Microsoft Word Templates — Quick Guide

Microsoft Word provides templates that are designed by a professional and can be adapted for various documents. Some templates require a lot of work to complete while others are ready for use and all you need to do is add a name, address, and phone number. For instance, business card templates.

However, for a business that wishes to brand its documents and create templates that meet their needs, it is better to customize the templates in MS Word. This guide will teach you how to create customized templates instead of depending on generic Microsoft Word templates.

What You Should Know About Microsoft Office Templates and How to Access, Modify, and Create?

MS Office Templates provide specific design, layout, and style for a particular kind of document. You can choose to provide templates that can still be altered or you can lock them so that content added maintains the layout already set.

When you create a template, you can use it repeatedly to generate several documents. The template file will maintain the format in which you save it. So if you save it as a Docx file, it will maintain that format unless you change it.

Accessing Stock Templates in MS Word

You will need to have an internet connection to access stock templates since most of the templates are stored online. The process is easy once you are connected online.

Step one: Open Word and choose New

Step Two: From the menu that appears, choose the template category you want and wait as Word searches thousands of categories. For this case let’s choose a business.

Step Three: You will see search results displayed on-screen as well as an extensive list of other categories.

Step Four: Scroll and choose the template that best suits your purpose.  

Sometimes you may not find the design or layout that you would like and that is when it becomes essential to customize your template (also check out our blog on keyboard shortcuts guide for MS Word).

Customizing and Creating MS Word Templates

Microsoft Word allows users to create both simple and complex templates to suit their needs from the list of free Office templates. It can be a simple business card, resume, or a multiple page proposal.

The process begins with creating a document. Next, add formatting and images to the document. For Office templates, you may need to make them interactive so that other users can have access to them and add content as they see fit. For interactive templates, you will need to go to controls on the developer tab and input custom fields.

To do this, follow these steps:

Step One: Choose a blank document

Step Two: Create columns according to the design you have in mind with defined measurements. These measurements determine how much space will be taken up by images, text, and graphics.

Step Three: Include a place holder title and choose the font for the title as well as color.

Step Four: Like with the title, do the same for the subtitle but select a separate color from the title.

Step Five: Add a place holder image in the image box.

Step Six: Add any other fields you may find necessary for your template.

Step Seven: If you are happy with what you see, save the template as a regular document for easy sharing and printing, but also save it as a template so it can be used in the future.

Your saved template will be saved as a Custom Office Template, the next time you click “New” you will see a category for Personal templates.

If you’re looking to create hundreds and thousands of documents that look professional by drawing data from multiple data sources, then it is best to choose Windward. It comes as an add-in in your favorite MS Word, so you can start customizing templates and populate it with data to create well-formatted documents in no time.

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