Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007 and 2010. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Ampersands in Headers and Footers.

Ampersands in Headers and Footers

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 16, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007 and 2010


3

One of the finishing touches often applied to a worksheet is to create headers and footers that print on every page. You may have noticed that some characters won't print in a header or footer. For instance, if you work at a company named Drury & James, and you put the company name in the header or footer, it will print as Drury James, omitting the ampersand.

The reason for this is because the ampersand signals, to Excel, that the next character is "special" and represents a code controlling some aspect of what is printed. To override the effect that the ampersand has, simply use two ampersands, as in Drury && James. When you do, the first ampersand is "swallowed" by Excel and the second one actually prints.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12331) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Ampersands in Headers and Footers.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is seven more than 7?

2024-09-16 12:47:20

Kiwerry

@Micky Avidan: Thanks for a useful list!


2018-09-19 11:33:21

PreeTee

Thank you for the simple solution!


2014-01-02 12:35:31

Michael (Micky) Avidan

Here is a list of all the common used codes in the Headers/Footers:
&D Current date
&T Current time
&F Workbook name
&A Worksheet's name (Worksheet's tab)
&P Current page number
&P+x Current page number plus x
&N Total pages in the Workbook(!)
&& Ampersand character
Page &[Page] out of &[Pages]
--------------------------------
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answers" - Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2014)
ISRAEL


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