Guide
How to Format a Book in Word or Google Docs
You can make a paperback interior in Microsoft Word. Here is how, step by step, with the settings that printers check, where Google Docs falls short, and where Word itself stops. Every step points at Microsoft’s or Google’s own help page, so nothing here is folklore.
By Corey Jackson, developer of Lacuna
Reviewed by Melissa Erin Jackson, author of 15 self-published books
Updated October 5, 2026 · Read about us
The short answer
Set the page to your trim size, mirror the margins, put the text in styles, and save a PDF with the fonts embedded.
- Layout, Size, More Paper Sizes: 6 x 9 inches is the most common size in the US
- Mirror margins: 0.875 in inside, 0.5 outside, 0.75 top and bottom
- Body text at 10 to 12 point, chapter titles in Heading 1
- Google Docs has no custom page size and no mirror margins
Three decisions before you touch a setting
Word applies settings to the whole document or to a section, and changing them later means doing the work twice. Decide these first.
The trim size
6 x 9 inches is the most common size in the US, and IngramSpark’s popular sizes for most categories run from 5 x 8 to 6 x 9. The book sizes guide has the standard sizes and what KDP and IngramSpark print.
The page count
The gutter you need depends on it. Put your word count into the words to pages calculator to get a working estimate; Word’s own page count will not be right until the page size and margins are set.
Print only, or print and ebook
Word makes a print PDF. It does not make an EPUB, and the ebook stores want one. If you need both, do the style work below once (Heading 1 on every chapter title) and let a formatting program export the pair.
How to format a book in Word, step by step
Eight steps in the order that avoids rework. Menu paths are Word for Windows; where Word for Mac puts a setting somewhere else, the Mac path is under the clip.
The clip under each step shows us doing it in Word for Mac 16.112.2 on October 5, 2026, using Pawsitively Sabotaged by Melissa Erin Jackson with the author’s permission. After every step we read the settings back from Word’s own page setup and styles to check they took.
Set the page size to your trim size
Layout › Size › More Paper Sizes13
Go to Layout, Size, More Paper Sizes, and type the trim size as the width and height: 6 by 9 inches is the most common size in the US. Word calls it a custom size. Apply it to the whole document. Do this first, because every other setting depends on the page. (Skip Book fold under Multiple pages: it prints two pages side by side on a landscape sheet for folding at home, and a printer like KDP wants each page at the trim size.)
Turn on mirror margins and set the gutter
Layout › Margins › Custom Margins › Multiple pages2
Go to Layout, Margins, Custom Margins, and under Multiple pages choose Mirror margins, so the inside margin of a left page mirrors the inside margin of a right page. Set Inside to the gutter your printer needs for your page count (KDP asks for 0.375 inches up to 150 pages, rising to 0.875 at 828) plus a little, Outside to at least 0.25 inches, and top and bottom to about 0.75 inches to leave room for headers and page numbers. A 6 x 9 novel at 0.75 top and bottom, 0.875 inside, and 0.5 outside is a comfortable page.
Set the body and heading styles, not the text
Home › Styles › right-click › Modify4
Right-click the Normal style and choose Modify: a serif face at 10 to 12 point, line spacing Multiple at about 1.05 to 1.2 (Word’s Single is already about 117% of the type size, and book text wants 120 to 145%), a first-line indent of one to four times the type size (0.3 inches suits 11 or 12 point), and no space between paragraphs. If you justify the text, turn on hyphenation too (Layout, Hyphenation, Automatic). Then modify Heading 1 for chapter titles with Page break before switched on, and put every chapter title in Heading 1. Changing a style changes every paragraph that uses it, which keeps two hundred pages consistent.
Separate the front matter with section breaks
Layout › Breaks › Next Page or Odd Page
Put a section break (Layout, Breaks, Next Page) after the front matter so the body can have its own page numbering and headers. Use Odd Page breaks in front of chapters if you want every chapter to open on a right-hand page: Word starts the next section on the next odd-numbered page and leaves the page before it blank when it has to. Each section break is a place where headers, footers, and numbering can change, and nowhere else.
Add headers and page numbers
Header & Footer › Different Odd & Even Pages5
Double-click into the header and check Different Odd and Even Pages and Different First Page. Put the book title on even pages and the chapter title or author on odd pages, with the page number from Insert, Page Number. In the body section switch off Link to Previous, then set Page Number Format to start at 1 with arabic numerals; the front matter can keep lower-case roman numerals. Different First Page keeps the header off the first page of each section.
Build the front matter and the contents
References › Table of Contents
Put the front matter (title page, copyright page, contents) in the first section, each on its own page. Insert the contents from References, Table of Contents, which reads your Heading 1 titles and updates when you right-click it.
Control widows, orphans, and stranded headings
Paragraph › Line and Page Breaks6
In Paragraph, Line and Page Breaks, keep Widow/Orphan control on for the Normal style (it is on by default) so no paragraph leaves a single line at the top or bottom of a page, and set Keep with next on headings so a subheading never sits alone at the foot of a page. Then read the whole book in Print Layout at two-page view and fix what is left by hand, last.
Export a PDF with the fonts embedded
File › Save As › PDF › Options7
File, Save As, choose PDF, open Options, and check ISO 19005-1 compliant (PDF/A), which embeds every font; also check Embed fonts in the file under File, Options, Save, so the fonts travel with the document. Open the PDF and check the page size reads as your trim size, not Letter. Upload it to the printer’s previewer and order a proof before you publish.
Suggested margins for a 6 x 9 paperback
| Margin | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Top | 0.75 in | Room for a header |
| Bottom | 0.75 in | Room for the page number |
| Inside (gutter) | 0.875 in | Above KDP’s minimum at any page count up to 828 |
| Outside | 0.5 in | KDP’s minimum is 0.25 in |
How to format a book in Google Docs
The same walkthrough mostly works, with two gaps that matter for a paperback. Here is what Google’s own help pages say Docs can and cannot do.
Docs can
Set the paper size and margins for the whole document or a section, from File, Page setup.9
Use different headers and footers on the first page and on odd and even pages.10
Insert next-page and continuous section breaks, so the body can number separately from the front matter.11
Keep a heading with the next paragraph and prevent single lines at the top or bottom of a page (Format, Line & paragraph spacing).12
Download a PDF, and an EPUB, from File, Download.13
Docs cannot
Type a custom page size: Google’s page setup lists preset paper sizes, so the nearest to a paperback is A5 (5.83 x 8.27 in) unless you install a page-size add-on.
Mirror the margins or set a gutter: the left and right margins are the same on every page.
In practice
- Write in Docs if you like it, with every chapter title in Heading 1
- Download a .docx when the manuscript is finished
- Set the 6 x 9 page and mirror margins in Word or a formatting program
Where Word stops, and one trap
None of this is a reason not to try. It is the list of things to expect on the second pass, when the proof copy arrives.
No EPUB
- Word’s Save As list has no EPUB
- KDP will take the .docx and convert it for Kindle
- Other ebook stores need an EPUB from another tool
Chapter openers by hand
- Right-hand starts, blank pages, and clean opener pages are section breaks and header settings
- Each one is set by hand, chapter by chapter
- A late edit that moves a page can undo some of them
Book fold is for home printing
- It turns the page sideways and prints two pages on each sheet
- The booklet comes out half the width of the paper
- For KDP, leave it off and use Mirror margins
The same Heading 1 prep makes a clean Lacuna import
Step three above, chapter titles in Heading 1 and body text in Normal, is all a formatting program needs. Lacuna reads those headings to split the book into chapters, keeps your italics, ornamental breaks, footnotes and endnotes, tables, and images, and applies one of 32 pre-made styles to the whole book at once.
Click either screenshot to see it full size.
Steps one, two, and four to eight become settings: the trim size and margins checked against KDP’s minimums for your page count, right-hand chapter openers and headers from a single switch, and the print PDF, the EPUB, and a DOCX exported from one project, on Windows, Mac, and Linux. The trial is free with no time limit and every feature on; the one thing payment unlocks is generating the final files, so you can format the whole book before you spend $149, one time.
Authors who started in Word
Real authors. Real books. Formatted with Lacuna.
I’m a cover designer and interior formatter by profession and run my own small publishing press, so trust me when I say I’m picky and my standards are high. InDesign has always been the only program that formats for print with the level of customization I need. For years, I’ve used it for print and another program entirely for ebooks to get the results I wanted. When I saw Lacuna, I immediately went to check it out and within an hour from having downloaded the trial, I was hooked.
This gives me so much more freedom with print options than other formatting programs like Atticus or Vellum while still making ebooks a breeze. The ability to work from one file and have separate print and ebook settings is a complete gamechanger. I’m still learning my way around the program and loving every second.
JJ Carpenter
The Haunting of Kenmore Asylum
I originally checked out Lacuna because somebody in a KDP publishing group I belong to asked if anyone had tried Lacuna out yet. I published nine other books using a different formatter, but I wasn’t happy with it. I ended up taking a look at Lacuna even though I was pretty much sold on Atticus or Vellum. Once I started diving into Lacuna and saw the ease of use and flexibility, I was absolutely floored. It was a no-brainer, and I purchased Lacuna. Since then the program has only improved. Corey is amazing at fixing things and streamlining processes.
If you take a look at the book that I formatted with Lacuna you will see, it would be pretty difficult to do something like that with one of those other formatting programs. Plus they cost more. In my opinion Lacuna is already the best formatter on the market and only getting better. Thanks, Corey and Melissa, for making this available.
NextGen Victory Press
3-Minute Wrestling Devotionals for Rising Athletes
I tried numerous formatting methods and followed endless instructions from publishing websites, but nothing ever turned out right. Since finding Lacuna, everything has changed. I’ve been able to update all my manuscripts effortlessly and give them the professional look they deserve.
Lacuna helped me perfect one of my most cherished stories, The Magic Globe, and finally present it exactly as I envisioned. It’s truly been a game changer for my author journey.
Samuel Graham Astley
The Magic Globe
Word and Google Docs formatting questions
What authors ask when the manuscript is finished and the book is still a Word file.
Sources
- Page Setup, Paper options, Microsoft: paper size drop-down and custom width and height. Checked 2026-10-05.
- Set mirror margins for facing pages, Microsoft: mirror margins, inside and outside; with “Set gutter margins” for the gutter box. Checked 2026-10-05.
- Create a booklet or book in Word, Microsoft: Book fold turns the page to landscape, and “the final size of the booklet is one half width of the paper size”. Checked 2026-10-05.
- Butterick’s Practical Typography, line spacing (120 to 145% of the point size; Word’s presets about 117, 175, and 233%), point size (10 to 12 in print), first-line indents (one to four times the point size), justified text (“hyphenation is required”). Checked 2026-10-05.
- Create different headers or footers for odd and even pages, Microsoft. Checked 2026-10-05.
- Line and page breaks, Microsoft: Widow/Orphan control and Keep with next. Checked 2026-10-05.
- Save or convert to PDF, Microsoft: ISO 19005-1 compliant (PDF/A) option; with “Word Options (Save)” for Embed fonts in the file. Checked 2026-10-05.
- Set trim size, bleed, and margins, KDP: gutter by page count and outside margins. Checked 2026-10-05.
- Change page setup of a Google Doc, Google: paper size, margins, orientation, apply to section. Checked 2026-10-05.
- Add headers, footers and page numbers, Google: Different first page, Different odd and even, Link to previous. Checked 2026-10-05.
- Add page breaks and move margins, Google: page breaks and section breaks (next page or continuous). Checked 2026-10-05.
- Change how paragraphs and fonts look, Google: Keep with next, Keep lines together, and Prevent single lines, in pages format. Checked 2026-10-05.
- Download a file, Google: File, Download, choose a file type; with the March 2016 Workspace post for EPUB Publication (.epub). Checked 2026-10-05.
- Paperback manuscript templates, KDP: Word templates per trim size, blank or with sample content. Checked 2026-10-05.
- E-book conversion, Calibre: “calibre can automatically convert .docx files created by Microsoft Word 2007 and newer”. Checked 2026-10-05.
Import the Word file and skip the other seven steps
Download Lacuna free, import your manuscript, and get the print PDF, the EPUB, and a DOCX from one project. Pay $149 only when you are ready to export.
Want the details first? See all features or view pricing.