Template Instructions

Kind Designed memorial templates are designed to be as easy as possible for you to use. We are available to support you AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time). It is important to us that our templates are of genuine support to you during a stressful time, so if you have feedback please contact us so we can continue to improve our services.

quick jump

Funeral Program Template Instructions

Downloadable instructions are provided on how to edit our funeral program templates at checkout and also detailed here for ease of reference.

EDIT IN: MICROSOFT WORD (OFFICE 365)
SIZE: A4 FOLDER TO A5

It’s recommended you re-save the template under a different name, before proceeding. Just in case you need to go back to the original template
provided. Open up your downloaded file, and click File/Save As/’appropriate name’/Save

When you open your template, you’ll see the front page on the right of the A4. The document is designed to be A5 once folded.

Edit the placeholder text

Select the placeholder text, such as the name and dates. Edit.

Change the image

To change the image select the placeholder image. Right-click the placement image. This will bring up the Shape Format menu. Click, ‘Shape Fill’, ‘Picture’, and navigate to your image of choice. Insert. 

Adjust how the image sits

Is that image sitting funny? If it is, it’s an easy fix.

Select ‘Picture Format’ from the top menu. Click ‘Crop’, and ‘Fill’. This should get rid of any image distortion issues.

To move the image around, click ‘Crop’. This will allow you to move the image to sit the space as you desire.

If you need to adjust the image edges, select the image, right-click and select, Format Picture, Shape, Soft Edges.

If you would like to adjust the image colors, select the image, right-click and select Format Picture, Picture Color under the image icon as pictured below.

Editing the Order Of Service page may help you decide what you’d like to include in the program. Planning your page order early in makes it easier to move pages around rather than copying and pasting content at a later stage.

If you are happy with the page layout as it is, edit the content on this page, and skip to Step 4.

Position the cursor where you would like to insert a page. Then click Insert, Blank Page.

Now, copy the pages you would like to insert, and paste them in the order you would like. If things look a little funny, don’t worry, we are about to fix them up.



If lines appear, that’s the layout table. You can hide any table lines by selecting the table and hiding the table borders under Home/Borders. Select ‘No Border’.



You can delete blank pages, or pages you no longer find you need by selecting the content and pressing ‘delete’. If a blank page stubbornly appears at the bottom of the page, here’s how to fix it.

 

Adjust the remaining content, including any other placeholder images as particular to your template. 

Edit the images, as detailed in Step 2.

Once you are happy with how your images are sitting, we recommend you compress them. This is so your file is small enough to email OR send to print without ‘crashing’ your home printer. To do so, select an image and navigate to the ‘Picture Format’ menu again. Click the ‘Compress image’ symbol next to color.

This will bring up the following options:

Select the higher Pixels Per Inch (PPI) option, Print 220 ppi.

Save your document.

FYI: Microsoft Word does reduce the resolution of photos by default. This means image quality can be affected on commercial press.

Once you are happy with your layout, it’s recommended you print out a draft to check for any mistakes such as typos, and check that the pages are in the order you need.

Print double-sided, on both sides of the paper. Depending on your home printer, you may need to insert the paper manually according to your printer instructions.

Fix any errors before printing more.

You may also like to try different types of paper or card to create the final ‘look’.

Need more printer help? Jump to printing guidelines.

Printing Guidelines

Great work completing your template set-up. Here are some printing tips and guidelines for our printable templates.

home printer

  • If you haven’t done so already, make sure you compress your images in your document. This is so your file is small enough to email OR send to print without ‘crashing’ your home printer. To do so, select an image and navigate to the ‘Picture Format’ menu again. Click the ‘Compress image’ symbol next to color. Select the highest option available – Print 220 PPI.
  • Most home printers do not print the document to the absolute edge. This means there will be a small margin around your document. You can either cut this off OR, leave it as is.

commercial printer / copyshop

Commercial printers or copyshops often have their own set of requirements. The following is a guide to fulfil them, or you may like to provide these to the copyshop directly. Please note that at the time of writing these instructions (2022) Office 365 does reduce the resolution of photos by default, with a maximum output of 220 DPI (Dots Per Inch). This can affect print quality on a commercial press.

To send to a commercial printer, check with your printer if you need what we call a ‘bleed’. A bleed is a bit of extra margin around the entirety of the document that allows the printer to cut the printed documents to the edge so that no white margin shows.

To do this, you’ll need to customize the size of the document to make it about .5cm (0.1”) bigger.

Click Layout, Size, More Paper Sizes, Paper and add 0.5cm to the A4.

Then, stretch the background images slightly to the white edge of the page.

If you have trouble getting to the extended Page Setup menu for whatever reason, try selecting the expand menu option in the corner of ‘Page Setup’. 

Let the printer know your ‘bleed’ is 0.5cm or 0.1″.

If the printer asks for CMYK color details, which are the most accurate colour format for print, Word does not provide this feature. Word only displays colours as RGB, which is not considered as accurate. This is a limitation of the program.

However, if you do want to be very specific, the RGB value of the Pantone colours are found on Pantone’s website. Here, you can find the RGB values of your template colors, and adjust them by entering the RGB values under Colors in Word, OR, providing this information to the printer.

To send you your printer, you’ll want to export your file as a PDF. Click ‘File’, ‘Save As Adobe PDF’. 

If you have changed any font styles, you may need to double-check you have ’embed fonts’ selected. Check embed fonts is selected under File/Options/Save. This is so make sure that your fonts appear in the PDF on a computer that may not have those fonts installed.

Slideshow Template Instructions

Downloadable instructions are provided on how to edit our memorial slideshow templates at checkout and also detailed here for ease of reference.

EDIT IN: MICROSOFT powerpoint 365 (OFFICE 365)
SIZE: widescreen 16:9

It’s recommended you re-save the template under a different name, before proceeding. Just in case you need to go back to the original template
provided. Open up your downloaded file, and click File/Save As/’appropriate name’/Save

Begin by creating your draft slideshow structure. To add a new slide template, click ‘Insert’ from the top menu bar, and select, ‘New Slide’. 

This will bring up a range of templates for you to choose from. To delete slides you don’t want, right click the slide preview on teh left, and select ‘Delete’ from the drop-down menu.


Add your desired text to the templates.

Note that if you don’t add text to a placeholder text box, it won’t appear in the slideshow. This is an easy fix – just add your desired text!

Add images by clicking on the image icons:

To adjust image sizing, image distortion issues or image placement within the placeholder shape, go to ‘Picture Format’, ‘Crop’. 

Here you can adjust image dimensions and fix image distortion issues using the ‘Fill’ option under ‘Crop’.

You can adjust image colors and effects, such as ‘Soft Edges’ under ‘Picture Format’.

Any fixed (or locked) elements can be edited. You just need to jump to the Master Slide Template! Click ‘View’, ‘Slide Master’.

Anything that you change in the Master Slide Template will affect the entirety of your presentation. For example, you can change slide transitions ALL at once.

Test your slideshow and make any adjustments as required. We recommend checking how it runs on venue equipment if at all possible prior to the time the slideshow is needed.

You’ll need to follow instructions of the service/equipment provider.

Tip: You may need to shrink your file size in order to email it. You can do this by compressing images under ‘Picture Format’, ‘Compress Pictures’.



Memorial/Prayer Card Template Instructions

Downloadable instructions are provided on how to edit our memorial/prayer card templates at checkout and also detailed here for ease of reference.

EDIT IN: MICROSOFT word 365 (OFFICE 365)
SIZE: 2.3" x 4.2" (6cm x 10.7cm) 6 per a4

It’s recommended you re-save the template under a different name, before proceeding. Just in case you need to go back to the original template
provided. Open up your downloaded file, and click File/Save As/’appropriate name’/Save

Great. Let’s start by editing the text. Replace the placeholder name, edit the dates. If you want to make any changes on the back of the card, you can do that too.

Right-click the image you would like to change or the placeholder shape you would like to fill.

Select Fill, Picture. Follow the prompts and navigate to the image you want to include.

You can adjust how this image sits using the Crop Tool which you can find under the Picture Format Menu.

If the image is distorted, select the ‘Fill’ option from this menu. You can also adjust the image position within the shape by using the Crop tool.

 

Great. Once you are happy with your layout, you can either repeat for the remaining 6 cards OR, delete the remaining template content (but not the background). Group your edited design, then copy and paste it to the other cards.

To do this, hold down the shift key as you select the content you would like to ‘Group’ together. Then, copy the edited group into each card space.



Repeat for the back of the card.

If you are sending your file to the copyshop or print shop, it’s recommended you compress your images to make them easier to email. A large file size, usually caused by a large image, can also ‘crash’ a home printer, so if your image/s are oversized, you can follow these instructions to compress them.

Select an image and navigate to the ‘Picture Format’ menu again. Click the ‘Compress image’ symbol next to color.

This will bring up the following options:

Select the higher Pixels Per Inch (PPI) option, Print 220 ppi.

Save your document.

FYI: Microsoft Word does reduce the resolution of photos by default. This means image quality can be affected on commercial press.

Once you are happy with your layout, it’s recommended you print out a draft to check for any mistakes such as typos, and check that the alter hasn’t been accidentally altered while editing to impact how both sides line up when printed.

Print double-sided, on both sides of the paper. Depending on your home printer, you may need to insert the paper manually according to your printer instructions.

Fix any errors before printing more. Need a hand? Contact us.

You may also like to try different types of paper or card to create the final ‘look’.

Need more printer help? Jump to printing guidelines.

Your memorial cards have been laid out with crop marks to make it easier for you, or your printer, to cut them out.

All you need to do is cut out your cards using either scissors or craft knife and a ruler on a cutting board.

And that’s it! Your cards are now ready to distribute.

Have feedback about our templates? Your experience is important to us, so please let us know if you had any trouble with these instructions so we can ensure nobody else does. Thanks!

Thank you Card Template Instructions

Our funeral cards, or thank you cards are easy-to-edit in Microsoft Word.

EDIT IN: MICROSOFT word (OFFICE 365)
SIZE: 6"x4" (15.24cm x 10.16cm) 2 per a4

It’s recommended you re-save the template under a different name, before proceeding. Just in case you need to go back to the original template
provided. Open up your downloaded file, and click File/Save As/’appropriate name’/Save

Great. Let’s start by editing the text. Replace the placeholder name, edit the dates. If you want to make any changes on the back of the card, you can do that too.

The only text that may not be editable, is text within a graphic or image. This will be specified in your template description.

Great. Time to add your images. Right-click the image you would like to change or the placeholder shape you would like to fill.

Select Fill, Picture. Follow the prompts and navigate to the image you want to include.

You can adjust how this image sits using the Crop Tool which you can find under the Picture Format Menu.

If the image is distorted, select the ‘Fill’ option from this menu. You can also adjust the image position within the shape by using the Crop tool.

Repeat your edits on the second template provided OR you can copy and paste. Copy and paste in this case is best if you are a experienced with Microsoft Word, as it can alter the layout if you’re not sure what you’re doing.

After editing, check that both page layouts line up. An easy way to check this, is to select View/Gridlines, or print a draft out of your document, and cut out to see if lines align.

If you are sending your file to the copyshop or print shop, it’s recommended you compress your images to make them easier to email. A large file size, usually caused by a large image, can also ‘crash’ a home printer, so if your image/s are oversized, you can follow these instructions to compress them.

Select an image and navigate to the ‘Picture Format’ menu again. Click the ‘Compress image’ symbol next to color.

This will bring up the following options:

Select the higher Pixels Per Inch (PPI) option, Print 220 ppi.

Save your document.

FYI: Microsoft Word does reduce the resolution of photos by default. This means image quality can be affected on commercial press.

Once you are happy with your layout, it’s recommended you print out a draft to check for any mistakes such as typos, and check that the layout hasn’t been accidentally altered during editing which may impact how the double-sided print will line up.

Print double-sided, on both sides of the paper. Depending on your home printer, you may need to insert the paper manually according to your printer instructions.

Fix any errors before printing more. To send to a printer, export as a PDF. 

You may also like to try different types of paper or card to create the final ‘look’.

Need more printer help? Jump to printing guidelines.

Your thank you cards have been laid out with crop marks to make it easier for you, or your printer, to cut them out.

All you need to do is cut out your cards using either scissors or craft knife and a ruler on a cutting board.

And that’s it! Your cards are now ready to distribute.

Have feedback about our templates? Your experience is important to us, so please let us know if you had any trouble with these instructions so we can ensure nobody else does. Thanks!

Common Challenges & How To Fix Them

If you run into any challenges that are not included here, please us know so we can update our list. We want these templates to save you headaches, not create them. 

Microsoft Word includes a non-deletable end-paragraph that sometimes gets pushed out to a new, blank page at the end of your document, creating a mysterious blank page. The way to delete this blank page is to make sure that the end paragraph fits onto the preceding page. The most sure-fire way to achieve this, is to make the end paragraph symbol very small (1 point).

Here’s how to do this…

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+8 (⌘+8 on a Mac) to show paragraph marks.
2. Select the paragraph mark.
3. Select inside the Font size box, type 01, and then press Enter.

4. Press Ctrl+Shift+8 again to hide the paragraph marks (⌘+8 on a Mac).

If the paragraph still doesn’t fit on the preceding page, you can make the bottom margin smaller (Layout tab/Margins/Custom Margins). Set the bottom margin to something small, like 0.3 inches.

Tip: If the paragraph mark has a square bullet next to it, the paragraph may have the ‘Page Break before’ option turned on. To turn it off, right-select the empty paragraph, select Paragraph setting (under the Home tab), and on the Lines and Page Breaks tab of the dialogue box, uncheck ‘Page break before’.

Micorosft Office does reduce the resolution of photos, with an output maximum of 220 DPI (Dots Per Inch). This means in some cases some graphics can appear pixelated on a commercial press, but usually still look nice.

The other reason your images may look blury, is that they are a lower resolution than 220 DPI or quite simply, too small. The only way to fix that is to use a higher quality image.

Venue Sign/Poster Template Instructions

Believe it or not it’s easy to create printed posters in PowerPoint. Downloadable instructions are provided on how to edit our memorial poster/funeral sign templates at checkout and also detailed here for ease of reference.

EDIT IN: MICROSOFT powerpoint (OFFICE 365)
SIZE: a2

It’s recommended you re-save the template under a different name, before proceeding. Just in case you need to go back to the original template
provided. Open up your downloaded file, and click File/Save As/’appropriate name’/Save

You’ll see that there is a blank template, as well as an example template.

You can delete the example template later before sending your poster off to print.

Navigate to the blank template. Adjust the text.

Select the Shape, or the Picture Icon (depending on your template).

For the Picture Icon, follow the prompts and insert your image.

For a Shape, right-click the Shape and select ‘Fill’, ‘Picture’, and follow the prompts.

If they look a little funny when you insert them, don’t worry, you’ll adjust them in the next step.

To adjust image sizing, image distortion issues or image placement within a set shape, go to ‘Picture Format’, ‘Crop’.

Here you can move the image around to sit in your desired position.

Under the Picture Format/Picture Effects menu you can also adjust the image using filters such as a black and white filter if you like.

Ok, once you are happy with your design, you’ll want to compress your images. This will help minimize your file size when you send it off to print!

Double-click on an image to bring up the Picture Format menu again. Navigate to ‘Compress image’ on the Picture Format menu. It’s next to color options…




Select the highest resolution option for print – ‘Print 220 DPI’.

Great work! You’re almost ready to email your document off to the printers. Delete the example poster, you don’t need it anymore. Right-click it within the Slide Preview, and select ‘Delete Slide’.

Now, click, ‘File/Export/Create Adobe PDF’.

Save.

Open your PDF and check that you’re happy with it. Now you’re ready to send it to print.

Need some printing tips? Here are some printing tips.