Header only on first page?

Anonymous
2010-07-15T21:38:17+00:00

When I create a header in 2010 it is on every page.  For the life of me I can not find a first page only box to check.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Jay Freedman 208.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2011-01-07T18:38:01+00:00

If you've already created the header text before you choose Different First Page, then the

simplest procedure is this:

  1. Select the header text and cut it to the clipboard.
  2. Set the Different First Page option.
  3. Paste the header text into the first page header.

An alternative, if Different First Page is already set, is to go to the second page

(insert a manual page break with Ctrl+Enter if there's only one page so far), cut the text

from its header, go to the first page header, and paste.

Jay Freedman

MS Word MVP  FAQ: http://word.mvps.org

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Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2010-07-15T22:20:15+00:00

Check the "Different First Page" box in the Options section of the Header & Footer Tools design tab of the ribbon, or, on the Page Layout tab, click on the right hand end of the page Setup bar and in the Page Setup dialog, go to the Layout tab and check the "Different first page" box.

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  1. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-11-29T23:51:41+00:00

    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.

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  2. Charles Kenyon 171.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-11-29T23:48:15+00:00

    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

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-11-29T23:37:52+00:00

    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.

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