1: Colour Printing

• One big way to save money on your thesis costs is to cut back on colour printing.
• Websites, hyperlinks and email addresses can appear in blue change these to black.
• Change any other colour that you don’t need such as page numbers, headers etc. to black, giving you a saving of 40c per page!

2: Formatting & Proofreading

• Before sending your PDF for printing check the PDF file one last time.
• Check page numbers are included, check your table of contents, check your name is spelt correctly and check nothing has jumped to another page.
• Take your time and do one last proofread to see if you can spot any last changes.  This will minimise the need for costly reprints.

3: Order Form

• Before filling out our online thesis order form check with your university if they have any specific binding requirements, such as a certain cover and spine layout or a certain colour cover.
• Make sure the name you put on the order is the same as it appears on your Student ID card.
• Your university might not accept your bound thesis unless it meets their requirements, by checking this can save you from any re-binding costs.

Microsoft Office is one of the most popular office suites out there. Microsoft Word is our go-to program for formatting books. Learn these key features for efficiency and a consistent professional-looking document.

Here are 5 tips you need to know! Setup your document right at the start and the rest will be a breeze.

1. PAGE SIZE

Often forgotten about but make sure your page is set as A4, not US Letter, which can be default in some versions of Word.

To set your page size, from the top menu

Select "LAYOUT"
Select "SIZE"
Select "A4"

2. MARGINS

Margins are very important when it comes to binding. No margins = Text/images cut off in the binding process.

For single-sided printing, we recommend a margin of 3cm on the left side and 2.5 cm on the other three sides.
For double-sided printing, we recommend a margin of 2.5 cm on all four sides.

To set your page margin, from the top menu-

Select "PAGE LAYOUT"
Select "MARGINS"
Input "top, left, bottom and right" sizes as per requirements

3. STYLES MENU

The styles menu is an absolute must for any document!
What are styles? Styles are pre-defined formatting that you can use repeatedly throughout your thesis.
Want all your headers/subheadings/paragraphs to be formatted the same, use the styles menu.
Also, if you use styles, it brings me to my next tip "Automatic TOC"

4. AUTOMATIC TABLE OF CONTENTS

If you used styles for your headings, you can now use the Automatic Table of Contents feature.
See our previous tip on how to create an AUTOMATIC TABLE OF CONTENTS

5. NUMBER PAGES DIFFERENTLY

Every thesis will require Roman Numerals for the title page/table of contents pages and Arabic numbers from chapter one onwards.
Here is a very useful guide from Microsoft on how to number pages differently

   Add different page numbers or number formats to different sections

The key to creating a Microsoft Word Automatic Table of Contents is using the “Styles Menu” in your document.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Highlight your Heading i.e. CHAPTER ONE
2. Select HEADING in the styles menu above
   (Do this throughout the whole document)

3. Insert a blank page where you want your table of contents to appear

4. From the top menu select “References” – “Table of Contents”

5. Select which “Automatic Table of Contents” you want from the drop-down menu

6. TOC will then be inserted into the blank page

Preparing your document for printing and binding is easy. Here we show you how to configure margins on your pages and how to allow for A3 pages and other outsized pages that you may have such as maps or large data tables.

Setting the Margins for Printing

To set the page margins open the Page Layout dialog (Layout >>Margins >> Custom Margins - OR - File >> Print >> Page Setup)  In the Page Layout dialog box, you can change the margins as shown.

When you click OK, the document margins will be resized to what you have selected. This may change where page breaks and diagrams are placed in your document so recheck the layout to ensure you are happy with it.

Dealing with A3 or outsize size pages

All A3 or other pages/maps/diagrams larger than A4 should have a margin at the top and left-hand side of at least 2 cm, as shown below. Please advise us if you have any sheets bigger than A4 and we will fold them for you to ensure that the folds are not trimmed off in the binding process and that they fold out as you intend.

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To avail of our Same Day Thesis Print + Bind Service simply follow these steps-

1. Complete our Thesis Order Form 1-2 days before you plan on getting your thesis bound.
   (Please ensure that all information you fill out on the form is spelt correct as we use this information to make your covers in advance.)
2. Once printed you will receive a text message with a time for collection and the total cost. Binding takes approx 5 hours. 
3. Pick up your bound copies from our workshop, or let us know if you require delivery.

Page Numbers

The page numbers are a guide to let us know how thick to make your cover. 

Kennys Bindery Printing

If we are printing your thesis for you we use a high-quality 120gsm white paper. 
Every page of every copy is printed, not photocopied, thus guaranteeing the highest quality no matter how many copies you require.

Printing it yourself

If you are printing your thesis yourself then please look on the side of the packaging to see what grammage the paper is (i.e. 80gsm, 100gsm, 120gms)
* Please note the majority of Universities request that theses be printed on 110gms and over*

Double-sided printing

We can print your thesis double-sided, if you require this service then put the full amount of pages on the order form and Select double-sided printing.

For help formatting your margins for double-sided printing check out our article on configuring-margins

University-specific requirements

There is an additional information section on our form, in which you may tell us if you would like the university name, school or department etc. placed on the cover or any other requirements from your University regarding the layout. You can also use this section if you require any of the words on your title to be in Italics. Please put the exact words required in the additional information section.

What are the different styles of binding

We offer 4 styles of thesis binding.

1) Hardbound
Your thesis will be thread-sewn, hardbound in a leatherette cover with gold embossing front and spine

2) Softbound /Gumbound
Your thesis will be Gumbound with a leatherette cover with gold embossing on the front cover only.

3) PVCbound 
Your thesis will be thermal bound with a clear cover at the front and black card at the back.

4) Wirebound
Your thesis will be wire bound using a black metal wire with a clear cover at the front and black card at the back.