Word includes built-in cover page designs with formatted placeholders for title, subtitle, author, date, and related details. They insert at the beginning of the document automatically.
Does this affect you?
Use this for Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2021, and Word 2019 on Windows or Mac when a report, proposal, school paper, or manual needs a clean title page without building one from scratch.
Insert a built-in cover page
Word always places it at the front.
- Open the Insert tab.
- Click Cover Page in the Pages group.
- Choose a design from the gallery.
- Replace placeholders such as Document Title, Subtitle, Company Name, Author, or Date.
- Delete placeholders you do not need.
You do not need to put the cursor at the top first. Word inserts the cover page as page one and pushes the rest of the document down.
Remove or replace a cover page
Use the same menu to cleanly change it.
- Open Insert > Cover Page.
- Choose Remove Current Cover Page to delete it.
- To replace it, choose another design from the gallery. Word swaps the cover page instead of stacking a second one.
More control
Build a manual cover page
You can design the first page yourself. Insert a Section Break Next Page after it so headers, footers, and numbering can differ from the rest of the document.
Themes change cover page styling
Built-in cover pages use the active Word theme. Open Design > Themes to change fonts and accent colors across the cover page and document styles.
Save your own cover page
Select a custom cover page, open Insert > Quick Parts > Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery, and choose Cover Pages as the gallery so it appears in the Cover Page menu later.
Use an updating date field
If the date should stay current, delete static placeholder text and insert it through Insert > Date & Time with Update automatically enabled.
Sources
- Microsoft Support – Insert a cover page (2025)
- Microsoft Support – Insert a header or footer (2025)
- Microsoft Support – Save a Word template (2025)