How to Make a Funeral Program in Microsoft Word

You can make a simple letter-bifold funeral program in Word using the built-in Book Fold layout, which splits a landscape page into two columns and reorders the pages automatically. Below is the honest step-by-step — page setup, margins, fonts, and the printing settings that trip people up — plus a realistic time estimate: about 60 to 90 minutes for a first try.

Step by step

1. Set up the page as a book fold. Go to Layout, then Margins, then Custom Margins. Under Multiple pages, choose Book fold. Word switches the page to landscape and will lay your four pages out as two facing spreads that print and fold correctly.
2. Set margins and choose fonts. Use margins of at least 0.5 inches on every side so nothing gets clipped near the fold or the trim edge. Choose one heading font and one body font (Word's built-in fonts work fine); avoid more than two fonts on one program.
3. Add photos at full print resolution. Use a photo that's at least 300 dpi at the size you're printing it — a photo pulled from a text message or a small web thumbnail will look blurry once printed, even if it looks fine on screen.
4. Check the page order before you print. With Book Fold set, Word handles page order automatically, but double-check by looking at the print preview: page 4 and page 1 should appear on one side of the sheet, pages 2 and 3 on the other, so that folding the single sheet in half puts everything in the right order.
5. Print two-sided with the correct duplex setting. In the print dialog, set two-sided printing to 'Flip pages on short edge,' not long edge. Flipping on the long edge is the single most common mistake and prints the back of the sheet upside down.
6. Print one copy first. Before printing the full set, print and fold a single copy and check the name spelling, photo, fold direction, and page order — this catches a mistake for the cost of one sheet of paper.

How do I set up the page in Word for a bifold?

1. Go to Layout → Margins → Custom Margins.
2. Under Multiple pages, choose Book fold.
3. Word automatically switches the page to landscape and treats your document as a set of facing spreads that print and fold correctly on one sheet.

This built-in feature does the page-splitting and reordering work for you — you don’t need to manually lay out two columns per page yourself.

What margins and fonts should I use?

Use margins of at least 0.5 inches on every side, so text and images near the fold or the outer edge don’t get clipped when the sheet is folded or trimmed. Keep your font choices simple: one font for headings and one for body text is enough — Word’s built-in fonts (Georgia, Calibri, Garamond, and similar) all work fine and are installed on most computers that have Word, which matters if you’re printing at a shop from a different machine. To be safe, save a PDF (File > Save As > PDF) and print that: a PDF keeps your fonts.

How do I add a photo without it printing blurry?

Use a photo file that’s at least 300 dpi at the size you’re actually printing it. This is the step that trips people up most: a photo that looks perfectly sharp on a phone screen may only be effectively 72-150 dpi once it’s scaled up to fill a quarter of a printed page, and it will look soft or pixelated once printed. Check the image’s actual pixel dimensions (right-click the file → Properties, or look at it in Photos) against your intended print size before finalizing the layout.

How do I get the folding and page order right?

With Book Fold set, Word handles the page order automatically — but always confirm it before printing the full run by checking the print preview: page 4 should sit next to page 1 on one side of the sheet, and pages 2 and 3 should sit next to each other on the other side. This “4 and 1 on one side, 2 and 3 on the other” pattern is what makes a single folded sheet read in the correct order (cover, page 2, page 3, back).

How do I export or print it correctly?

In the print dialog, find the two-sided (duplex) printing option and set it to Flip pages on short edge — not long edge. This is the single most common mistake in DIY program printing: flipping on the long edge prints the back of the sheet upside down relative to the front, so when you fold it, the inside pages read correctly but the back cover is upside down.

Print one copy first. Before committing to a full print run, print and fold a single test copy and check the name spelling, the photo, the fold direction, and the page order. This step costs one sheet of paper and catches nearly every mistake that would otherwise show up only after printing 50 or 100 copies — see the full printing guide for more on this.

Is there a faster way?

Yes, and we’ll say so plainly rather than talk around it: Candlefold’s guided form takes about 20 minutes and produces the program, a matching memorial slideshow, and prayer cards together, for $39. Doing it yourself in Word is a completely reasonable choice, especially if you enjoy the process or already have a template you like — this guide exists to make that path work well, not to talk you out of it. If time before the service is tight, the faster path is there too.

Questions families ask

How do I set up the page in Word for a bifold?

Layout > Margins > Custom Margins > Multiple pages > Book fold. Word automatically switches to landscape and lays your pages out in the correct printing order for a single-sheet bifold.

What margins and fonts should I use?

At least 0.5 inches on every side, so nothing near the fold or the edge gets clipped when trimmed or folded. Stick to one heading font and one body font — Word's built-in fonts (Georgia, Calibri, and similar) all work fine.

How do I add a photo without it printing blurry?

Use a photo file that's at least 300 dpi at the actual size you're printing it. A photo that looks sharp on a phone screen (which is usually only 72-150 dpi effective resolution once scaled up) can print blurry — check the file's actual pixel dimensions against your print size before finalizing.

How do I get the folding and page order right?

Book Fold layout handles this automatically in Word, but always confirm in print preview before printing the full run: page 4 should be next to page 1 on one side of the sheet, and pages 2 and 3 next to each other on the other side.

How do I export or print it correctly?

Print two-sided with 'Flip pages on short edge' selected in the print dialog's duplex setting — this is the setting that most often gets left on the default long-edge flip, which prints the back of the page upside down.

Is there a faster way?

Yes, honestly — Candlefold's guided form takes about 20 minutes and produces the program, a matching memorial slideshow, and prayer cards together for $39. This isn't a knock on doing it yourself in Word; it's simply faster if the time before the service is tight.

Sources

• Microsoft Support: Create a booklet or book in Word (checked 2026-09-26) — the Book Fold layout steps and the “Flip pages on short edge” duplex setting.

The 300 dpi photo-resolution guidance and the 60-90 minute time estimate reflect standard desktop-publishing practice and Candlefold’s own editorial estimate, not a specific external statistic.