By default, on which page the header or footer is printed?

A header or footer is not a per-page object - it is a property of the page-layout template that governs an entire section of the document. Whatever text or graphic is placed in the header/footer area is inherited by that shared template, not tied to any single page.

Because MS Word (and standard word processors generally) apply one master header/footer definition per section by default, the content typed into the header or footer area is automatically repeated on every page of that section - from the very first page to the very last - without any extra configuration.

The only way to deviate from this default is to manually switch on one of the layout's override options:

• ‘Different First Page’ creates a separate header/footer just for page 1 - it is typically used to blank out the cover page while the regular header/footer still shows on every other page; producing a genuine first-page-only pattern would additionally require leaving that regular header/footer blank, which is not the software's default state.

• 'Different Odd & Even Pages' makes the header/footer alternate between odd and even pages (used for book-style double-sided printing) - again, only when manually enabled.

• There is no equivalent override that restricts a header/footer to only the last page - a last-page-only pattern is not a supported layout behaviour at all.