Word Processing

Unit 2: Manipulating Text With Word

Lesson 6: Using Other Writing Tools

How do you set up and use template documents for common document types?

Figure 1. New Dialog Box

Most of the productivity tools we have looked at so far have been concerned with doing things faster. For example, shortcut keys and the toolbar. This objective is about a feature of Word that is concerned with doing fewer things.

Many of the documents you will create will fall into some category. If you are running your own business it's likely you will be creating invoice documents, order forms, etc. If you are in school it's likely you will be creating resumes, cover letters, etc. Most likely, each document category will shares common elements. For example, they may have the same headers, footers, clip art, text, formatting, and page layout. Rather than create each document from the beginning, you can save a lot of time by creating a template for each document type and creating each new document from the template.

A template starts life as a regular document. It becomes a template only after you save it as a template. To create a template:

1. Create the document with all the static elements you want to include in the template. This includes headers, footers, clip art, text, formatting, and page layout.
2. Choose the Save As... command from the File menu.

3. Enter the name for your template in the File name dialog box.

   

4. In the Save as type box, click Document Template. The program will automatically go to the Templates folder.
5. Click OK and your document will be saved as a template. Templates are stored in the template directory under the Office program directory:

 To create a document from a template:

1. Choose the New... command from the File menu.
2. Select the tab for the subfolder the template is in, or the General tab if it is in the Template folder.
3. Select the template you want and click the OK button.
4. The template is converted to an unsaved document and displayed in the Word application window.
5. You can now add, delete, and change the text, format, layout, etc. Since the document is unnamed, you will have to use the Save As command the first time you save it.

As mentioned above the templates are stored in the template directory under the Office program directory. If you want to delete a template you must use the capabilities of the operating system to delete the template file.

Copyright 1996 by the Curators of the University of Missouri