Page header

In typography and word processing, a page header (or simply header) is text that is separated from the body text and appears at the top of a printed page.

Word-processing programs usually allow for the configuration of page headers, which are typically identical throughout a work except in aspects such as page numbers.

[2] Running heads in a book typically consist of the title on the left-hand (verso) page, and the chapter title on the right-hand (recto) page; or the chapter title on the verso and subsection title/subhead on the recto, aiding the reader's navigation by showing what content exists within the two-page spread at hand.

A special case of the latter is in dictionaries, whose running heads are called guide words; they show the first headword and last headword on each page, to expedite the reader's navigation to a desired headword.

In academic writing, the running head usually contains the page number along with the author's last name,[3] or an abbreviated version of the title.