Why does Word fade my letterhead while I type?

The header is inactive while you type in the body, and Word dims it on screen to signal that. It’s a display effect only — the printed page comes out at full strength.

Why is the design cut off at the edges of the page?

Home and office printers can’t lay ink at the very edge of the sheet, so full-bleed artwork loses a thin strip at the borders. That’s the printer’s hardware margin, not Word — no setting changes it.

Will the free preview print the same as the paid file?

Yes — the preview is a working .docx with a watermark over the artwork. Open it in Word and print a test page on your own printer; the $9 clean file is built the same way, minus the watermark.

Could the printer itself still be the problem?

Worth ruling out: draft and toner-save modes on some drivers lighten or skip graphics. Set print quality back to normal in the print dialog and run one more test page before blaming Word.

Letterhead Disappears When You Print? It’s Not Your Printer

Last updated: July 2, 2026

Skip the reading — your letterhead in Word in about two minutes.Upload your letterhead

The letterhead is right there on screen — and missing from the printed page. It’s almost never the printer. Rule out one common false alarm, then check the two Word settings that decide whether artwork makes it onto paper.

The false alarm: faded on screen, fine on paper

If the letterhead shows up washed out while you type, nothing is wrong. Word dims header artwork on screen to show it’s inactive while you edit the body — a display effect, nothing more. Microsoft’s own support forum puts it plainly: "The header and footer will print in full color." One test page settles it.

Why your letterhead actually isn’t printing

Word only prints what it treats as page content, and that depends on where the artwork sits. A page-background letterhead is screen-only unless "Print background colors and images" is ticked. A floating image vanishes from print if "Print drawings created in Word" — on by default — has been switched off. Both checkboxes live under File → Options → Display.

Where the artwork lives	Prints by default	Repeats on every page
Page background	No — not until "Print background colors and images" is ticked	Yes
Floating image in the body	Yes — until "Print drawings created in Word" is switched off	No
Locked header image	Yes	Yes

One thing no checkbox fixes: desktop printers can’t lay ink at the very edge of the sheet, so a full-bleed design always loses a thin strip at the paper’s edge on a home or office printer.

The letterhead that always prints

WordLetterhead builds the file the way that prints by default: your artwork embedded as a locked header image at 300 DPI — normal page content, repeated on every page. Bring a PDF, PNG, or JPG; get back a Word file in Letter, A4, Legal, or a custom size.

Upload your letterhead design.
Set the typing area — it becomes the Word margins.
Download the .docx, open it in Word, and print a test page.

The preview is free and watermarked — print that test page before you pay. $9 one time, no account.

Common questions

Why does Word fade my letterhead while I type?: The header is inactive while you type in the body, and Word dims it on screen to signal that. It’s a display effect only — the printed page comes out at full strength.
Why is the design cut off at the edges of the page?: Home and office printers can’t lay ink at the very edge of the sheet, so full-bleed artwork loses a thin strip at the borders. That’s the printer’s hardware margin, not Word — no setting changes it.
Will the free preview print the same as the paid file?: Yes — the preview is a working .docx with a watermark over the artwork. Open it in Word and print a test page on your own printer; the $9 clean file is built the same way, minus the watermark.
Could the printer itself still be the problem?: Worth ruling out: draft and toner-save modes on some drivers lighten or skip graphics. Set print quality back to normal in the print dialog and run one more test page before blaming Word.