Customize a Word Template Online: Headings, Colors, Logo and Text Effects

Customizing a Word template the usual way means Modify Style dialogs: five to ten clicks to restyle one heading, and no preview until you press OK. Then you do it again for the next heading, and the list styles, and the table. Our new Word template customizer does it on a live page instead. Click any heading, list, table or footer and its settings open. Every change shows on the page as you make it, and the sliders update while you drag them.

What you can change

• Headings - font, size, color, capitals or small caps, letter spacing, alignment and the space above and below, for each level from Heading 1 to Heading 6
• Heading decoration - color bands, shading, top and bottom rules, side bars, underlines and heading numbers
• Text effects - glow, drop shadow, outlined letters and gradient fills, written as Word's own effects so they show in Word, not just in the preview
• Your brand colors - pick from the template's palette or enter an exact color, and the customizer warns you if text gets hard to read
• Body text and lists - font, line spacing, the gap between paragraphs, bullets and numbered lists
• Tables, quotes and links - header row and first column colors, quote size and indent, link color
• The page - margins, page color and Page Decoration
• Header and footer - three zones or full width, your logo, page numbers and today's date

It's a real Word template

Everything you set is saved into the document's own Word styles, starting with Heading 1 to Heading 6, so the documents you make from it keep working in Word afterwards. The navigation pane, table of contents and Modify Style all behave normally, and anyone you send the file to sees the same design. Heading fonts are embedded in the file, so they hold up on other computers too.

How to customize a Word template

1. Open the customizer and choose a starting template. Every built-in design works, including the new Studio range
2. Click the part of the page you want to change, or work through the tabs: Colors, Headings, Body and lists, Tables, quotes and links, and Page
3. Use Create Test Doc to download a sample document and check it in Word
4. Save the template. It joins your templates on the homepage, so formatting your next document into it takes one click

Already have your own Word template?

The customizer works on Format Magic's built-in templates. You can still upload your own Word template and format documents into it, but an uploaded template can't be opened in the customizer. That leaves three easy routes:

• Upload it as it is - if your template is already set up the way you want, upload the .docx or .dotx and use it directly. Format Magic reads its styles, headers and footers. The template compatibility guide covers what carries over
• Rebuild the design in the customizer - start from the built-in template closest to yours, then set your fonts, exact brand colors and logo. and you can see the result against every heading level, list and table as you go
• Ask us - if you're not sure which route suits your template, get in touch and we'll help you get it set up

Try it before you subscribe

Every setting works in preview mode, so you can build your whole design first. Saving templates and downloading test documents are part of Premium. The customizer is made for a desktop or laptop screen.