Image Header on First Page ONLY

[gregwilson]

I'm currently having an issue with a graphic header in a template that I'm using in my office. I've set the page styles so that the first page of my template has a graphic header applied. Every following page (default) does not include a header. When I load a new document from this template and fill more than one page with text, everything looks fine. The graphic header is on the first page but not on any of the following pages. I then save the document as a .doc and close. When I reopen the file, the header appears on every page of the document. I don't understand why the settings do not stay in place.

Another related question that I have is where the best place to store the graphic header would be. I'm not sure if the image is actually embedded into the document or if it's pulling it from a location every time the document is loaded. As I want the document to be loaded from several different computers, I'm not sure what the best approach to this would be.

So to recap, I would like to have a template that will load an image header into the first page ONLY, and remain that way after saving the document when viewed on any computer. What is the best way to achieve this? Thank you in advance.

[pluby]

Let me answer your second question first. Your graphic should be embedded in the file. In most cases this is the default when you insert a graphic into a document. But just to be sure that this is the case, right-click or Control-click on the graphic in your document. In the popup menu that appears, select the Picture menu. In the dialog that appears, click on the Picture tab.

If your graphic is embedded in your document, the "File name" field in the "Link" section will be set to "[None]".

Now back to your first question.

Since the graphic appears on only the first page in NeoOffice but not after you save as a .doc file, I suspect that NeoOffice's underlying OpenOffice.org cannot easily convert the header configuration that is in your NeoOffice template file to Word's .doc file format.

The problem is that your template is in NeoOffice's native .odt file format and the .doc file format is Microsoft's proprietary file format. So when you save as .doc, NeoOffice's underlying OpenOffice.org makes its best attempt to convert its .odt file format to Microsoft's proprietary .doc format. Like when converting English text to a language like Japanese or Chinese, some of the details in your document get lost during conversion process.

To test my theory, can you create a document from your template that correctly only has a graphic on the first page and then save the file as an .odt file. When you reopening the .odt file, is the graphic still on the first page only?

Patrick

[pluby]

[gregwilson]

Thank you for your reply, Patrick. Yes, when saving as a .odt file the formatting does remain, but when saving as a .doc file the header appears on every page. I'm attaching the test.odt file with the header that worked properly. Thank you in advance for your help.

[pluby]

Thank you for the sample document. I found a simple way to change your document so that you can save it as a .doc file and the graphic will remain only on the first page.

A modified version of your sample file is attached to my post and here is a list of the changes that I made:

1. I cut the graphic from the header and pasted it in the document's main content area

2. I deleted the now empty header by unchecking the Insert :: Header :: First Page menu

3. I widened the top margin by selecting the Format :: Page menu and in the dialog that appears, clicking on the Page tab, changed the top margin, and clicked the OK button

4. I moved the graphic to the very top of the first page by clicking on it and then using the arrow keys to move it upward so that it touches the top of the page

Hope that helps.

Patrick

[gregwilson]

Thank you so much, Patrick! It works beautifully. I really can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

[gregwilson]

Well, it works beautifully in the sense that it does not spill the header over onto the second page as well. But when I set up the file as a template, it won't load the image. Btw, does it matter if I use a .odt or .ott file for template? When I create a new document from a template, the header is not there and it says "Read-error". Any ideas?

[gregwilson]

Actually, I seem to have gotten the template to load the image now, but when I save it as a .doc file and try to reopen it, the header is blank. There is just a white box in it's place, but no "Read-error" in it's place this time.

[pluby]

[gregwilson]

As with the "Read-Error", it seems to be working fine now despite my doing nothing different. But, as it is working now, hopefully it will stay that way and again, thank you so much for all of your help.