Every Final Draft document can contain a header which appears and is printed at the top of each page, and a footer that appears and is printed at the bottom of each page. The header and footer can contain custom text, the page number, the current date, scene number, special labels, the active revision or the name of the last revision on the page. The look of the header and footer may be customized to suit the needs of the script.
Go to Document > Header and Footers..
This opens the Header and Footer dialogue:
A document’s header and footer contain text that will appear at the top and bottom (respectively) of every page of the document. When a new script is created, the default header contains a page number on the right side.
The header contains just the page number and the Collated Revisions field by default. If no revisions are made, the Collated Revisions field will not appear on the script pages.
The page number label is represented by a small rounded rectangle containing “Page #.” When displayed or printed, the “Page #” symbol is replaced by the actual page number for each page.
The header appears at the top of every page except the first page. The header can be made visible on the first page if necessary.
On every page in the actual script, the page number field is replaced with the appropriate page number. The other fields, if inserted into the header, will also display page-specific information on each appropriate page in the script.
Header and footer margins are set in the Margins tab of the Page Layout dialogue.
To view the footer, click the Footer tab (although Footers are rarely ever used in a script).
The footer text area is visible and is empty by default.
Header and Footer Options
Show Header
The Show Header option determines whether the header is visible.
Header on First Page
The Header on First Page option indicates whether the header is visible on the first page.
Show Footer
The Show Footer option determines whether the footer is visible.
Footer on First Page
The Footer on First Page option indicates whether the footer is used on the first page.
Starting Page number
The Starting Page Number specifies the number for the first page of a document.
Example: A project is comprised of several scripts with sequential numbering; Script 1 has pages 1-20, Script 2 has pages 21-50 and Script 3 has pages 51-70. On Scripts 2 and 3, the starting page numbers (21 and 51) would be changed accordingly in the Header and Footer Options window.
When all changes to the Header and Footer options have been made, click OK.
Header and Footer Content
Tab Stops
Use tab stops to align text and placeholder fields in the header. Tab stops are the only way to reliably align text.
Click on the tab marker button at the left end of the Ruler bar to toggle through the different types of tab stops that can be set.
Left tab stop. Text and placeholder fields under this tab stop will be aligned left-justified.
Center tab stop. Text and placeholder fields will be centered under this tab stop.
Right tab stop. Text and placeholder fields under this tab stop will be aligned right-justified.
The fourth tab stop type is the Decimal tab stop for aligning a column of numbers on their decimal points.
To insert a Tab stop:
- Choose the justification (left, center, right, decimal) from the tab marker button;
- Click once into the Ruler bar to place the Tab stop at that exact position.
To remove an unwanted Tab stop, drag it off the ruler bar.
Text in the Header and Footer
Text can be entered directly into the header and footer text areas. Text can be placed anywhere in the window and before or after any of the special fields. To insert text, place the cursor in the editing window under the appropriate Tab stop and type.
Any font attributes (type, style, size, etc.) may be changed by selecting the desired text and going to Format > Font. Changing font attributes in the header or footer does not affect the font used in the script.
Text typed into the Header or Footer will appear on every page of the script.
To remove unwanted Header text, select it and press Delete on the keyboard.
Changing the Font / Size of the Header / Footer
- Click into the editing area below the ruler;
- On the keyboard, press Command + A;
- Go to Format > Font and select the desired font / size;
- Click OK to return to the script.
To learn how to use Placeholder Fields click here.