Is the second-sheet design included in the base price?

Clean pages after page 1 are included, and so is repeating the full letterhead on every page — both are $9. Giving pages 2 and up their own artwork, with their own top and bottom margins, is the $15 build.

Why can’t the left and right margins differ between pages?

Word stores left and right margins in the section properties, which apply to a whole section at once. A letterhead has to stay one continuous section so that typing past page 1 flows correctly onto page 2, and that single section is what forces the side margins to match.

What if I want page 2 to use exactly the same margins as page 1?

Then set them the same — nothing forces them apart. The point is that they can differ when the designs differ, not that they must. Plenty of letterheads use the same band on every page and want one set of margins throughout.

Does this survive someone typing a long letter?

Yes. The margins belong to the page type, not to a particular page, so page 40 uses the continuation margins exactly as page 2 does. And because the artwork sits in the header layer, nobody typing in the body can select it, move it, or delete it.

Can each paper size in a set have its own second-sheet margins?

Yes. In a multi-size set every size decides separately what its pages 2 and up show and where their text starts, so an A4 file and a Letter file in the same order can differ. Adding sizes does not change what each one is allowed to do.

Second Sheets Need Their Own Margins in Word

By the WordLetterhead Team · Last updated: August 31, 2026

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A second sheet gives up far less of the page than page 1 does, so its text should start higher. Word will let page 1 and the pages after it carry different top and bottom margins. It will not let them carry different left and right margins — those are shared by every page in the document, and there is a reason worth understanding before you fight it.

Why does the second sheet need different margins at all?

Because it is a different design doing a different job. Page 1 hands two inches at the top to the logo block and the address line. The second sheet usually hands over half an inch to a slim band or a small mark — that is the whole point of a continuation sheet. If both pages use page 1’s margins, every page after the first starts two inches down for no reason, and a two-page letter wastes a third of its second page on white space.

The same applies at the bottom. A footer rule on page 1 and nothing on page 2 means page 2 can safely run further down the sheet. Matching them wastes the difference on every letter the office sends.

Can page 1 and page 2 really have different margins in Word?

Top and bottom, yes. Left and right, no. The top and bottom of the typing area are governed by how much vertical room that page’s header and footer claim, and page 1 can have its own header — so those two can genuinely differ per page type. The left and right margins live in the section properties, one set for the whole section.

You cannot escape that by splitting the document into sections either, or rather you should not: a letterhead has to stay one continuous section, because that is what makes typing past the bottom of page 1 flow into page 2 with the right artwork already on it. Break it into sections and you have traded a shared side margin for a file that comes apart the first time someone writes a long letter.

In practice this is rarely the constraint it sounds like. Side margins are usually set by the text column, not by the artwork, and a continuation sheet that keeps page 1’s left edge looks correct — the letter reads as one document instead of two. It is the vertical space that actually differs, and that is the part Word will vary.

How do you get a file where they already differ?

Build it that way rather than repairing it afterwards. Page 1 and the pages after it are two separate uploads with two separate typing areas, and the file arrives with both already set:

Upload page 1’s letterhead and drag its typing area into place.
Add the design for pages 2 and up, then set their own top and bottom.
Download the .docx — page 1 and the continuation pages each start where they should.

A second-sheet design of your own is the $15 build. Clean pages after page 1 — no second design at all — is included in the $9 one, as is the full letterhead repeating on every page. What page 2 shows in each case is the subject of second-page letterhead, and the three prices are laid out in what letterhead in Word costs.

Common questions

Is the second-sheet design included in the base price?: Clean pages after page 1 are included, and so is repeating the full letterhead on every page — both are $9. Giving pages 2 and up their own artwork, with their own top and bottom margins, is the $15 build.
Why can’t the left and right margins differ between pages?: Word stores left and right margins in the section properties, which apply to a whole section at once. A letterhead has to stay one continuous section so that typing past page 1 flows correctly onto page 2, and that single section is what forces the side margins to match.
What if I want page 2 to use exactly the same margins as page 1?: Then set them the same — nothing forces them apart. The point is that they can differ when the designs differ, not that they must. Plenty of letterheads use the same band on every page and want one set of margins throughout.
Does this survive someone typing a long letter?: Yes. The margins belong to the page type, not to a particular page, so page 40 uses the continuation margins exactly as page 2 does. And because the artwork sits in the header layer, nobody typing in the body can select it, move it, or delete it.
Can each paper size in a set have its own second-sheet margins?: Yes. In a multi-size set every size decides separately what its pages 2 and up show and where their text starts, so an A4 file and a Letter file in the same order can differ. Adding sizes does not change what each one is allowed to do.