The Rebrand Checklist Item Everyone Forgets: Your Word Documents
By the WordLetterhead Team · Last updated:
The new brand launches on the website, the signage, and the email signatures. Then a letter goes out on the old logo, because nobody owned the Word file — the one document nobody thinks of as branding.
What does a rebrand usually miss?
The surfaces with an obvious owner all get updated. The Word letterhead has no owner: the agency’s scope ended at the print-ready files, and internally it’s just “the file we type letters on.” So it survives the rebrand untouched, quietly sending the old identity to every client who gets a letter.
| Surface | Who updates it | Usually updated? |
|---|---|---|
| Website | The web agency | Yes — it’s the launch |
| Print letterhead | The designer and printer | Yes — reordered |
| Email signatures | Whoever runs IT | Yes — one broadcast |
| Word letterhead | Nobody’s deliverable | Missed |
It’s the highest-frequency surface on the list. Printed letterhead gets used for formal mail; the Word file is behind every letter, quote, and notice that leaves the building.
Why can’t we just swap the logo in the old file?
Because in most hand-built files the old artwork is scattered through the document body — a pasted image here, a text box there, margins tuned around them. Swapping one piece leaves the rest of the old identity in place and the spacing wrong. Rebuilding from the new design takes less time than repairing the old file, and produces one where the artwork can’t be nudged at all — so the new brand stays intact this time.
If someone has already tried running the new brand PDF through a converter, the damage pattern is documented in why converters ruin letterheads.
How do we close the gap?
Rebuild the Word letterhead from the new design the day the brand launches, and replace the old file everywhere it lives. WordLetterhead turns the new letterhead into a locked .docx in about two minutes:
- Upload the new letterhead — PDF, PNG, or JPG.
- Drag the typing area where letters should sit.
- Download the .docx and retire every copy of the old one.
$9 per design, one time. Multiple letterheads — divisions, offices, sub-brands — are $9each, with no subscription. Designers running this for clients: the full delivery list is in the handoff checklist.
Common questions
- Our agency handled the rebrand. Shouldn’t this have been included?
- It usually isn’t in scope. Identity and web packages deliver logos, print-ready letterhead, and the site; a working Word document is a separate deliverable most agencies never quote. It’s a gap in the standard package rather than a mistake by your agency.
- How many letterhead files does a rebrand need?
- One per distinct design. A single company letterhead is one $9 file; separate divisions, offices, or sub-brands with different artwork each get their own. There’s no subscription or per-seat pricing, so covering several is still a one-time cost.
- Do we need the brand fonts installed on every machine?
- Not for the letterhead — it ships as rendered artwork, so it looks identical everywhere, including machines that never got the font files. Only the letter text you type uses locally installed fonts.
- Can we check it before paying?
- Yes. The watermarked sample is free and it’s a real working .docx — open it, type a letter, print it, and only buy the clean file once the new brand looks right on the page.