How to Make Custom Letterhead Using Publisher and Word

When letters or other documents are printed on letterhead that includes your business, school or organization’s contact information, logo and other custom details, they appear much more professional than they would on plain paper. Custom letterhead can be expensive to purchase and challenging to create, unless you know how to design it yourself. Fortunately, creating a custom design in Publisher is simple. Once you do, you can apply it to the background of a Word document and save it as your own unique letterhead template.

Begin by opening a blank publication in Microsoft Publisher, selecting Portrait orientation. Add logos or other images by going to the Insert menu in Publisher 2007 or earlier, pointing to Picture and selecting From File to locate an image stored on your computer or network. In Publisher 2010, go to the Insert tab and click on Picture in the Illustrations group. You can also select Clip Art in any version of Publisher to add an image from the Microsoft Clip Art gallery.

Position the images where you want them to appear on your letterhead by dragging them. You can resize them by dragging a corner or side, as well.

There are a couple of ways to add text to your letterhead. You can insert a text box going to the Insert menu in Publisher 2007 or earlier or the Insert tab in Publisher 2010 and selecting text box. Draw the text box onto the page and position it as desired. You can then type text, such as your business name or address and phone number, into the box. Use the font tools to customize the font’s size and appearance.

Another option is to use WordArt to post your name across the top or along the border of the page. In Publisher 2007 or earlier, go to the Insert menu, point to Picture and select WordArt . Choose WordArt from the Insert tab in Publisher 2010. Type in your text and modify the font as desired, than move or rotate the image to place it where you want it.

Once you have designed your letterhead, you must save it as an image. Press Ctrl+A to select all of the objects in the publication. Right-click anywhere on the selection and choose Group . Click off the page to deselect any objects and then right-click the publication. Select Save as Picture and choose a name and location for the image file. Click Save and close Publisher.

Now you can insert your letterhead into Word. Open a new, blank Word document. In Word 2003, go to the Format menu, point to Background , and click on Printed Watermark . In Word 2007 or 2010, go to the Page Layout tab. Click Watermark and choose Printed Watermark or Custom Watermark .

The steps from here are the same no matter which version of Word you use. Click Picture watermark and then click Select Picture . Select the image file you created in Publisher and click Insert . Choose 100% in the Scale box and clear the Washout check box. Click OK to apply the background and close the dialog.

The background may appear washed out, but when you go to the Print Preview screen, you will see that it is in full color.

Save the file as a template. Press the F12 key to open the Save As dialog and choose Word Template in the Save as Type box. Enter a name for the file, choose the file location and click Save . You now have a custom letterhead template.



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