA on May 13, 2009 | Reply

    OHMYGOD…u saved my life.
    THANK YOU!!!

  30. By Andrew Reich on Apr 26, 2009 | Reply

    awesome post, very informative. Perfect. Your website is great. Thank you – Andrew

  31. By Megan on Apr 22, 2009 | Reply

    Using Word, 2007: I have inserted a footer to include a filename. However, when I do a “save as” for a new document, the file name in the footer is not updating to match the new file name. Am I doing something wrong? would appreciate any help you can give.
    Thanks…

  32. By Marika Pythagoras on Apr 7, 2009 | Reply

    Thank you so much for this helpful information. Like others, I was fiddling around trying to find a solution. I have converted from Word 2003 to Word 2007 (which I loathe). I cannot understand why Word 2007 does not have something already set up with inserting the file name into the footer. I thought 2007 was supposed to make things easier! Before I found your site, I rang Microsoft to find a solution but they were going to charge me $80. I will be signing up to your site and also putting your site on my Favourites.

  33. By Becky on Mar 19, 2009 | Reply

    Thanks so much for the instructions – very complete and easy to follow. Now I have a path and file name again. One less step and frustration. I don’t understand why they take away things that work well. When I update and upgrade I expect to get additional to the good I have – not for them to be taken away! Thanks so much again. Becky

  34. By Ben on Mar 19, 2009 | Reply

    Wow, I didn’t realise this was so hard to do in 2007 version.

    Why on earth would M$ remove basic functionality like this? I thought everybody including filenames and paths in their word documents??? Apparently M$ Staff don’t.

    I’m not complaining, just greatly suprised to discover this is not easily built into the program…

    Ben

  35. By cathy on Mar 18, 2009 | Reply

    This is great. I have been fudging around adding the file and path name to the footer for months now.

    Loren, you personally rock my world.

  36. By Ray on Mar 15, 2009 | Reply

    Unable to add Filename to a document header – Microsoft support page was of no help – Yours is excellent – Many thanks.

  37. By Peter on Mar 13, 2009 | Reply

    This saved me a ton of time and anguish, and I Can’t thank you enough. Now Microsoft, on the other hand….well, you know.

  38. By Loren on Feb 18, 2009 | Reply

    Hello Nick – I appreciate your comments, although I don’t know that anyone from Microsoft reads anything that is brought up here.
    As far as your Spell check reverting back to US English, are your Microsoft Office Language Settings set to UK English? (Should be in the Start menu, Microsoft Office menu.)
    Thanks, and good luck!

  39. By Nick on Feb 17, 2009 | Reply

    I’m so glad to read the above comments. I feel very powerless about getting feedback to these huge companies that exert so much control over our daily lives. Both Microsoft and Apple need to realise that their staff live in a different world to most of us who just want a simple, clear, reliable system (at work at least.)All their efforts should be to make people’s lives easier not more complicated or stressed. There are good things about Vista but this one here is an example of sheer madness. And why is ‘convert table to text’ so weird and difficult now? They should build on what works. They should get basic functions stabilised before adding more complex ones e.g. keeping the formatting when you copy and paste is basic but it’s still crap. Spellchecker is a daily affront to UK users because it always slips back to US. I think every responsible employer should gather feedback from staff and submit it annually to the IT companies because, clever as they are, tehy just don’t get it.

  40. By Loren on Jan 26, 2009 | Reply

    Thanks for letting me know Gregory!

  41. By Gregory on Jan 26, 2009 | Reply

    Wanted to subscribe to Coffee Break Computer, but when I click on “Subscribe to the Coffee” all I see is HTML code, no webpage.

  42. By Steve on Jan 22, 2009 | Reply

    Wow, Microsoft sure knows how to complicate one’s life. They rank about up there with the move of XP to Vista with this. Where do they get these kids that write these programs anyway?

    Thanks much for your help. Simple job made difficult by the software writers, good we have someone like yourself to see us through the muck.

  43. By Elly on Jan 16, 2009 | Reply

    I just worked it out and I feel so CLEVER! Put all you need in the footer that you want [date, filename and path, initials, page of page, etc] and then follow the above instructions. Yeay! Why does Microsoft make it so difficult, and how did you ever discover this neat solution? I’m no end impressed!
    Elly

  44. By Elly on Jan 16, 2009 | Reply

    Heartfelt thanks to you for saving my sanity with this footer device – and so well explained!

    Now, how can I put in Page numbers or Page of Pages without deleting all else in the footer or header? Is there a way of submitting a question of this nature?

    I have to say that Office 2007 tried my patience and my normal equanimity beyond my endurance. If I had known how DIFFICULT it was going to make my life, I would NEVER have bought it! I cannot see any advantages over its predecessor.

  45. By Sue on Jan 15, 2009 | Reply

    Thanks Loren, I’m on my way now.
    What a good site this is – I’m recommending it already.

  46. By Loren on Jan 14, 2009 | Reply

    Hi Sue – here are a couple things to look at regarding updating fields:
    Word 2007: Make Updating Fields Easier. This is good if you typically print or print preview your documents.
    This link came from a comment and goes to a MS site on how to make a macro to update fields: support.microsoft.com/kb/832897.
    Hope one of those helps.

  47. By Sue on Jan 14, 2009 | Reply

    OK, done all of that now. Does anyone know how to ensure that the filename and path are automatically corrected when the file is moved to another folder (as indeed it always used to be)?

  48. By Sue on Jan 14, 2009 | Reply

    What a pain having to go through this rigmarole just to put back a useful element of a previous version ! Wonder whose decision that was. Bring back the file name and path option in one of your updates please.

  49. By Loren on Dec 17, 2008 | Reply

    Cassie, the path option is still available. It needs to checked on to add it to with the FileName field. You can see it in the right side of the Field box when the FileName field is selected.

  50. By Cassie on Dec 17, 2008 | Reply

    It is wrong that the path option was taken out. I use it on almost all my Word documents.

  51. By Janell on Dec 8, 2008 | Reply

    “Word 2007 doesn’t come with this, but you can set it up yourself.” Who thought that was a good idea? It worked just fine before. Please put the auto text Footer (and Header) with File Name and Path back into your next version. Better yet, you can make a patch to put it into the 2007 version.

  52. By Peter on Dec 6, 2008 | Reply

    Excellent, well written, timely. Thank you so much. I love your website.
    Peter

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