I always caveat that they’ll never achieve the same level of finish as my work in InDesign. This is the standard software after all and not everyone has tons of cash to spend on a designer.

I will often create basic templates for clients using Word. Side note: I charge four times more for doing things in Microsoft programs than any other program. It would be more beneficial to train someone in your marketing team to learn to work in InDesign using templates than use word for professional marketing comms. The short versions is : Print layout in Word = $$.Īny complex designing in Word comes with increased time and stress because of the amount of time spent in trying to achieve a reasonable layout or design and trouble-shooting the program’s drawbacks. What’s surprising is that in the last 12 years Word has only become worse as a program. I found this 12 year old article that summarises it in great detail but it gets into technical issues pretty quick. So if you want to create an amazing Annual Report or Document, that’s great, but when it comes time to printing it to a professional standard, it will never work. And, if you want to print full bleed (to the edge of the paper) that’s a nightmare no one should have to experience. The biggest being you cannot professionally print from Word.

Comparing Microsoft Word to Adobe InDesign is like comparing a toy car to a Ferarriĭesigns and layouts can be made in Word – but it has huge limitations. And while I think Microsoft Word is the devils work, I will try and make a case for it.

I’m often asked about using Word for print design… I’ll go out on a limb and buck the trend and say yes it can be done.

Indesign to microsoft word