Creating a word template

Word has been the gold standard for your document and word processor needs for close to 15 years now. But even with it being out for an eternity in the computer world, there are still many features that people don't know how to create on the software. One of those things is the creation of a Word Template. Here are some ways to make a word template.

STEP 1: Select the "Microsoft Office" button and either create or open a new file. This all depends on whether you want to start from scratch or use any of the thousands of templates that are already available in Microsoft Word. Sometimes a person is better off starting things from scratch and other times they like having something that looks pretty close to what they already have.

STEP 2: Make any necessary changes that you'll want to make. There are several things you can change, such as style, orientation, font size, page size, your own logo, margin settings and anything else that you would like to have as something that will open every time that you open this template.

STEP 3: Once you create the customization that you like, you're going to need a path to save your template. So go ahead and hit SAVE AS. At this point, you need to find a place to put the template.

Most Vista Templates get saved in the FAVORITE LINKS section.

Most XP Tempates get saved in the SAVE IN section.

STEP 4: Give the new template a file name and either save as a "Word Template" or "Word Template With Macros" if you wish to use macros with your new template.

A macro is one instruction that automatically starts a series of instructions. If you make a Macro, it is important that you save it as a "Word Template With Macros" so that the macros will be executed when you fire up the template.

As a side note, you can create the template in "Compatibility mode". Compatibility Mode means that it will read on any product of Word released 1997 or later. The extensions are different (.dotx for Tempate, .dotm for Template with Macros and .dot for Compatibilty mode")

STEP 5: Go ahead and close the template now. You should have a fully executable template.

There are a lot of things you can do with a template. For example, you can...

  • Add content controls, such as pictures, date pickers, drop-down lists or other rich text controls
  • Add instructional text. This is useful for anyone who might be unfamiliar with how to work a template. By giving detailed placeholder instructions, you can eliminate all guesswork.
  • Make changes to the template. Say you switch business names or your margins aren't just right. Just open the template and make whatever changes you'd like to make.

IMPORTANT: Open only your original template. DO NOT open a document based on the template. Opening a document that uses the template you want to change will only change it for THAT document. If you want the entire template changed, you need to make sure that the original template is selected.

You can also prevent changes by changing the status of the template to read-only. To do this, simply do the following:

  1. Go to the My Templates portion and right click on the template name, then click Properties.
  2. Next to the "Attributes" tab should be a tab marked "General". Select that and there will be a check box marked "Read-Only". Click that.

In Read Only mode, you will not be able to make any changes at all to the document. So be sure if you want to change it that you have to unselect Read-Only mode. You can do this the same way you selected it.

You can also save or use pieces of content, say a logo for your company and re-use it. These are called building blocks and you can do this by opening the template and filling out the information in the "create building block template" dialog box, then use the "Save In" box and put in the template name.

You can also protect part of the document from being deleted or edited. This is how you do it:

  1. Open the template you want to protect
  2. Select the content that you're ready to protect.
  3. Select either "Control cannot be deleted" or "Control cannot be edited" or you can even do both. They will be found in the "Content Control Properties" dialog box under "Locking".

You can opt to do this either for part of the document or for the entire document.

Lastly, you can password protect the entire document by just opening the template, look for the "Development" tab and select "Protect Document" and then choose "Restrict Formatting and Editing". You can choose a series of options from that menu.

In conclusion, templates are a great way to print out papers with that professional touch and it keeps you from having to write company information every time you create a document. Create your own Word Template and save time and money.

References:

Category: Word Templates

Most read articles