Microsoft Word ships with a usable flyer template gallery, and most flyers a small business or community group will print can be built without leaving Word. The trick is knowing where to find the templates and how to swap the placeholder content cleanly.
Word’s built-in flyer templates
Open Word, choose File > New, and type “flyer” into the search box at the top of the template gallery. Word returns several dozen options covering events, sales, services, real estate, garage sales, and class notices. Templates load directly into a new document, complete with placeholder text, image frames, and pre-set fonts and colours.
The gallery refreshes from Microsoft’s online template service, so the available designs vary slightly by Word version and region. Word 2019, Word for Microsoft 365, and Word for the web all show roughly the same gallery; older standalone versions show fewer recent designs.
If a template includes “Modern” or “Bold” in its name, it usually leans on a single accent colour and a strong heading font — easier to customise without breaking the design.
Editing for your message
Click any placeholder text and type to replace it. The styling stays intact unless you change it deliberately. To change colours across the whole document at once, open the Design tab and pick a different theme colour set; this updates headings, accent blocks, and link colours in one step.
Replace placeholder images by right-clicking the existing image and choosing Change Picture > From File. Word resizes the new image to match the original frame, which preserves the layout. If a logo needs to go in, use Insert > Pictures and drag it into position; set the wrap to “In Front of Text” to move it freely.
Avoid typing into text boxes that have decorative borders attached — the border anchors to the box, so deleting the text deletes the border with it.
Sizing options
Most Word flyer templates default to A4 (UK and Europe) or US Letter (US and Canada). To switch, open Layout > Size and pick the alternative. Margins automatically adjust, but check the layout afterwards because some background images are sized to one paper standard and crop oddly on the other.
Half-page flyers work too. Set the page size to A5 or US Half Letter under Layout > Size > More Paper Sizes, or print two copies per A4/Letter sheet by selecting “2 pages per sheet” in the print dialog.
Printing on heavyweight paper
Standard 80gsm office paper produces flimsy flyers. For anything that needs to feel substantial — event invitations, retail notices left on counters — use 100-130gsm paper. Heavier weights may need to be fed through the manual feed tray rather than the main paper drawer because most home printers’ main feeds jam on stock above 120gsm.
Set printer properties to “card stock” or “heavyweight paper” if the option exists; this slows the feed and increases ink saturation. For full guidance on weights, bleed, and commercial print preparation, see print-ready brochure templates.
Avery and similar product sheets
Avery’s flyer-adjacent products include 3263 (heavyweight matte) and 5871 (two-sided heavyweight) — usable for flyers that need extra durability or a glossy finish. For a Google Docs alternative when Word is not available, see designing brochures and flyers in Google Docs.