Create a Word letterhead from your designed PDF
Already have a letterhead PDF from a designer or printer? Turn it into a Word document with the artwork locked in the header and footer, instead of rebuilding it by hand.
This page is for people who already have a designed letterhead and need it working in Word. Starting from a blank page with no design? Follow the step-by-step guide on how to create a letterhead in Word instead: margins, header, logo, footer and a saved .dotx, about 30 minutes.
If you do have a letterhead — sitting in a PDF a designer or stationer built — the right path is to lift that design into Word rather than rebuild it from scratch. Letterhead Lab places the artwork into the Word document’s header and footer, sets the body margins to match, and gives you back a clean editable page beneath. Your PDF is parsed in your browser and never uploaded.
Creating a Word letterhead the right way
A letterhead in Word is not the body of a letter — it is the page around the body. Word has a dedicated surface for that: the header and footer, which render once and repeat on every page. Putting the artwork there means a ten-page filing keeps its masthead with nothing to copy by hand. For the manual route, the eight-step guide on how to create a letterhead in Word walks through every click.
Whichever path you take, save the result as a .dotx if more than one person will draft on the letterhead — a template opens as a fresh copy each time, so the master is never overwritten. The format rules for either path are the same, and the conversion preview is free; pay $19 only when you download.
Frequently asked questions
- Which path is faster: building from scratch or converting a PDF?
- Building from scratch in Word takes around an hour if you have the artwork and a sense of the format. Converting a PDF takes a minute or two — most of which is previewing the result. Converting is faster whenever a designed PDF already exists.
- Do I need design skills to create a letterhead in Word from scratch?
- You need typographic taste more than design skills — knowing the right face for a firm name, what size an address line should be, how tall a header should be. If you do not have that and you have a designed PDF, lift the design instead.
- Will the result look the same on a colleague's machine?
- When you convert a PDF, yes — the artwork is an image, so the typography is baked in and identical on every machine. When you build from scratch, anyone missing a font will see Word substitute it, which can shift the look.
- Should I save it as .docx or .dotx?
- Use .docx when one person types on the letterhead, and .dotx when several people share it — a .dotx opens as a fresh untitled copy each time, so nobody overwrites the master. The Multi-page bundle includes a .dotx.
- What if I do not like the conversion?
- Email hello@letterheadlab.com — we will either fix it or refund you.
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