Word 2010 header “different first page” option does not work if you select the same built-in header preset

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I have a three page Word 2010 document. I have set a header on the first page and marked the "different first page" option to make the follow page headers different. It works as expected so long as I don't select the same built-in header preset for the following pages.

Here's what I am doing:

  1. Check mark different first page.
  2. Make the header for the first page using Alphabet preset.
  3. Attempt to make the header for the following pages by starting with the same Alphabet preset. I only want to change the text of the following headers but still want the same graphical effects.
  4. Click off the header into the body of the document. Upon doing this the headers on the first page are updated to the ones I just made for the following pages.

I don't I am doing something wrong because I can choose a different header preset and it will work as expected. If I select the same preset, however, it updates all headers, whether the "different on first page" is selected or not.

If this is repeatable on others' computers the I would say it's a word bug. If not then please help me figure out how to get this working right.

Best Answer

There may be two separate problems

Here, if I

  • insert the header on page 1
  • add a page break
  • change the header to "different first page"

the first page header disappears.

If I then re-insert the page 1 header, the two headers are separate, i.e. if I type outside the Title box in the page 1 header, that text does not appear in subsequent headers, and vice versa.

However, any text inside the Title box (which is a content control) will be repeated on every page, because the text in there is "connected to" the document's "Title" built-in property. Change the title in the Document's properties, or in any content control connected to that property, and it will change everywhere.

So if you want a different text in that area on page one and subsequent pages, you will need to delete the box in the header(s) where you do not want the Title, and type the plain text instead.

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