How to Format a Greeting Card in Word

By Craig Witt

Developed by Microsoft and included in its Office suite of productivity software, Word allows you to create print-formatted documents such as letters, envelopes, brochures and forms. Although you can manually configure the page sizing and layout elements associated with a greeting card document, both Word 2007 and Word 2010 provide access to an array of formatted templates that can save you a great deal of time. As long as you have a network connection, accessing these templates and formatting a greeting card in Microsoft Word become quick tasks.

Click the "Office" button near the top-left corner of the Microsoft Word program window and select "New."

Look to the left-hand column in the resulting dialog box and select the "Cards" item if you use Word 2007. In Word 2010, double-click the "Greeting cards" folder located near the middle of the screen.

Click on the specific category that corresponds to the type of card you want to create--e.g., "Friendship and love cards" or "Occasion and event cards."

Double-click on the name of the template you want to use. Also click "I agree" if prompted by Word. The template file will download to your computer and appear on your screen within a few seconds.

Click on a text box, select the placeholder text and then edit or replace the template's default greeting as needed.

Highlight the text you just edited and then select the "Home" tab located near the top-left corner of the window. Specify your preferred formatting--font face, font size, colors, italics, underlining--by selecting the corresponding options within the "Fonts" section of the "Home" tab. If you wish to use the template's default formatting, skip this step.

Click once on the default picture, click the "Delete" key and then select the "Insert" tab located near the top-left corner of the window. Select the "Picture" button located within the "Illustrations" section, locate your preferred cover image and then insert it by double-clicking its icon. If you wish to use the template's default picture, skip this step.

Click the "Office" button again and select "Save." Give the file a name, select a save location and then click the "Save" button to confirm your choices and save the greeting card document to your computer.

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