How to Make a Wire Bound Booklet

Wire bound booklets are excellent tools for your business, especially when it comes to manuals, reports and presentation documents. The silver coil wire we bind them with means you can lay them completely flat, which is perfect for tasks that involve working across the pages. Here are our step-by-step instructions on how to make a wire bound booklet in Word, Publisher and InDesign so you can create the perfect book design.

How to Make a Wire Bound Booklet in Word

If you’re a beginner, Microsoft Word is a fantastic tool – and one that’s widely known and available. Here are our top tips for designing a wire bound booklet in Word.

Setting Up the Canvas

Here’s exactly how to set your document up to the right specifications for your wire bound booklet artwork:

1. Go to Layout > Page Setup
2. Increase all Margins by 9mm (0.354 inches) to account for the safety zone*
3. Go to Size and choose your desired booklet size from the drop-down menu
4. Add an extra 3mm (0.118 inches) to the size to account for bleed area

*Keep all text away from the safety zone as we will need to punch holes down one side of the page to feed the wire binding through.

Top Tip: Set your artwork up as separate pages (not spreads) and in reading order so we can get it ready for print more quickly.

Using Images

High resolution images are a great way to get your message across, especially in manuals or instructions. Here’s how to insert them using Word:

1. Go to Insert > Pictures
2. Choose the image you want and double click it
3. Use the corner handles to resize the image, and drag and drop it to position it on the page
4. If you want to wrap text around the image, go to Text Wrap and choose the option you want

Adding Shapes and Borders

To draw attention to different areas of your booklet design, you can use borders and shapes. To add a border:

1. Go to Design > Page Borders
2. Customise the border design using the different settings available

To insert shapes:

1. Go to Insert > Shapes
2. Choose a shape or line to add to your design 
3. Draw it by clicking and dragging the mouse
4. To change the shape’s colour, click the shape and go to Shape Format > Shape Fill and pick a colour

Saving Your Artwork

Our preferred file type for receiving booklet artwork is PDF because it embeds the text and images, ensuring a great finished printed product. To save your Word document as a PDF:

1. Go to File > Save As
2. Name your file
3. Use the drop-down menu to select the file type
4. Choose PDF and click Save

How to Make a Wire Bound Booklet in Publisher

Although Publisher is still a great choice for beginners, it’s a design-specific program and can therefore help you create a more polished wire bound booklet design than you could in Word. Here’s how.

Setting Up Your Artwork

First things first, you’ll need to set up your blank canvas to the right size and specifications:

1. Go to Page Design > Page Setup
2. Set Paper Width and Paper Height to the booklet size you want and include an extra 6mm on each measurement to account for bleed
3. Set Margins to 9mm as your safety zone to keep important text and images away from the wire binding

Inserting Images

To insert images to your Publisher booklet:

1. Go to Insert > Pictures
2. Choose the image you want to insert and double click it
3. Click the middle of the image and drag and drop to position it
4. Drag the corner handles to resize

Using Textboxes

In Publisher, you need to add textboxes if you want to include text in your design. This makes it easier to position the text exactly where you want it. 

1. Go to Insert > Draw Textbox
2. Click and drag the mouse to draw your text box
3. Go to Format to customise the colour of the box and choose a font

Inserting More Pages

When creating your wire bound booklet, please design each page in reading order starting with the front cover, then the inside front cover and ending with the back cover. Here’s how to add more pages in Publisher.

1. Go to Insert > Page > Insert Blank Page
2. Set up your margins as before

How to Make a Wire Bound Booklet in InDesign

For more advanced designers, a popular program to create a wire bound booklet design in is Adobe InDesign. Follow these instructions to set up your booklet design in InDesign.

Setting Up Your Canvas

1. Go to File > New Document
2. Choose your size under the Document Pre-Set details – see a full list of wire bound booklet sizes here
3. Add 9mm to your side Margins and 3mm to the top and bottom of the page to act as your safety zone
4. Choose the number of pages you want – we’ll print between 40 and 120 printed pages (or sides) including the cover, as long as they’re a multiple of 4
5. Tick Facing Pages then create your document

Using Images

High resolution images are a great addition to any wire bound booklet design! Here’s how to insert images in InDesign:

1. Go to File > Place
2. Pick the image you want to add and double click to insert
3. Click and drag the image to position it

Adding Text

To insert text in InDesign, you’ll need a textbox. Here’s how to make one:

1. Select the Type tool from the Tools Panel – it’s the one that looks like a T
2. Click and drag your mouse to draw a textbox in your desired location on the page
3. Type into the textbox and choose your colours, fonts and sizes from the panel at the top
4. Choose the Select tool to move and resize the box

Pro Tip:

Want to create a non-rectangular box? With InDesign you can! All you have to do is:

1. Select the Frame tool then click and drag diagonally to create your shape – this is the one that looks like a crossed-out rectangle
2. Choose the Type tool and click inside your shape to change it to a text frame
3. Position your frame using the Select tool 

Saving Your Design as a PDF

1. Before you save your artwork, untick the Facing Pages option in File > Document Setup
2. Go to File > Export
3. Select Adobe PDF as your file format to open the Export PDF Window
4. Save your artwork as a PDF with the settings: PDF/X-1a:2001

We hope these instructions mean you can make your own wire bound booklet artwork for print that looks amazing every time. If you’re still struggling, get in touch with a Personal Artworker who can answer any other artwork setup questions you might have – just email us at pa@instantprint.co.uk. See our full booklet range here.