Which Letterhead File Do You Need? Two Questions Decide
By the WordLetterhead Team · Last updated:
Two questions settle it. What should pages 2 and up show? And how many paper sizes does the office actually print on? Everything else — the format, the locking, the resolution, the margins matched to the artwork — is the same in every file, so those two answers are the whole decision.
First question: what should pages 2 and up show?
Three answers, and two of them cost the same. The full letterhead repeating on every page is the default. Clean pages after page 1 — the letterhead only on the first sheet — is the other common one. Both are included at $9. The third is a continuation sheet: a slimmer band or logo mark that belongs to pages 2 and up, with its own top and bottom margins, and that is the $15 build.
Which one you want is usually decided by how long your letters run. If almost everything you send fits on one page, this question barely matters and the default is fine. If two- and three-page letters are routine — engagement letters, reports, proposals — the continuation sheet is what stops page 2 looking like it came from a different office.
Second question: how many paper sizes do you print on?
Count the standards, not the printers. One country, one standard, one file — that is most offices. If letters go to both the United States and Europe, that is US Letter and A4, and they are two different documents. Adding Legal for court and government paperwork makes three. Two sizes and three both cost $25.
| If this is you | What to build | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Solo practice, one country, letters rarely run long | One design, one paper size | $9 |
| Letters routinely run two or three pages | Page 1 plus its own second sheet | $15 |
| Correspondence crosses the Atlantic | The same design at Letter and A4 | $25 |
| Handing a finished identity to a client | Every size and second sheet the brand defines | $25 |
What if you are not sure yet?
Build the smaller thing and look at it. The sample is free, needs no account, and is the real document with a watermark across it — so you can open the single-size file in Word, write a genuine two-page letter in it, and see for yourself whether page 2 needs its own design.
Nothing is locked in by trying. Adding a second sheet or another paper size changes the total as you go rather than sending you back to a plan page, and taking it out changes it back. The full logic is in what letterhead in Word costs — the short version is that you never pick a tier, you build a file and the price keeps up.
The one thing worth deciding deliberately rather than by default is paper size, because it is the one you cannot fix by typing. A file built at the wrong size prints with white strips or a clipped design every single time, and the dimensions are worth checking against what the office paper tray actually holds.
Common questions
- Can I add a paper size after I’ve already bought?
- Adding a size means building the set, which is a separate purchase — so if there is a real chance you will need a second standard, adding it up front is the cheaper path. Two sizes and three both cost $25, which is why the set is worth deciding before you buy rather than after.
- Is letterhead on page 1 only an upgrade?
- No. Clean pages after page 1 are included at $9, the same as the full letterhead repeating on every page. Only giving pages 2 and up their own artwork moves you to the $15 build.
- I have two letterheads for two offices. Is that a set?
- No — a set means one design at several paper sizes. Two genuinely different designs, with different address blocks, are two separate builds. The sizes within each of those builds are what a set covers.
- Does the more expensive file behave any differently in Word?
- No. Every file is a .docx with the artwork locked in the header at full resolution, margins matched to the design, and printing on by default. The price reflects how many designs and sizes went into the order, not how good the file is.