How to Print Mini Brochures

Use any word processing program to save money and print mini brochures yourself.

Why pay a professional printer to create promotional brochures for your company when you can print them yourself? Spend money only on large-format printed items and save by making the smaller pieces at home. Mini-brochures are a simple, but effective, promotional tool. You can create them using Microsoft Word or any other word processing program.

Things You'll Need

• Word processing program, like MS Word

Instructions

1. Launch your word processing program and create a new file. Go to the "File" drop-down menu and select "New."

2. Adjust the page margins and orientation. Go to the file drop-down menu and select "Page Set-Up." Click on the margin tab and adjust all margins to half an inch. This will ensure that your brochure does not get clipped off during the printing process. Make sure that you have the landscape page orientation option selected, and then press "OK."

3. Add columns for the brochure content once you've set up the basic page. The easiest way to do this is by using the chart button. Draw a chart that is one row long and three columns wide, highlight it and then right click to format the chart. Under the cell tab, adjust the cell width to three inches. This will create fold lines and an area for text and graphics. According to The Goodwill Community Foundation's website, you also may change the size of each column by dragging the right and left margin and right indent with your mouse until the columns are adjusted to the size that you want.

4. Organize the information on the brochure. How you choose to fold the brochure will determine where you place the content. The brochure can fold in a zig-zag pattern if you are looking for a more funky design or the standard fold option where the outer columns fold toward the center column.

5. Use shapes or insert pictures to add graphics to the mini brochure. To use shapes, go to the "Insert" drop-down menu and select a shape. Hold the shift key and drag across the page to draw the shape. You may change the color and outline of the shape by right clicking and selecting "Format Shape." To include your company logo in the brochure, add an image from a file by going to the "Insert" drop-down menu and selecting "Picture From File." Files with .jpg extensions work best.

6. Add text. For best results, use a font size between 10 and 13 points. The title page should have larger text to capture the attention of the reader. Also, be sure to include your business address, phone number, email address and other contact information.

7. Print the mini brochure. Go to the "File" drop-down menu and select "Print." Select the "Scale to Fit" option and press "OK."

Tips & Warnings

• After you've built the brochure, right click the three-column chart to format it. Select light gray border lines or the no border option to remove the black fold line from the brochure.

References

• GCFLearnFree: Working with Columns