We all use Microsoft Word for creating personal and office documents. However, only few of us know and use simple features that can change the appeal of your document. Adding cover page is one such a useful feature you can use with Word for Windows and Mac. In this article, i will go through how to create cover page from pre-defined templates, creating your custom template and editing its content.
Cover Page in Word
Informal documents do not need a cover page. Probably you may waste the time to add a cover page for sending an instructional document to your users. However, cover page makes sense in the following situations especially when you have lengthy document:
- Sending a project proposal document to your client.
- Preparing an official document for your manager.
- Creating an eBook which needs a beautiful cover page.
In addition, sometime a small document with few pages like resume can also have a neat cover page. Here, i will explain how to add cover page in Word with Microsoft 365 version. The procedure is same in previous Word versions like 2019, 2016, etc.
Adding Cover Page in Word for Windows
Though you can create a cover page by adding different elements, the easy way is to insert from one of the existing templates.
- Launch Word app and open the document you want to add a cover page.
- Go to “Insert” tab and click on “Cover Page” option. This is available under “Pages” group showing extreme left in the ribbon.
- You can see the long list of template cover pages.
- Click on the one you like to insert it in your document.
Word for Windows version also comes with few online cover page templates from Office.com. You can view these templates by clicking on “More Cover Pages from Office.com” option under “Cover Page” menu.
Adding Cover Page in Word for Mac
The procedure is same in Word for Mac.
- When you in the document, go to “Insert” menu from the ribbon. Remember, Mac will always have a top menu for all applications. You should not use the “Insert” menu from the top bar, instead select it from the ribbon.
- Click on the “Pages” option showing at extreme left end and select “Cover Page”.
- You will find a list of predefined cover page templates and click on the one you like to insert in your document.
Editing Cover Page in Word
Now that you know how to add a cover page, the next step is to edit the template content and use your own.
- If your cover page has a picture, right click on it. Select “Change Picture” option from the context menu and upload your own image. You can also use free stock images and icons from the free library available as part of Microsoft 365 subscription plan.
- The placeholder text content will show within square brackets. Click on it and update the content with your own text. You may also need to change heading, author name and company name details.
- If you do not want an item on the cover page, simply select the item, and press the delete button to get rid of it. Remember, for some items like author name you need to select the field label and delete it. Otherwise, deleting the content inside the field will show a blank box.
Saving Custom Templates
Cover page templates in Word contains multiple fields having rigid fixed position on the layout. You may not rearrange the fields easily and move them to different place. The problem comes when you have to reuse the same template on multiple documents. It will be tedious task to repeat the same customizations for each document. You can handle this problem in few ways.
- Select existing template and customize it as per your need. After that save this template by selecting “Save Selection to Cover Page Gallery…” option available under “Cover Page” menu. This menu item will show as frozen state when you are inserting a new cover page. however, it will change to active state when you click on the cover page and navigate the menu. It will open “Create New Building Block” dialog box where you can provide necessary details and save the template. Once saved, you can find it under the dropdown gallery of “Cover Page” menu so that you can insert in any of your document.
- Manually create a cover page and add it to the gallery by using Quick Parts. Check out our article on how to use Quick Parts to create reusable templates in Word.
Deleting or Replacing Cover Page
Word will always insert a cover page as a first page in your document regardless of current cursor position. If you want to delete the cover page, simply go to “Cover Page” menu item. Click on the “Remove Current Cover Page” option in Windows. You will the option is showing as “Remove Cover Page” in Word for Mac.
Similarly, you may messed up the content while editing your cover page. Do not worry, simply select same or another template from the gallery. This will replace your current cover page and an afresh template.
