When creating books with Word, it is important to put some tips into practice to obtain the best results. The first is the first, decide how big you want your book to be. This can be easy to carry out since we only have to choose a book from our collection that has the ideal size for our book and later, we measure it and configure the page size in Word.
Another important point that we should not leave aside is to create an index with the chapters and sections of each one, with their corresponding page numbers, in case they are included. In the case of a book format, thanks to the index, it will be much easier to find the content that readers want to consult.
It is also important that let’s set the margins correctly. Depending on the size and critically, the number of pages, they will make both the thickness of the book and its margins vary. We must take into account giving a little more margin on the left of the odd pages and an extra margin on the right of the even pages, so that, once all the pages have been joined in a printing or copy shop, the text is completely centered on the page.
We should not number all the pages, but we should take them into account. The reason is that in some of our documents we will need to have page numbers in the footer (or header), but in other parts of the book, such as the title and copyright pages, we don’t want numbers. Within Word’s page numbering options, we can establish the range of pages that we want to number and in which we want to skip the numbering while maintaining the series.
Create a PDF with our Word document
You already know that we have at our fingertips a multitude of file formats related to the world of office automation that we can use. By default, the program we are referring to now, Microsoft Word uses DOCX in which we generally save the projects that we carry out here. However, when working on a document that we want to have a book format, it is advisable to use another type of office file.
The best thing to do in this case that we are talking about now is to use the popular PDF which surely is more than familiar to most of you. And it is that these files in particular today we use them in all kinds of operating environments both at the user and professional level. In fact, the software giant’s text editor offers us several ways to save or convert the document we are working on at that moment, into a PDF. Among the many advantages that we find here, the possibility of editing and modifying that specific file is considerably complicated, something very useful for the books that interest us now.
Finally, it is always recommended save our book in PDF, a format that is gaining momentum and popularity for its quality and for never losing its shape, which will allow it to open correctly on any compatible device. If we want the text content to not be copied and pasted into other applications or publications, we can use an application like PDFelement or Adobe Acrobat to disable this function when we convert the Word document to PDF.
In addition, it is interesting to know that apart from the Microsoft program that we are talking about here, if we have decided to use a PDF file for our book, we have a wide range of possibilities within our reach. We tell you all this because from our Internet browser we have free access to a good number of web applications specially indicated to help us manage these files.
Thus we will have at our disposal a large number of functions specially dedicated to these files to place their pages, delete some, encrypt the entire file, flip some documents, and much more. Therefore, if we work with a voluminous document, we have converted it to PDF, something common in books, with these free programs we will be able to manage the pages that constitute it much better.
Use other alternate formats in Word documents
Thus, as we mentioned, in the event that what we want is to create a new document in word With book format, the program makes it easy for us. Clearly this is something quite different compared to the A4s we normally use, so let’s see how we can do it. As we mentioned, the program itself has a configuration of clip art page to create books from the program. This will allow us to use the program to start writing and that the pages that we add are formatted and adapted to that Format specific.
That is why we will show you the easiest way to achieve it below. As it is easy to suppose, the first thing will be to open Microsoft Word, but before starting to write the texts, we recommend that you make the pertinent changes if it is a book. With this we will avoid possible problems when applying the new format later, once we already have the text as such. Also, this is a change that we should carry out with any program customization task.
Whether we are going to modify the default margins, line spacing, font type, etc., it is best to do it before starting to write. In this way, what we achieve is that the text that we are going to introduce is placed correctly in the job that we carry out
Give your Word documents a book format
Thus, once we have opened the program, we have to go to the “Format” tab to click in the lower right corner of the “Page setup” section. It will be then when screen A new window will appear so that we can make the necessary adjustments in this regard. We are going to meet at the eyelash of “Margin”, where we can already establish these spaces depending on the book that we are going to design.
As a general rule we are used to working with text documents in four format. This is precisely the predefined format used by the Microsoft program and most text editors. The one that we conventionally know as folio, but it is by no means the only type of support that we are going to use in these texts, as we mentioned.
If we take into account that Word is the most widely used and popular editor of this type of document in the world, it is logical to think that it offers us many possibilities for change in this regard. Therefore, in the event that we are interested in writing a long document in the form of a book, the program offers us multiple customization possibilities, as we will see. First of all, we will talk about how to fully customize the new format that we want to apply to the document, that is, that of the book.
This will be very useful for the objective that we are looking for precisely here and to start by changing the default format of Word. Once we have achieved this, we are going to show you how to find the most appropriate document orientation for these jobs. But that’s not all, since as we said, this is a very complete text editor that offers us a huge amount of Additional functions. Therefore, in this same line we are going to take an in-depth look at the function of configuring the page of the program.
This will also help us to carry out a series of more personal changes on the document that we want to convert into a book. Because here many other configurable sections come into play with which we can make the text document perfect for what we need. In addition, it must be taken into account that all these changes will only have to be made once, since, once the document is configured at the beginning, from there we will only have to introduce the corresponding one. content.
Customize the book format in Word
However, a very important section here is found in the “Binding” field. We tell you this because by default it comes with a value of “0”, something that we should modify in a mandatory way. The reason for this is that if we leave it as is, we will surely run into problems because this value corresponds to the space between the text of the book and the fold of this. Therefore, at least we will assign a value of “1” to this so that the content of the new book is not lost or does not look good.
Another of the sections that we must watch is the so-called “Multiple pages” that is just below. Here, as we will see, a drop-down list appears where we will already have the possibility of selecting the “Book format” option.
Use proper document orientation
Next, we will see that, automatically, the orientation of the page changes from vertical to horizontal, so we can start entering the text which will be part of the book.
As you can imagine, this will make things much easier for us when it comes to getting an idea of what the content distribution will be like when actually writing a book. In addition, you can already see that the changes that are going to be carried out here are carried out in a few seconds. Of course, we must configure all of this in the most exact way possible to avoid problems later, when we are already in the middle of the task of writing.
With this, what we really want to tell you is that in this case it is preferable to make the appropriate changes and configurations from the beginning. This will make things much easier for us when filling out the form. content of our book. Otherwise, if we apply the changes once we already have the document with its corresponding pages defined, it is possible that a good part of this content will be out of position in an alarming way, which means additional work that most of us want to avoid.
Convert DOCX to PDF
It is very possible that, if we have carried out all these treatments with our document edited in Word, later we plan to share it with others. This type of movement is quite common if we are developing a personal book of any kind. Therefore, once we have adapted the file in DOCX format so that it has the form of a book, which is what we are interested in in this case, it may be advisable to convert it to PDF before sending it or sharing it with others.
This is something that we can carry out in a simple way with applications, both local and on the Internet, specially indicated for these tasks. However, it is not necessary that we resort to other solutions third party software to convert our book to PDF. In fact, the Microsoft program in which we find ourselves offers us several exits in this regard. For example, when saving it we have the possibility of choosing a PDF format instead of the DOCX that is established by default.
In parallel we can also use the function Microsoft Print to PDF to convert that file directly to the format we are looking for right now. With this, what we achieve is a final file that is difficult to avoid and will also give it a more professional appearance if we are going to present it to other people. It is worth mentioning…
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