Sure, emails and texts are easy ways to send written messages. But there are many times when an old-fashioned letter works best — for legal matters, for instance, or for official notices or personal recommendations.

To get the most out of those letters, it’s handy to have your own personalized stationery. It can add an important touch of professionalism. And with free tools and templates available, you can whip up a custom letterhead design in just a few minutes. Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Serve Up a Template

Most major word-processing programs include a set of predesigned templates for many types of documents, including a business letterhead. Look for the “template gallery” in Apple Pages, Google Docs, Microsoft Word or another word-processing app. Some programs may even offer additional templates online to download if you don’t like the default collection. Online service like Adobe Spark, Canva and PS Print are other venues for the template approach to letterhead design.

Image Google Docs, for Android and other platforms, offers a few basic letterhead templates to get you started.

With a template, you don’t need to get bogged down in layout details. The type styles and basic graphic design are already there, created with generic place-holder information. (You can usually tweak the fonts and colors, though.) So just replace the default text with your own name, address and other information and you have your letterhead.