How to Format a Book in Word: Step-by-Step for KDP Paperback and Kindle

Yes, you can format a book in Microsoft Word for KDP, and plenty of authors do. Amazon accepts a Word file for a Kindle ebook and, for a paperback without bleed, will even take a DOCX and convert it to PDF for you. The catch is that Word was built for letters and reports, not books, so you have to set it up deliberately: page size first, then mirror margins, then styles, section breaks and page numbers, and finally a PDF you have checked page by page. Here's the order that works, and the spots where Word tends to fight back.

Key takeaways#

• Set the trim size before anything else, then use Mirror margins and put the gutter allowance in the Inside margin, not Word's separate Gutter box.
• Format with styles (Normal and Heading 1), never with the space bar, the Tab key or repeated returns.
• Use Next Page section breaks between chapters so page numbers and headers can change where they should.
• For the paperback, export a PDF with fonts embedded and check it in KDP's previewer. For Kindle, upload a clean DOCX with no headers, footers or page numbers.
• Keep two files: one for print and one for the ebook. One file rarely suits both.

How do I format a Word document for KDP?#

Work in this order, because each step depends on the one before. Change the page size after you've set margins and Word quietly recalculates them. Change the font size after you've added page numbers and your page count, gutter and spine width all move.

1. 1Save a copy of your manuscript and call it the print file. Leave the original alone.
2. 2Set the page size to your trim size.
3. 3Set mirror margins for your page count.
4. 4Set up your styles.
5. 5Add section breaks between front matter and chapters.
6. 6Add page numbers (and running headers if you want them).
7. 7Build the table of contents.
8. 8Export to PDF and proof every page.
9. 9Make a separate, simpler copy for Kindle.

KDP publishes its own step-by-step guide and free Word templates for each trim size. A template saves you steps 2 and 3, but you still need to paste your text in properly (Paste as text only, then apply styles) or you'll carry the old formatting across.

Step 1: Set your trim size#

On the Layout tab, open Size and choose More Paper Sizes. Enter the width and height of your trim, for example 6 in by 9 in (152.4 mm by 228.6 mm) for a typical novel or non-fiction paperback, or 5 in by 8 in (127 mm by 203.2 mm) for a smaller novel. Apply it to the whole document.

Not sure which trim to pick? Our guide to choosing a book trim size runs through the usual sizes by genre. If your book has images that run to the edge of the page, you need bleed, which means adding 0.125 in (3.2 mm) to the width and 0.25 in (6.4 mm) to the height, and you must upload a PDF rather than a Word file.

Step 2: Set mirror margins (and leave the Gutter box empty)#

Still on the Layout tab, go to Margins, then Custom Margins. In the Multiple pages list choose Mirror margins, so the left and right pages are set up as facing pages. Word now shows Inside and Outside instead of Left and Right.

KDP's minimum inside margin depends on your page count. Here's the chart it uses:

Type the inside figure into the Inside box. Don't put anything in Word's separate Gutter box. KDP's own instructions say to leave it empty, and filling in both is a common way to end up with a gutter twice as wide as you meant. Those numbers are minimums, too: most books look better with a little more breathing room, such as 0.5 in to 0.75 in on the outside and about 0.75 in top and bottom if you're adding headers. Our post on KDP margins and gutter settings has worked examples for every common trim size.

Step 3: Use styles, not the space bar#

This is the step that separates a book that looks typeset from one that looks typed. Right-click the Normal style and choose Modify. Pick a book font (a serif such as Garamond or Georgia at 11 to 12 pt is a safe start; KDP's minimum is 7 pt), set the alignment to Justified, and under Paragraph set a first-line indent of about 0.2 in to 0.3 in with 0 pt spacing before and after.

Then modify Heading 1 for chapter titles: centred, a larger size, some space above, and "Page break before" ticked if you like. Apply Heading 1 to every chapter title. Word uses it later to build your table of contents, and Kindle uses it to find your chapters.

Now strip out the habits Word lets you get away with. Turn on Show/Hide (the ¶ button on the Home tab) and look for:

• Spaces or Tab characters used to indent paragraphs. Delete them; the style does the indent.
• Empty returns used to push a chapter onto a new page. Replace them with a page or section break.
• Double spaces after full stops. Find and replace two spaces with one.
• Manual line breaks (the ↵ symbol) in the middle of paragraphs, often left over from pasting.

Dialogue-heavy book? Check your quotation marks are consistent before you go further. Our guide to formatting dialogue in a novel covers the UK and US conventions.

Step 4: Add section breaks between chapters#

Page breaks start a new page. Section breaks start a new page and let the next part of the book have different headers, footers and numbering. Put your cursor at the end of the front matter and go to Layout, then Breaks, then Next Page. Do the same at the end of every chapter.

Front matter is the title page, copyright page, dedication and contents. If you need a copyright page, our book copyright page guide and the free UK copyright page generator will give you wording to paste in. In print, chapter one traditionally starts on a right-hand (odd) page, so you may need to add a blank page before it.

Step 5: Page numbers and running headers#

This is where Word earns its reputation. Double-click the footer on the first page of chapter one and, on the Header & Footer tab, turn off Link to Previous. That stops the numbering from running back into the front matter. Then insert your page numbers and, under Format Page Numbers, set them to start at 1.

For a cleaner look, tick Different First Page on chapter openings so no number or header sits above a chapter title, and tick Different Odd & Even Pages if you want the author name on the left and the book title on the right. You'll have to unlink each section from the one before, chapter by chapter. It's fiddly, but it's the difference between a book and a long document.

Step 6: Build the table of contents#

Put your cursor on the blank contents page, go to References, then Table of Contents, and pick an automatic style. Because you used Heading 1, Word fills it in for you. Update it (right-click, Update Field, Update entire table) as the very last thing you do before export, since page numbers will move as you fix things.

Step 7: Export the print PDF and check every page#

Use File, then Save As (or Export), and choose PDF with the "best for printing" or standard option, not "minimum size". KDP asks for all fonts to be embedded and images at 300 DPI or more. On Windows you can tick "Embed fonts in the file" under File, Options, Save before you export.

Then open the PDF and read it as a book, not as a file. Look for widows and orphans (single lines stranded at the top or bottom of a page), chapter titles at the bottom of a page, blank pages in the wrong place and page numbers that restart. Once uploaded, KDP's Print Previewer will flag text outside the margins. If it does, our post on updating a published book on KDP covers re-uploading without losing your listing.

When the interior is final, your page count is fixed, and only then should you size the cover. The spine width depends on it. See book cover size for Amazon KDP for the maths.

Step 8: Make a separate Kindle file#

A Kindle ebook is reflowable. Readers change the font and size, so there are no fixed pages. KDP says ebooks don't need page numbers, headers or footers, so remove them. Save a new copy of your manuscript (not the print file) and:

• Keep the Normal and Heading 1 styles, and put a page break before each chapter.
• Delete page numbers, headers, footers and any blank pages added for print.
• Replace the print contents page with a linked table of contents (Word's automatic one, without page numbers, works).
• Avoid text boxes, shapes and columns, which don't convert well.
• Save as DOCX and upload it, or open it in Kindle Create first to tidy chapter styles and upload the KPF file it produces.

Our Kindle formatting guide goes deeper on images and links in ebooks.

Where Word fights you (and when it's worth handing over)#

Word is fine for a straightforward novel. It gets painful with images that need to stay put, tables, footnotes, drop caps, a book over a few hundred pages, or anything you also want on IngramSpark, which has stricter file rules than KDP (see how to format a book for IngramSpark). Many authors who do a first book in Word find the second one takes just as long, because every change to font size or trim size knocks the page numbers, headers and contents out again.

If you'd rather spend that time writing, our book formatting service is done by a human typesetter in Adobe InDesign. You get a print-ready PDF and a reflowable EPUB prepared for KDP and IngramSpark, and we'll format your first chapter free so you can see the difference before you pay anything. Packages start at £197 ($249). If KDP or IngramSpark flags a formatting issue caused by our file, we fix it free, though content, metadata, rights and platform-policy issues aren't covered by that promise. Doing it yourself? The older Amazon KDP formatting guide is a handy checklist to keep open alongside this one.