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A Word or Two about Templates  - or

Some MS Word Template Hints

category: writing, software

Word processing templates can save you a lot of time and hassle in creating and maintaining documents and document archives. Use templates to achieve uniform appearance in document groups and to quickly create new documents with boilerplate text.

There are a few ways to approach building a template. Depending on what you need, one or the other method is best. The simplest way is to start with one of Word's prefab templates and modify it. You can change fonts, insert your return address, salutation, closing, name, and any boilerplate text, and save the whole thing as a new template. This approach works well for simple letters and other documents that don't require elaborate formatting. Save the new template using Save As from the File menu, and Word will automatically save the new template into the General folder of the Template dialogue box. You want to save your template into Word's default position in order for your template to appear under the General tab in the Template dialogue box. If you save your template in another folder, it won't appear in the Template Dialogue Box.

Word's prefab templates are less useful when you are working on more complex documents with more specialized formatting. Just for fun, I used the wizards for legal pleadings and agendas. Those wizards are a nice try on Microsoft's part, but to me they did not seem to offer much. If you are creating a more complex document, you are better off with the Organizer.

From the Tools Menu, select Templates and Add-Ins. From the bottom of the Templates and Add-Ins dialogue box, click the Organizer button. The Organizer allows you select character, paragraph, list and table styles from one template and add them to a different template. I can select only what I want and don't have to put up with a lot of superfluous styles within my template. I have what I need and nothing else.

There are a few critical principles to remember when working with styles and templates. Most styles are paragraph styles. Place your cursor anywhere in a paragraph, click on a style from the dropdown or from the Styles and Formatting Task Pane, and you have changed the style of the entire paragraph. Because most styles are paragraph styles, the style is subject to change every time you hit the enter key. Depending on how the previous style was defined, your new paragraph may be in a different style.

Another difficulty is the potential confusion with page numbers. There is a way to print a first page of the document cover page without a page number and have the page number one appear on the second page of the document. From the Insert menu, select Page Numbers. From the Page Number dialogue box, select the Format button. Choose one of the Arabic numeral number formats, and then start the page numbering at 0. Your cover page will be page zero, and the first page of text will be page 1.

I expect I'll post another entry soon about things I haven't covered here, such as sections and tables of contents.

She said on 09.27.05 @ 12:37 PM CST