Groupwise 5.5 Document Management

In groupwise I click on the new document, then asked which app to choose, Word 95 is the option. Enter the properties and “open document now.”
It opens the doc in Word with the format of Letter instead of A4 which I want.
But if word is Open already and I go through the Groupwise new doc process all is fine with the page format.
Has anyone got any ideas as to why this would happen?