How to make a brochure in Google Docs

Set the page up before you type anything. Open File, then Page setup, choose landscape, set all four margins to about 0.5 inch or 12mm and pick your paper size. Then use Format, Columns to split the sheet into three, and Insert, Break, Column break at the end of each panel so text stops where you want it to. Write the content before you lay anything out. For a tri fold, the order of panels on the printed sheet is not the order a reader meets them, and that mapping is the only genuinely fiddly part of the job.

Last verified: 09 October 2026

Decide the content before you open Docs

A brochure has a small fixed amount of space, so the content decides the layout and not the other way round. Write five things down first: who the reader is, the single message, the three or four proof points, what you want them to do next, and the contact details exactly as they should appear. That fits on one side of a page and it will save you an hour of dragging boxes around.

Pick the format

Format	Panels	Good for	Set up as
Single sheet, two sides	2	One offer, handouts, price lists	Portrait, one or two columns
Bi fold	4	A short story with a cover	Landscape, two columns
Tri fold	6	Services, events, clinics, menus	Landscape, three columns
Multi page booklet	8 or more	Products with detail, company overviews	Portrait pages, printed as a booklet

Page setup, step by step

• Step one. File, then Page setup. Choose Landscape for a bi fold or tri fold, and your paper size: A4 across most of the world, Letter in the United States. Docs also offers A3, A5, Legal, Tabloid and a custom size.
• Step two. Set margins to 0.5 inch or 12mm on all four sides. Avoid going tighter than that unless your printer has confirmed they can hold it.
• Step three. Format, then Columns. Choose the three column preset for a tri fold, then open More options and set the spacing between columns to roughly 0.5 inch. Leave the line between columns switched off.
• Step four. Type or paste the first panel, then Insert, Break, Column break. Repeat for each panel. A column break is what keeps a panel's content inside its own fold.
• Step five. Press Insert, Break, Page break after the last panel on the first sheet, then set up the second sheet the same way. One Docs page is one side of the printed sheet.

The tri fold panel order

This is the part that trips people up. Fold a sheet of paper into three the way the finished brochure will fold, number the faces as a reader meets them, then unfold it. For a standard letter fold, the mapping is:

Sheet and column	What goes there
Outside sheet, column 1	Inside flap, the panel seen when the cover is opened
Outside sheet, column 2	Back cover, usually contact details and a map
Outside sheet, column 3	Front cover
Inside sheet, columns 1 to 3	The main spread, read left to right

Print one draft on plain paper and fold it before you do anything else. Thirty seconds of folding settles an argument no amount of previewing on screen will.

Building the panels

• Images. Insert, Image, then click the image and choose a text wrapping option. Wrap text for a picture inside a column, break text for a full width band, and in front of text when you want free placement.
• Text boxes and shapes. Insert, Drawing, New gives you a canvas with text boxes, shapes and lines. Use it for a coloured panel with type on top, or a callout that has to sit over an image.
• Tables as a layout grid. A borderless table is the most reliable way to align a row of three items with their captions. Insert the table, set border width to 0pt, and the content stays lined up when text lengths change.
• Different column counts on one page. Insert a continuous section break, then apply a different column setting after it. That lets a full width headline sit above a three column body.
• Background colour. File, Page setup, Page colour fills the whole sheet. For a band of colour on one panel only, use a shape from the drawing canvas instead.

Type settings that make it look deliberate

• Two fonts at most. One for headings, one for body.
• Body text at 9 to 11 point for a tri fold panel, which is narrower than a normal page.
• Line spacing at 1.15 to 1.3. Tight leading in a narrow column is hard to read.
• Left align body copy. Justified text in a narrow column opens up ugly gaps.
• Set the styles once through Format, Paragraph styles, and update them centrally rather than formatting each panel by hand.

Exporting and getting it printed

File, Download, PDF Document is the export. Open the PDF and check every panel before you send it, because a stray column break shows up there and not in the editor.

For home or office printing that is all you need. For a commercial print run, talk to the printer first and ask two questions: what bleed and trim they need, and whether they want the file in CMYK. Docs works in RGB and has no bleed or crop mark controls, so the practical route for a professional run is to hand the printer your PDF and let them impose it, or to rebuild the final artwork in a layout application once the content is signed off. Doing the content and the approvals in Docs and the artwork elsewhere is a perfectly normal workflow, and it keeps editing easy for the whole team.

Google Docs, or something else

Tool	Best at	Reach for it when
Google Docs	Text heavy brochures, collaborative editing, quick turnaround	The content changes often and several people write it
Google Slides	Exact placement, because every element is a free floating object	The design is visual and you want precise control at no extra cost
Canva	Templates, stock imagery, print ready export	You want it to look designed without hiring a designer
InDesign or Affinity Publisher	Print production, bleed, spot colours, long documents	It is going to a commercial press in volume

If you are not tied to Docs and the piece is visual, set up a Slides file at the sheet size instead. It behaves more like a layout tool and exports to PDF the same way.

Starting from a template

File, New, From template gallery includes brochure and pamphlet layouts under the work section. They are a quick start, and the first thing to do with any of them is open Page setup and Columns to see how they were built, because that tells you where you can safely change things. Replace the placeholder text in one pass, then adjust the layout, rather than doing both at once.

This page covers building the file. For what to put in it and how to structure the message, see marketing brochure design. For reusable Docs setups, see building a Google Docs template once and reusing it.

make a brochure in Google Docs, in practice: the usual questions

Does Google Docs have a brochure template?

Yes. File, New, From template gallery holds brochure and pamphlet layouts. Open Page setup and Format, Columns on whichever one you pick, so you know the structure you are editing.

How do I make three columns in Google Docs?

Format, Columns, then the three column preset. Open More options to set the gap between columns and to turn the dividing line off.

How do I stop text flowing into the next panel?

Insert, Break, Column break at the end of the panel. That is the control that keeps each fold's content where you put it.

Can I print a Google Docs brochure double sided?

Yes. Build each side as its own page, download as PDF, and in the print dialogue choose double sided with the flip on the short edge for landscape sheets. Test one copy on plain paper first.

Why does my brochure look different when printed?

Two usual causes. The printer scaled the page, so set scaling to 100 percent or actual size. Or the colours look different on paper than on screen, which is normal for an RGB file on a CMYK press. Ask the printer for a proof when the colour matters.

The brochure's content has a second job

Once the print file is done, put the words to another use. The text of your brochure, if also on your site, is likely what an assistant uses to describe your business.

Read it as a stranger would. Does the first panel say what you do, for whom and where? Ask an assistant about your company and compare its answer with your copy. If it gets the services wrong, the fix is to rewrite the sentence that confused it. Run it through AI Knows Us and each description comes with the page it was taken from.