diff --git a/six/modules/c++/cphd/include/cphd/FileHeader.h b/six/modules/c++/cphd/include/cphd/FileHeader.h
index 7ffa8ce07..b19657198 100644
--- a/six/modules/c++/cphd/include/cphd/FileHeader.h
+++ b/six/modules/c++/cphd/include/cphd/FileHeader.h
@@ -100,7 +100,8 @@ class FileHeader final : public BaseFileHeader
      *
      * returns file version string
      */
-    Version getVersion() const;
+    std::string getVersion() const;
+    void getVersion(Version&) const;
 
     /*
      *  \func setVersion
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ class FileHeader final : public BaseFileHeader
      *  ex: 1.0.0, 1.0.1 etc
      *
      */
+    void setVersion(const std::string&);
     void setVersion(Version);
 
     /*
diff --git a/six/modules/c++/cphd/source/FileHeader.cpp b/six/modules/c++/cphd/source/FileHeader.cpp
index 547c706a7..933ebcebb 100644
--- a/six/modules/c++/cphd/source/FileHeader.cpp
+++ b/six/modules/c++/cphd/source/FileHeader.cpp
@@ -204,15 +204,23 @@ std::string FileHeader::toString() const
     return os.str();
 }
 
-Version FileHeader::getVersion() const
+std::string FileHeader::getVersion() const
 {
-    return mVersion;
+    return to_string(mVersion);
+}
+void FileHeader::getVersion(Version& version) const
+{
+    version = mVersion;
 }
 
 void FileHeader::setVersion(Version version)
 {
     mVersion = version;
 }
+void FileHeader::setVersion(const std::string& strVersion)
+{
+    setVersion(FileHeader::toVersion(strVersion));
+}
 
 size_t FileHeader::set(int64_t xmlBlockSize,
                        int64_t supportBlockSize,