One Letterhead, Letter and A4: Building a Two-Size Set
By the WordLetterhead Team · Last updated:
A US Letter file and an A4 file are two documents, not one document resized. Page size is baked into a Word file, so an office that prints on both standards needs both files — built from the same design, in one go, rather than discovered separately six months apart.
Why can’t one Word file cover both Letter and A4?
Because the page size is a property of the document, and the two standards are genuinely different shapes. A4 is narrower and taller than US Letter — 210 × 297 mm against 8.5 × 11 inches. Print a Letter file on A4 paper and the artwork lands short of the edges with a strip of white down one side; print an A4 file on Letter and the bottom of the design runs off the sheet.
Text moves too. A narrower page reflows every line, so a letter that ended neatly at the bottom of page 1 spills three lines onto page 2. The exact dimensions for all three common standards are in letterhead sizes for Word.
Does each size need its own artwork?
It depends on the design, and the honest answer is often no. Letter and A4 are close enough in proportion that a centred logo block stretches between them invisibly. What does not survive the stretch is anything anchored to an edge — a full-bleed colour band, a rule running the width of the page, a footer sitting tight to the bottom.
So a set takes one artwork file per size rather than assuming. If your designer exported the letterhead at both sizes, use both. If you only have one export, use it for both and let fit or stretch reconcile the difference — the preview shows you exactly what that looks like before you spend anything.
What does a full set cost, and how does it arrive?
$25 for up to three paper sizes, each built from its own artwork. Two sizes and three cost the same on purpose: an office that needs Letter and A4 today often needs Legal next year, and pricing per size would just push that discovery into a second purchase.
- Upload the artwork for your first size and drag the typing area into place.
- Add another paper size and give it its own artwork — Letter, A4, Legal, or custom.
- Download the set as a single .zip, one .docx per size.
Second sheets come with it. If pages 2 and up should carry their own lighter design, you can set that per size inside the same set without the price moving. How the three tiers relate is laid out in what letterhead in Word costs.
Common questions
- Can I mix paper sizes and second-sheet designs in one set?
- Yes, and it does not change the price. Each size in the set decides separately what its pages 2 and up show — repeat page 1, print clean, or carry their own design. The whole set is $25 either way.
- Do I have to buy all three sizes at once?
- No, but there is no reason not to. Two sizes and three cost the same $25, so if there is any chance the office will print on a third standard, adding it now costs nothing and saves a rebuild later.
- What if I need a size that isn’t Letter, A4, or Legal?
- Custom dimensions are available alongside the three standards, and a custom size counts as one of your three. Monarch, A5, and half-letter note sheets all work the same way — enter the width and height and the file is built around it.
- Will the files look identical across sizes?
- As identical as the paper allows. Same artwork, same typing area proportions, same locked header behaviour — but A4 is a different shape from Letter, so a full-bleed design will meet the edges at slightly different points. The preview shows each size before you buy.
- Is one file with a second address block a set?
- No — that is a different letterhead design, not a different paper size, so it is a separate build. A set means one design rendered at more than one paper size. Two genuinely different letterheads are two orders.