The short version: Open Google Docs, go to Template Gallery under File then New, pick a resume-matching cover letter template (there are only a handful, so choose one that pairs with your CV), then rewrite the first two lines yourself because that’s the part hiring managers read. The template saves you formatting time, not thinking time, and confusing the two is where most people go wrong.
Where the templates live
Google Docs doesn’t shout about this. There’s no big “cover letter” button on the home screen. You open a blank Google Doc, go to File, then New, then Template Gallery. Scroll down and you’ll see a section called Letters, and inside that, a small set of cover letter templates that are designed to match the resume templates sitting right above them, things like Spearmint, Coral, and Swiss.
That matching detail is the whole point of using Google Docs over Word for this. If you build your CV with the same template family in Google Docs, the fonts, spacing, and header style line up automatically. I’ve seen candidates send a cover letter in a serif font with a CV in a sans-serif one, sent as two separate PDFs that clearly weren’t from the same document. It’s a small thing but it reads as careless, and hiring managers notice careless before they notice clever.
If you haven’t built the CV yet, do that first. I wrote a full walkthrough on whether Google Docs has resume templates you can use for free, and the answer changes how you should approach the cover letter, because you want the two documents to look like a set, not two random downloads.
The step by step
Here’s exactly what to click, in order:
- Open docs.google.com and sign into any Google account (free, no subscription needed).
- Click Template Gallery on the home screen, or File then New then From template gallery if you’re already inside a document.
- Scroll to the Letters section, not Resumes, which is a separate section further up.
- Pick a template that pairs with your CV template. If your CV is Spearmint, use the Spearmint letter. Google groups them by name for a reason.
- Click the template. It opens as a new copy in your own Drive, so you’re not editing anyone else’s master version.
- Replace every placeholder line. Templates come with dummy text like “[Your Name]” and sample sentences, and Google Docs will not warn you if you leave one in. I’ve had a client’s cover letter arrive on my desk with “Dear [Hiring Manager Name]” still sitting there in bold. Read every line before you export.
- Go to File, then Download, then PDF Document, so the formatting stays fixed no matter what device the reader opens it on.
That’s it for the mechanics. Total time if you’re just swapping in your own details: about twenty minutes. The mechanics were never the hard part.
What needs rewriting (and this is where most people stop too soon)
Here’s the uncomfortable bit nobody selling you a template wants to say out loud: the template does nothing for the content, and the content is what gets you the interview. I’ve hired for my own company and consulted for others on hiring for years, and I’ll be blunt, most cover letters get skimmed in under fifteen seconds. Not read. Skimmed. The hiring manager’s eyes go to the first line, the job title, and maybe one number if you’ve included one. Everything else is a formality that only matters if the first line earns a second look.
So the part you need to write yourself, every single time, is the opening two lines. Google’s templates give you a generic opener like “I am writing to express my interest in the [Job Title] position.” Delete that entirely. It tells the reader nothing they don’t already know from the subject line of your email.
Replace it with something specific: what you did, where, and what it produced. Not “I have five years of marketing experience.” Instead, “In my last role I grew a small business’s email list from 400 to 6,200 subscribers in eight months, which is the exact list-growth problem your job ad mentions.” That’s one sentence, it’s specific, and it proves you read the job ad rather than pattern-matching your way through fifty applications this week.
A real example from my inbox
My niece Maya asked me to look at her cover letter last spring, before she’d applied for a marketing assistant role at a small agency in Brighton. She’d used the Coral template, matched it to her CV, and it looked tidy. But the letter opened with “I am excited to apply for this role and believe my skills make me a strong fit.” Nothing wrong with it grammatically. Nothing memorable about it either.
We rewrote the first two lines together. She’d run her university’s student Instagram account and taken it from 800 to 3,400 followers in one term by posting behind-the-scenes content instead of event flyers. That became her opening line, word for word. Same template, same formatting, same fonts. She sent it on a Tuesday and had an interview call by Thursday. The template didn’t change. The first two lines did.
Formatting choices that matter
A few small decisions inside the template make a real difference:
- Keep it to one page, always. If your letter runs onto a second page with three lines on it, cut a paragraph rather than let it spill over. Nobody scrolls a cover letter.
- Match your file name to the job, not “Cover Letter Final V3.docx”. Use something like “Maya Cohen Marketing Assistant Cover Letter.pdf” so it’s instantly identifiable in a folder of forty applications.
- Don’t rely on the template’s default font size without checking it once downloaded as PDF. I’ve seen templates render slightly smaller after export, and an 11pt letter can shrink to something that looks like fine print on a phone screen, which is how most people are opening these emails now.
- Leave the template’s built-in address block only if you’re applying by post or the job ad specifically asks for a formal letter format. For most digital applications, a simple header with your name and contact details is enough, and the full date and employer address block reads as slightly old-fashioned.
Using AI to speed up the parts that aren’t the hard bit
Once you’ve written your own opening lines, tools like ChatGPT are useful for tightening the middle paragraphs, checking tone, or cutting a letter that’s run 40 words too long. I use it constantly for exactly this kind of editing pass, and I’ve written a full guide on how to use ChatGPT to write faster if you want the prompts I use. What I wouldn’t do is ask it to write the whole letter from a job description, because it will produce something that sounds like every other AI-written cover letter landing in that same inbox this month. Hiring managers are starting to spot the pattern, the same three adjectives, the same structure, the same slightly hollow enthusiasm.
What to pair it with
A cover letter template alone won’t carry a weak application. If your CV design is dated or plain, look at how to design a resume cover page that gets noticed before you go further with the letter, since the two documents should feel like a matched set. And if the role you’re chasing involves any salary discussion once you’re through the door, it’s worth reading up on how to write a salary negotiation email that gets a positive response now, rather than scrambling for the right words after an offer lands.
If you’re building the CV from scratch too, not just formatting an existing one, I’ve laid out the whole process in how to write a resume using a free online document tool, which walks through the same Google Docs route from the CV side.
The bit people skip that costs them the interview
Read the letter out loud before you send it. Not in your head, out loud, at normal speaking pace. Template text has a particular rhythm to it, slightly stiff, slightly formal in a way nobody talks. If a sentence sounds like something a robot would say at a job fair, it’s still template text and you missed it in the silent read-through. This one habit catches more leftover placeholder phrasing than any amount of proofreading on screen.
Frequently asked questions
Are Google Docs cover letter templates free?
Yes, completely free, as long as you have any Google account. There’s no paid tier, no watermark, and no limit on how many times you use or edit a template.
Can I use a Google Docs cover letter template if my CV was made in Word?
You can, but the fonts and spacing won’t match automatically, so you’ll need to manually pick a similar font and header style in Word so the two documents look like a set rather than two unrelated files.
How long should a cover letter be?
One page, ideally three to four short paragraphs, roughly 250 to 350 words. Anything longer and you’re relying on a reader who, on average, gives a cover letter under fifteen seconds of real attention.
Should I mention I used a Google Docs template?
No, never mention it, and there’s no need to. Nobody checks which template a document came from, and the source of the formatting is completely irrelevant once it’s downloaded as a PDF with your own content in it.
Useful references
Related reading: How to Write a Cover Letter for a Software Engineer Role That Gets You Shortlisted and 7 Cover Letter Writing Techniques that Will Get You Hired.
