How to Make a Brochure or Pamphlet in Google Docs

You don’t need to hire an advertising agency to design a few brochures for your latest campaign. Free and accessible, Google Docs offers easy methods for creating a great brochure.

Google Docs might not have many brochure templates, but customizing a template to suit your needs is easy. You can also create a tri-fold brochure yourself or use a third-party template to make it even easier. Let’s start.

How to create a brochure in Google Docs

1. Open Google Docs in your web browser by navigating to docs.google.com. To do this, you must of course be logged into your Google account.

2. You can already see some common templates above, but choose these Template gallery Ability to view them all at once.

3. There are many different types of templates in the gallery – scroll down until you see a couple of brochure options.

4. Selecting the template opens a new document with the formatting already in place and filled with dummy text.

5. Now simply replace the text with your own content and add images with your brand logos.

This makes for a pretty decent brochure with reasonable margins and a nice layout. When you’re happy, you can start printing or customize it further.

Customize your brochure template in Google Docs

You can easily edit a template to add any written or visual content you want, but what about the formatting of the page itself? That’s easy too.

Open any brochure template and select it file > page setup. Here you can customize all aspects of your brochure’s page formatting.

orientation

Page orientation is set to portrait by default, which is ideal for simple brochures. However, to create a tri-fold brochure, you need the horizontal layout of the landscape Orientation.

edges

The existing margins leave enough space on all pages, but can be adapted to your personal needs at any time. It’s generally not a good idea to completely remove margins unless your layout already leaves enough room around the margins.

page size

Click on the drop down menu below page size retrieves a list of page sizes. Each entry has a name and dimensions in inches. Letter is usually the correct option, but you can select a different size from the list.

page color

Google Docs brochure templates have a white background, but that doesn’t mean you have to stick to it. Promotional materials can benefit from some background color and brochures are no exception.

How to create a tri-fold brochure in Google Docs

The Google Docs template gallery is great for multi-page business brochures, but you won’t find templates for the far more common tri-fold brochure. Instead, you can create one yourself with a simple tweak.

1. Open first page setup of the file Menu.

2. Set the orientation to landscape. You need the extra space to accommodate a trifold layout.

3. You may also want to reduce the margins, especially on the Left and Right. When it comes to a brochure, our goal is to include as much information as possible.

4. Choose OK to apply the changes to the current document.
5. Now go to format > columns and select the three-column option on the right.

6. If you have any content on the page, it will be automatically sorted into three columns. You can adjust the margins between the columns with the little blue arrows to make sure you have enough room to fold.

Depending on your inserted images and overall design, you may want to play around with the page and column borders until they go well together. Then simply print out the brochures and fold them.

You can also use the same process to create a fold-out brochure. Just select the double column option in step five and adjust your margins accordingly.

Using third-party templates

Google Docs templates can be pretty boring, and there aren’t even that many to choose from. If you don’t have any cool design ideas in mind, try starting with a third-party template.

There are many websites that offer brochure templates for Google Docs. For this tutorial, we’re going to try a brochure design from GooDocs

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The site offers an incredible variety of brochure designs covering all types of business needs absolutely free. Templates compatible with Google Docs have a blue icon and can be imported directly.

1. Head over to GooDocs brochure templates to find a design you like.

2. Selecting a template will open its specific page, with a clearer view of how the brochure will look. Click on that EDIT TEMPLATE Button on the right to use the template.

3. This template is one size only, but some may have multiple options. Confirm your desired size to continue.

4. After waiting a few seconds, you will be redirected to Google Docs. If you are signed in to your Google account in the web browser, you can do this now Make a copy in Google Docs for your use.

5. The template opens in a new document with all formatting present. Just replace the content and you can start printing.

What is the best way to create a brochure or pamphlet in Google Docs?

Customizing a Google Docs brochure template with your own content and formatting is the easiest way to create a brochure. Whether you need a two-page brochure or a fold-out brochure, you can create both yourself.

However, it may be easier to import a third-party template that already includes these features. You can copy a nice trifold template from a site like GooDocs and just edit the content.

This way, you can use any Google Docs add-ons you need and save the document to your own Google Drive. Keep an eye on the margins and when you’re happy, start printing the booklets.