I recently joined a list serve through the ABA for legal solo practitioners (SoloSez) and have been enjoying answering some of their technical questions. I received a WordPerfect question asking how to make a second header or footer in a document and thought it would make a good blog post.
I’m really more of a Word-wizard than a WordPerfect-ionist. However, I know some of you out there use WP, and I want to help you create fine looking documents whatever wordprocessor you use. Besides back in the day, I too was a WordPerfect fan. In fact, I learned wordprocessing from WordPerfect 5.1 sans a mouse!.
So in my ode to the “good old days” here is how to create a secondary header or footer in a WordPerfect document. I’ll be using WordPerfect 12 for my scenario.
Adding headers and footers to your documents
Headers and footers display repeated information at the top and bottom of every page. The nice thing is that you can have different information on different pages. For example, briefs with a table of contents may use a Roman numeral for page numbering and Arabic on the main pages. Another example is electronic letterhead where a firm’s logo or name displays on the first page and page numbers and date display on the subsequent pages.
Creating a Header
In my example scenario, I want to display my contact information only on page one, and a page number on all subsequent pages.
- Position the cursor on the page where you want the header to appear.
- Choose View | Header/Footer. This opens the Headers/Footers dialog box.
(Note: if you are using another version, the command is under Insert| Header/Footers.)
- Header A is selected by default. Click Create to input the header’s text.

Below, I’ve added a header to my letter.

- To align with your document margins, select the checkbox at the bottom highlighted in pink.
- If corrections need to be made, click Edit.
Disconnecting Header A:
- Go to the top of the page two.
- Click View| Headers/Footers. Notice Header A is selected.
- Click Discontinue.

Create a Header on page two:
- Position your cursor on the second page.
- Choose View | Header/Footer.
- Select Header B.
- Click Create.
I’ve added the text “Page.“ The arrow points to the toolbar button for inserting a page number.


Now my document has two different headers, with the second one starting on page 2.

Creating different footers works the same way as creating different headers.
Changing the page numbering format
If you need to change the type of format for the numbering (need a word or different number type), follow these instructions:
- Click Insert.
- Choose Page Numbering.
- Scroll through the list and select the numbering format to display.

You can even add a word like “Section” before your page number, using the Custom Format button.
There you have it! What do you think? Did that help? What other types of things would you like to learn?
Let me know….
Your Legal Tech Trainer

