Letterhead export as a doc template.

[SeeB]

What is the recommended method for using either a letterhead of logo in a Word document? There are sample letterhead pages in the program, but I don't know they are used in Word etc. Are they exported as .wmf If so, is scaling an issue?

Thanks in advance

[Odat]

One way to use letterheads with Word (the way I use):

Firstly, I would compose the letterhead in Xara on the appropriate paper size so that the letterhead/logo was in the position that I wanted it to be, and then print off a bunch of those directly from Xara.

Then in Word I'd adjust the page margins to the size and position of the graphics in the letterhead. This is fairly easy to do because Xara will show you the width and height of your graphics in inches, which you can use directly to set the margins.

After writing the document, proof reading, spell checking and things like that, I'd do a test print on regular blank paper to make sure things look the way I want, and then load up the pre-printed letterhead sheets into the printer and print the document again.

A little trick I use here when working with an unfamiliar printer is to use a pen to mark one of the corners of the blank paper before I print. Then you can compare the stuff that was printed with the mark on the paper to make sure that you load the letterhead paper into the printer in the proper orientation.

I'm not much of a Word guru, so there may or may not be a better word-based way to pull off something like that.

[WolfMoonHP]

Since Word does not allow direct "insert picture" for XAR files, I usually create my logo/letterhead in Xara, then export to JPEG at printer resolution (not the default 96 dpi), and they look great.

I save the letterhead as a template, then have it available for all new letters.
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Will

[amoore]

I've set up Word letterhead templates doing what Odat suggests regarding the margins. However, I put a graphic containing the design elements in the template itself instead of preprinting the paper.

If the preprinting works for you, it might be easier to use. OTOH, if the design elements are all in the template, you can do a letter in one pass. You can also print the letter to pdf so you can email it. Plus, if more than one person needs to use the letterhead, a template is easier to distribute.

That said, setting up letterhead templates is actually easier and more reliable in WordPro than in Word. For one thing, in WordPro the graphic stays where you put it. In Word, you'll need to pay attention to where the anchor goes.

A trick I use in another app is to anchor the graphic to a null paragraph. Haven't tried it in Word, but it might work. Put an empty paragraph at the top of the text area, and make sure that the graphic anchor is attached to it. Then create a style for that paragraph that has as small a font size and as little spacing (above, below, interline) as you can manage. You might want to make it red so you can see it when you turn on paragraph mark display. When you do a letter, just make sure you don't change that paragraph.

When exporting your letterhead graphic from Xara, do not use jpg. That format is not suited to this purpose. Experiment with gif, png and tif. If your paper is white, your letterhead graphic will have sharper text if there's no transparency. If your paper is not white, you won't be able to match the paper color online, so you'll have to use transparency. (Or design your letterhead so the elements are contained in a rectangular area that doesn't let the paper color show through.) Either way, you'll want to use a higher resolution bitmap. Experiment with 150dpi and 300dpi bitmaps, and see what works best with your printer.

Of course, you can also try exporting as wmf. Offhand, I can't remember why I haven't used it. Perhaps it's the fonts.

[David O'Neil]

...That said, setting up letterhead templates is actually easier and more reliable in WordPro than in Word. For one thing, in WordPro the graphic stays where you put it. In Word, you'll need to pay attention to where the anchor goes...

I believe the above statement can only be said if you don't yet understand all of Word. (Word is a big package, so it is/was hard to master some of these details.) It sounds like what you want is to create your graphic and stick it in a header within your document. If you do it that way, you don't have to worry about using anchors at all. You may want to create a distinct style for the paragraph, though.

I would place the graphic in the header, create any text that you want standard across all letters (ie-return address), and save it as a template, as others have said. From what you have requested, Word can easily handle this.

David

[edit]Here's an example. Save this as a .dot, and you should be good to go (after you change the graphics and other stuff, of course).

[amoore]

It sounds like what you want is to create your graphic and stick it in a header within your document. If you do it that way, you don't have to worry about using anchors at all.

Depends on the design of your letterhead. As it happens, all the letterheads I've done this way involve graphics in the upper left corner or left margin, and the header isn't an option in those cases. Can't remember the last time someone wanted a setup where I could stick it in the header.

But you're correct that the header can be used if the layout is right. For some designs, the footer is also a possibility.

I had intended to mention the header and footer, but it got lost as I pieced the post together between interruptions. Thanks for pointing it up.

[David O'Neil]

...As it happens, all the letterheads I've done this way involve graphics in the upper left corner or left margin, and the header isn't an option in those cases...

I think it is still an option. As I said, Word is pretty powerful...

[jclements]

My quick reply.

Word is "powerful" but it sucks with graphics and is not flexible (time consuming) when design layout has to change or text content or text flow changes.

A template is one thing for "static" design, but anything more can be quite frustrating ... even for the more experienced. Believe me, I've watched experienced/dedicated wordproccessing folks who use it for proposal and reports. Last minute revisions can reek havoc.

I have heard there have been improvements for Office 2007, although I have only seen the new PowerPoint and Excel integration at work and they have been greatly improved; finally, the Office apps all use the same graphic's engine.

[WolfMoonHP]

Alison, I'm curious why you dislike jpegs for use in a letterhead?

My personal letterhead uses color jpegs framing my text information. They are at 300 dpi and I print at 1200 dpi on an HP 2500 color laser printer. The images are sharp and clear, with colors just as I designed them.

I am in the process of designing letterheads for a corporate client, to be printed by a commercial printer. Would I be better off doing the grapics in tiff?
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Will

[amoore]

Alison, I'm curious why you dislike jpegs for use in a letterhead?

If jpgs are working for you, I don't know of any reason to change your process. I expect you're doing stuff that's much higher end than what I do, so your needs may be different.

The only letterhead I send to a commercial printer is my company's. I didn't design that, but I did recreate it in Ventura when the original files became unavailable. It's two-color (PMS and black) and includes bleeds. I send our current vendor the artwork as a separated pdf. (He actually gets two pdfs. One is the seps. The other is a comp.)

The other letterheads I do are intended for email or desktop printer output, where the colors don't have to be exact. If the design is all text, I may do it entirely in a wordprocessor. If there's a logo, chances are the graphic was set up in Xara and exported as a bitmap.

To date, I have not gotten acceptably sharp text using jpg for these logos.
Part of it is file size. (If the letter is mostly going to be read online, then you probably don't want to go higher than 96dpi in your bitmaps.) Part of it is the amount of text involved.

One of the letterheads I maintain is for a volunteer organization with a tight budget. In addition to the logo and the organization's name and address, contact info for six officers has to be included. I tend to refer to the kit & kaboodle as the "masthead" because that's what it looks like. The masthead is exported from Xara as one bitmap. Since, the "letterhead" is distributed as a template to those who need it, it has to work on whatever printer the user has. We did templates for both Word and WordPerfect. (I did the initial layout in WordPro because it's so much faster.) I think they're all using a 300dpi png at this point.

Over the years, various experts have told me to use tiffs for commercial printing because they were less likely to cause trouble. I don't know if that's still true. I would rather hand an SB or commercial printer a pdf rather than a bitmap, but I can think of some designs (transparencies, anyone?) where a bitmap may be the way to go.