Free thesis Word template, set up for printing

The choice depends on how you want to print, and it is best made before you start writing.

• Double-sided: the thesis is thinner and lighter, and the printing price does not change, because you pay per printed side. The template uses mirror margins: the wide binding margin is always on the inside, on the left of right-hand pages and on the right of left-hand pages. Every chapter starts on a right-hand page, as in a book.
• Single-sided: only the front of each sheet is printed, and the wide margin is always on the left. It is the simplest option if your regulations say nothing and you do not want to think about odd and even pages.

If your department has its own rules (margins, font, double spacing), those apply: the template adapts by changing the style, with nothing to redo by hand. Double-sided (.docx) · Single-sided (.docx)

These are the values used by most of the theses we bind. Each one lives in a Word style, so you change it in one place and it applies to the whole thesis.

1. Open the file. If Word asks whether to update fields, answer Yes: that is the table of contents building itself.
2. Fill in the title page. Replace the dots with your details. If your university has an official template with its logo, use that; otherwise you can create one, already laid out, with our title page generator.
3. Always write in the Normal style, and give titles the Heading 1, Heading 2 and Heading 3 styles (Home → Styles). Insert footnotes from References → Insert Footnote and they take the right format by themselves.
4. For a new chapter copy an existing one, or put a section break before the title: Layout → Breaks → Odd Page in the double-sided template, Next Page in the single-sided one. In double-sided mode Word adds a blank page by itself when needed: that is normal, and it stays in the bound copy.
5. Delete the grey instruction boxes before exporting the PDF.

Every setting is explained one by one, with alternatives to Word such as LaTeX, in the guide how to format your thesis. For the chapter structure there are table of contents examples for each type of thesis.

For the details there is a guide for each of the trickiest settings: page numbers, footnotes and line spacing.

• Update the table of contents one last time: right-click → Update field → Update entire table. An outdated table of contents is the first mistake anyone notices.
• Export to PDF (File → Export → PDF) and send that, never the Word file: a PDF looks the same on every computer. If your university office asks for PDF/A, see the PDF/A guide and the free checker.
• Flip through the PDF as it will be bound with the bound thesis preview: margins, blank pages and cover, before you print.
• Count the colour pages: they affect the price, which you can see straight away with the thesis price calculator.

The template is a standard .docx file, designed for Microsoft Word. LibreOffice Writer opens it with margins, styles, sections and numbering in place: we tested it. With Google Docs and Pages some settings, such as the double-sided mirror margins and the sections with different numbering, can be lost in conversion: if you use one of those, pick the single-sided template and check the margins in the PDF before printing. If you export the PDF from LibreOffice with the double-sided template, tick Export automatically inserted blank pages in the PDF options: without the blank pages, chapters would end up on the wrong side of the sheet.