Tap into template power

1. Tap into template power While you may have worked in Word, you might not be so familiar with Word templates. What’s a template, and what’s its benefit to you? A template is a type of document that already contains content. Using a template can help ensure impressive document design and save you time. This lesson offers some examples by providing a firsthand glimpse of the many templates that already exist within Word itself and on Microsoft Office Online. Save time with templates

2. Use an already-made fax cover sheet Let’s say that on your job you frequently have the task of sending a fax to another company. You always need a cover page for the fax. You could spend the time and create this page in Word every time. Or you could use a fax cover sheet that Word already contains. You will find this, and other templates, among Word’s installed templates. Save time with templates

3. Use an already-prepared agenda Here’s another example of how Word templates could help you. Imagine that you’re in charge of creating the agenda for your weekly team meeting. Before you start from a blank page, look at the templates available on Microsoft Office Online—you can link directly to these from within Word. On Office Online, you’ll find a vast and varied collection of templates organized into categories. Within each, you have several choices of template type. Save time with templates

4. Use an already-prepared agenda The picture shows three of the agenda templates. Simply open the agenda you want, and fill in your information. Simple and straightforward, with formatted text areas that help you fill out the agenda. A completely finished, artful look; you can type over example text. Page layout and formatting amped up a notch, with color and tables creating areas for a complex agenda design. Save time with templates

5. Find installed templates Word includes over 30 pre-installed templates for document types such as letters, faxes, reports, resumés, and blog posts. Here’s how you find them. Click the Microsoft Office Button, and click New. In the New Document window, click Installed Templates. Save time with templates

6. Find installed templates Word includes over 30 pre-installed templates for document types such as letters, faxes, reports, resumés, and blog posts. Here’s how you find them. Click one of the thumbnails, and see its preview on the right. When you’ve found the template you want, click Create. A new document opens that’s based on the template, and you make the changes to it that you want. Save time with templates

7. Find Office Online templates The steps for opening templates from the Office Online Web site are very similar. You open the New Document window, but in this case you look in the area under Microsoft Office Online. Click a category to see thumbnails. To download a template, select the thumbnail and click Download. A template opens as a fresh new document on your computer for you to add to as you want and then save. Save time with templates

8. A template’s special power When you open a template, a new document opens that’s based on the template you selected. So you’re opening a copy of the template, not the template itself. And that’s a template’s special power: It opens up a copy of itself, imparting everything it contains to a new, fresh document. You work in that new document, benefiting from everything that was built into the template, plus adding or deleting what you need to. Save time with templates

9. A template’s special power Because the new document is not the template itself, your changes are saved to the document, and the template is left in its original state. Therefore, one template can be the basis for an unlimited number of documents. Every document is based on a template of some kind; the template just lives in the background. Save time with templates

10. Templates, documents: two distinct file types Just as templates have slightly different behavior from documents, so are they also a distinct file type. If you’ve saved many documents in Word, you’re probably familiar with the choices of file type available in which to save files. The standard format defaults to a document type. Save time with templates

11. Templates, documents: two distinct file types A template is a different type, and templates and documents behave differently. As shown in example 1: A template is saved as a Word Template type. It has .dotx at the end of its file name. (In prior Word versions, this extension was .dot.) As shown in example 2: A document is saved as a Word Document type. It has .docx at the end of its file name. (In prior Word versions, this extension was .doc.) Save time with templates