Header only on first page?

there are many many many different workarounds that others have posted online; but i finally figured out how to poperly create a header on the first page ONLY. it is super simple, but not intuitive.

these instructions are for OFFICE 2010 word document, but may work for 2007 and other microsoft office applications.

1. click on INSERT at the top of the word document page
2. click on HEADER
3. do NOT insert any header template or text--repeat: do NOT insert any header text or template; instead...
4. click on EDIT HEADER
5. then check the DIFFERENT FIRST PAGE box
6. now that you have formatted the document with instructions to have a header only on the first page, you can go back and insert whatever header template you wish--------> do this by clicking on the HEADER button that is now on the far left side of the ribbon at the top of the page
7. alternatively, you can manually type in your header text
8. after you are finished with the header, you can double click the body of the page (below the header) to type your text; after typing more than one page, you will notice that your header remained only on the first page

the trick is to format the document BEFORE inserting any header template or text. if one inserts header data BEFORE clicking on DIFFERENT FIRST PAGE, then--for some inexplicable reason--the header disappears from the first page and shows up on the 2nd page (at least that's what happens with me). so, the best thing to do is to choose DIFFERENT FIRST PAGE before inserting any header information.

also, you do NOT need to copy/cut and paste anything to anywhere. if you follow the instructions listed above, you will a) have your header on the first page only and b) not need to do anything else (ie, no need to deselect previous links, no cutting/pasting, no hassles).

hope that helps. best wishes.

Thank you for contributing. I believe if you read through this thread you will find this solution a number of times. The response marked as Answer has the heart of it. The one marked as most helpful handles the situation when someone does not take your advice to check the box for different first page before inserting the header.

How can I get a different header/footer on the second page?

Header/Footer Settings Recap

There's nothing tricky about it.  It is just a matter of realising how Word works.  The default header is one that applies to all pages in a Section of a document and if you want a First Page Header, you have to make that selection.