# Customize the footer in the classic editor

_Category: Classic template editor_

The footer closes every page of your help center. In the classic template editor you choose its colors and type, write its text, add columns of links and decide whether it shows HelpCenter.io branding, or replace it with your own HTML.

**Who can do this:** Owners and Admins · **Plans:** All plans

## Set up the footer

1. In the left menu, click **Template editor**, then click **Footer**. You can also click the footer in the preview.
2. Set the **Footer background color:**, **Footer text color:** and **Footer links color:**.
3. Under **Footer type:**, pick **Minimal Footer** or **Blocks Footer**.
4. Type your text in **Footer content**, for example a copyright line. You can use HTML.
5. Click **Publish**.

Your changes save to a draft automatically, and readers see them after you click **Publish**. See [Save, preview and publish in the classic editor](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/classic-editor-publish).

| Footer type | What readers see |
| --- | --- |
| **Minimal Footer** | One row: your footer content and the HelpCenter.io link on the left, and a link back to the top of the page on the right. Change that link's wording in **Back to top link text**. |
| **Blocks Footer** | Up to four columns, with your footer content centered underneath. |

Until you write your own **Footer content**, the footer shows your brand name followed by "Help Center".

## Add columns to a Blocks Footer

With **Blocks Footer** picked, you build the columns in the preview, at the bottom of the page:

1. Click **Add New** in the footer.
2. Choose a column type in the **Select a column** list.
3. Click **Create**.
4. Fill in the new column right in the preview, for example by clicking its title and typing.

| Column | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Brand** | Your logo and brand name |
| **Categories** | Links to your top-level categories |
| **Custom Menu** | A title and links you add with **Add New**, each with a link text and an address |
| **Social** | Icons that link to your profiles. Click the +, pick Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube or Discord, enter the address and click **Confirm**. |
| **Text** | A title and a paragraph of text |
| **Custom HTML** | Anything you write in HTML |

- **To remove a column**, click it, then click the trash icon that appears.
- **Until you add columns of your own**, a Blocks Footer shows a Brand column and a Categories column. The preview also shows an empty third column, and it stays in your footer once you add a column: if you don't want it, click it and use its trash icon.

## Show or hide HelpCenter.io branding

**Show HelpCenter.io branding:** decides whether your footer links to HelpCenter.io. In a **Minimal Footer** the link shows unless you turn it off, and until you change the switch, it reads off even though the link shows: to hide the link, turn the switch on and then off again. In a **Blocks Footer**, the Brand column shows "Powered by HelpCenter.io" only while the switch is on.

## Use your own HTML footer

Whatever you write in **Custom HTML Footer:** replaces everything inside the footer: the footer type, columns, footer content, Back to top link and branding above no longer show. The three footer colors still apply to it on your help center. To go back to the standard footer, empty the box.

To translate text in it, write a variable in curly braces, such as `{tagline}`, and enter its text for each language under **Translatables**. Where a language has no text, the footer shows your default language's text. Use the short form: text you enter for a variable with a default, such as `{tagline|Fast answers}`, doesn't show on your help center today, which shows the default text instead.

If your header uses a photo from the Unsplash Library, its credit still shows at the bottom of the page.

In the new template editor the footer is a component of its own, and footer colors, footer content and Blocks Footer columns don't carry over when you move: see [What carries over to the new template editor](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/what-carries-over-to-the-new-template-editor).

## Troubleshooting

**My footer columns or text don't show.** With anything in **Custom HTML Footer:**, your HTML replaces them. Empty the box to bring them back.

**The Back to top link is gone.** It belongs to the Minimal Footer. A Blocks Footer doesn't have one.

**"Please select a social network and enter a URL."** A Social icon needs both. Pick the network and type the address of your profile, then click **Confirm**.

**I can't add another column.** A Blocks Footer holds four columns. Remove one first.

## Related articles

- [Change your logo, colors and fonts in the classic editor](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/classic-editor-logo-colors-fonts)
- [Customize the header, search and menu in the classic editor](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/classic-editor-header)
- [Remove "Powered by HelpCenter.io"](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/remove-powered-by)
- [Add custom CSS and scripts in the classic editor](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/classic-editor-css-and-scripts)