Fancyhdr sets wrong headheight

Question

I am having some issues with fancyhdr setting my \headheight. The package seems to add too much \headheight. This is my current set up:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{lastpage}
\usepackage[includeheadfoot,margin=0.3in,headheight=54pt,landscape]{geometry}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{tabu}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{ragged2e}

\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\fancypagestyle{header}{ 
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}
\setlength{\headheight}{54pt}
\fancyhead{}
\fancyfoot{}
\fancyhead[C]{
\begin{minipage}[t][20pt]{\textwidth}
\flushleft
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.33\textwidth}
\flushleft
Print date: 2016{-}Jun{-}21 11:57:51
\newline 
R1023
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.33\textwidth}
\centering
Company Name
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.33\textwidth}
\flushright
Page \thepage\ of \pageref{LastPage}
\end{minipage}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}[t]{\textwidth}
\centering
\begin{Large}\textbf{Title}\end{Large}
\linebreak 
\begin{large}Subtitle\end{large}
\flushleft{\begin{small}More Text\end{small}}
\end{minipage}
}
\fancyfoot[C]{ 
}
}
\pagestyle{header}

\begin{document}
Page 1
\newpage
Page 2
\end{document}

As you can see the \headheight on the first page is as set by geometry: 54pt, but on the second page the fancyhdr package resets it to ~70pt resulting in a lot of empty space left on the page. Is there something I am missing in the header that is increasing the size?

You should read the warnings in the .log. It suggests the head height to be at least 75.84538pt, not 54pt. Hence the increase from page 2 onward. — Werner, Jun 21 '16 at 19:43
Possible duplicate: What is causing different spacing between a header and content on one page only? — Werner, Jun 21 '16 at 19:48
Thank you for the prompt response @Werner. I have read the warning in the log, but I am wondering what in particular causes the \headheight to be set to that value. If I surround the minipages in an \fbox the sizes do not exceed ~54pt — Vlad G, Jun 21 '16 at 20:15
@VladG: How do you know this? Did you measure it by hand? Did you put it in a box and print out the height? If it's the latter, then you probably forgot about the depth. — Werner, Jun 21 '16 at 20:24

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 21 '16 at 20:29

Your main problem stems from an incorrect headheight setting. One can either remove the headheight setting from geometry's options and see what fancyhdr suggests in the .log, or set the header in a box and measure it yourself (remember to consider both the height and the depth of this box). The former is much easier.

The following construction is a little easier on the eyes and uses some automation for coming up with the time and date (using datetime2):

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{lastpage}
\usepackage[includeheadfoot,margin=0.3in,headheight=74pt,headsep=0pt,landscape]{geometry}
\usepackage{fancyhdr,tabularx}
\usepackage[english]{datetime2}

\DTMnewdatestyle{dashdate}{%
  \renewcommand{\DTMdisplaydate}[4]{\number##1-\DTMenglishshortmonthname{##2}-\number##3}%
  \renewcommand{\DTMDisplaydate}{\DTMdisplaydate}%
}
\DTMsetdatestyle{dashdate}
\DTMsettimestyle{default}

\fancypagestyle{header}{
  \renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
  \renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}
  \fancyhf{}
  \fancyhead[L]{%
    \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{}X>{\centering\arraybackslash}X>{\raggedleft\arraybackslash}X@{}}
      Print date: \DTMtoday~\DTMcurrenttime & % http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/994/5764
      Company Name &
      Page \thepage~of~\pageref{LastPage} \\
      R1023 \\
      & \Large\bfseries Title \\
      & \large Subtitle \\
      \\
      \small More text
    \end{tabularx}% 
  }
}
\pagestyle{header}

\begin{document}

Page 1

\newpage
Page 2

\end{document}

The 74pt height for the header stems from what is printed in the .log without it:

Package Fancyhdr Warning: \headheight is too small (12.0pt):
Make it at least 73.60002pt.
We now make it that large for the rest of the document.
This may cause the page layout to be inconsistent, however.

Hmm, interesting. I was under the impression that an \fbox surrounded both the height and the depth of its content. But when I add showframe to the geometry package the header goes beyond both of the boxes. — Vlad G, Jun 21 '16 at 20:55
\fbox should, but remember that \fbox sets a box with a gap of \fboxsep between the content and the rule around it. If your header fits exactly, the box will run over the margins. — Werner, Jun 21 '16 at 20:58

Fancyhdr sets wrong headheight

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