How to Make a Funeral Program Template

There are three ways to end up with a funeral program: fill in a template in Word, build one in Canva, or answer a few questions and have it laid out for you. All three work. They differ in how much of the work lands on you in the week you can least afford it, and in what happens when you take the file to a printer.

What a funeral program template needs to hold

Before choosing a tool, know what has to fit. Most programs, whatever the size, carry the same pieces:

• A cover: their name, dates and a photograph.
• The order of service: the sequence of music, readings, remarks and prayers.
• The obituary, or a shorter life summary.
• A poem, a prayer or a scripture.
• Pallbearers or honorary pallbearers, if you want to name them.
• A family acknowledgement or thank-you, and details of the gathering afterwards.

If you want a longer list with the wording for each, see what goes in a funeral program and our order of service template.

Sizes: pick this first

The size decides the template, so choose it before you open anything.

• One page, 8.5 by 11 inches, printed on both sides. Fits a short order of service and a brief obituary, and any printer can run it.
• Bi-fold, a sheet folded once to 7 by 8.5 inches. A cover, an inside spread and a back. The most common choice.
• Tri-fold, a sheet folded in three, each panel about 4.66 by 8.5 inches. Compact, but each panel holds little text.
• Booklet, eight pages at 7 by 8.5 inches, for a long service or many photographs.

The honest comparison of bi-fold and tri-fold is in our bi-fold vs tri-fold guide.

Option 1: A free template in Word

Word has funeral program and brochure templates, and the program is simply a landscape page split into columns. It costs nothing and you can edit it anywhere you have Word.

• Set the page first. Landscape, letter size, narrow margins, and for a tri-fold three equal columns. Changing this after you have typed a page of text is where programs fall apart.
• Remember the order of the panels. On a tri-fold or bi-fold the outside pages are not in the order they appear on the sheet. Print one copy and fold it before you print the rest.
• Print at 100 percent. Choose Actual Size, not Fit to Page, or the design shrinks and drifts off centre. Printing at home covers paper and settings.

The cost is time, and the risk is layout: photographs that stretch, text that spills onto a second page, and a fold that cuts through a name.

Option 2: Canva

Canva has a large library of free and paid funeral program templates, and it is easier to make a good-looking page than in Word. You choose a template, replace the words and the photograph, and download a PDF.

• Match the document size to your program before you start, so the template is not stretched.
• If a print shop will print it, ask what file they want. Many shops ask for a PDF with a small margin past the edge of the page, called bleed, and Canva's standard download may not include it.
• Some designs and photographs in a free template need a paid plan to download without a mark. Check before you spend an evening on it.

Option 3: Let the template fill itself in

This is what we built. Instead of a blank template you choose a design, then answer a few questions about the person. We write their obituary from your answers, in your family's voice, and place it with their photograph, the order of service and the family acknowledgement in the design you chose, in any of the four sizes. You read it, change any line by tapping it, and see the finished program.

• Free to write, design and preview, with no account.
• The print-ready file is $19 for one page, $29 for a bi-fold or tri-fold and $39 for the booklet, plus applicable sales tax. It is made at 300 dots per inch with bleed and crop marks, ready for any print shop.
• If you would rather not print it yourself, printed copies can be delivered.

You can see the designs on our funeral program templates page.

How to choose

• Short on time, or writing is hard right now: the self-filling template.
• Comfortable in Word, a simple design, and you will print at home: Word.
• You enjoy designing and the program is a creative project for the family: Canva.

Whichever you use, have someone who was not involved read it for dates and spellings before it prints. A wrong year in two hundred copies is the thing families remember.