How To Print Your Own TriFold Mailer.

by Chelsea Camper | Last Updated May 26, 2023

Trifold mailers are great for use in direct mail because they:

  • Are not hard to make
  • Have plenty of room for your message
  • Can stand out against the direct mail postcards and envelopes

Print your own trifold mailers.

You can use Microsoft Word to create them and you don’t need a fancy printer; most desktop printers can print trifold mailers. When you mail your trifold mailers you will need to place a small tab on the end of the mailer to keep it from popping open in the mail. Usually these small tabs come with the trifold mailers.

In our post today our example business will be Ted’s Tiny Toyz (aka 3Tz). They are a small, local toy business that makes and sells model trains, small toys, and other tiny things. Ted’s Tiny Toyz is new to the area and want to send out a trifold mailer to announce their arrival to the neighborhood.

Let’s take a look at how they’ll go about creating their trifold mailers.

Click each image to enlarge it in a new tab or window.

 

Step 1: Download the Printable Trifold Template

Thanks to the new product pages we can now download the template from two different areas: The product page and the template page. For this example we’ll be using the Trifold Brochure (Middleweight). We’ll be downloading the template straight from the product page, but you can also download the template from it’s own page.

3TzTF Step 1 Download the trifold mailer template

 

Step 2: Open the Trifold Template

Open the template in Microsoft Word (some may have opened automatically).

3TzTF Step 2a Open the downloaded template in Microsoft Word

 

Step 3: Design Your Trifold Mailer.

Now it’s time to design your mailer! Keep in mind which printer you’ll be using to print your mailers. Inkjet printers do a better job of printing full color photographs but laser printers are generally less expensive though can’t always print full color photographs well.

Before we get started, let’s create a second page for the back of the mailer. To do this, we’ll insert a blank page, add a three column, single row table, then copy the dimensions from the first table onto the second table.

*Note! If you’re having trouble with a blank page being inserted somewhere, highlight everything (ctrl + A) and set the font size to 1.

3TzTF Step 3a Add second page with table for trifold mailer

For this design, I’m going to be putting all of my text in text boxes and using the original table in the background as a guide. (If you don’t see the table you need to make the gridlines visible.) I’ll also be using Clip Art, but you should be using your own logo and images.

Use a small, scrap piece of paper to layout your design. Go ahead and fold the paper up as if it were a trifold and mark which panel is the front, back, first left panel, first right panel, etc. This will help you when you’re designing the mailer in Microsoft Word.

*Note! Keep in mind that the panels aren’t all the same size. The panel that will fold to become the front will be the biggest while the panel that will fold in will be the smallest. Keep this in mind during designing and printing.

3TzTF Step 3b Design your trifold mailer

 

Step 4: Test Print your Trifold Mailer

Do a test print to make sure panels of your mailer line up. You can use some plain copy paper to test print each side of your trifold mailer then hold it up to a light with the actual mailer in front of it. You should be able to see where the show through the mailer. If not, put the copy paper in front instead and look for the scores. With thicker mailers you may need a strong light.

 

Step 5: Print your Trifold Mailers

Once you’ve finished lining things up using plain copy paper, print one or two mailers out the actual trifold paper as one final test to make sure everything is just right. Once you’re confident your panels line up well, it’s time to print!

Here are how ours turned out. How did yours turn out? Let us know!

3TzTF Step 4 Print your trifold mailer

 

Want to download the finished template created in this How To post?

Download the Ted's Tiny Toyz Finished Template!