What are Word Templates?

Word templates are outline documents which can be used to create new documents. Unlike using an ordinary document and doing a SaveAs, templates create a fresh new document which can also be linked to some content in the template – such as styles, autotext and macros.

Templates have a .dot extension up to Word 2003, Word 2207 has both .dotx and .dotm.

What is Stored in a Template?

Templates can contain some or all of:

·       Body content – including text, images, graphs and fields

·       Layout – including margins, headers and footers

·       Styles – including font type and size, line spacing, tabs, spelling, numbering schemes, borders etc

·       AutoText – all documents have access to the autotext in Normal.dot. If they are attached to a different template they can access that template’s autotext as well.

·       Toolbars – which can provide shortcuts to styles, macros, and autotext etc

·       Macros and VBA code – although recorded macros are expressed in VBA, coded macros can be far more sophisticated, efficient, and robust and are really a different fish altogether.

Templates can be as simple as a set of styles and layout with no content, to minimal content, to many pages of content. (The baseplus example is the first four of 32 pages!)

A simple invoice template                Some of baseplus’s 32 pages in their report template

How to Create a Word Template

·       Create your document which the styles, content and layout etc that you want.

·       SaveAs type Document Template – by default it will save in your user template folder.

How to Use a Word Template

Either from Word:

·       File/New 

·       then select your template from New from Template. Recently used templates are listed at the top, other templates can be found under General Templates.

Or from Explorer:

·       Right click and select New (or double click the default for templates is New not Edit)

This will create a copy of your template as a .doc – an ordinary document. Any changes made to the document are generally not copied to the template itself.

Save in the normal manner.

How to Edit a Word Template

Either from Word:

·       File/Open

·       Navigate to your template.

Or from Explorer:

·       Right click and select Edit (do not double click as the default for templates is New – which will create a new document which is based on the template but will not alter the template)