Templates are basically the foundation upon which you build your document?the design, styles, macros, and even some beginning text are all stored with the template. Having an understanding of templates will help you build frequently used documents more easily. Use the following articles to get the hang of managing templates in Word.

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'Templates' topic. Click the article''s title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

   Adding Individual Styles to the Template
One of the things you can store within templates are styles. When you use styles, it is critical that you understand how they can be added to a template so you can use them in a lot of different documents. Here's the way to make that addition.

   Automatically Update Document Styles Setting
Templates and styles are a great way to apply formatting consistently within and across documents. A couple of the settings related to styles and templates, however, can be a bit confusing.

   Best Way to Create a Document Template
Templates are the basis of creating consistent documents that permit fast and easy formatting. What is the best way to create a template, however? Here are some ideas that may shed some light on this question.

   Changing the Attached Template
Templates, when attached to a document, can greatly affect how that document looks. You can change from one template to another at any time, as described in this tip.

   Changing the Default Font
Don't like the font that Word uses for a default in your new documents? You can pick a different font, but the way you make the selection is not as straightforward as you might expect.

   Create a Template that Stops Styles from Being Added to a Document
Limiting which styles a user can use or add to a document can be a tricky task. Fortunately, Word has advanced to the point where there are several different tricks you can try to gain control over the proliferation of user-inserted styles.

   Creating a Boilerplate Document
If you have several boilerplate documents you need to routinely use in Word, then you should learn how to use templates. They can provide just the functionality and flexibility you need.

   Creating a Document Based on a Template
Double-click a Word template file in Windows, and Word should create a brand new document based on that template. If this sequence doesn't work, it means something is amiss in your setup. Here's what you can do to fix it.

   Creating a Letterhead Template
Word is often used to write all sorts of letters. You may want to create a template that makes creating your letters easier than ever. Here's how you go about it.

   Determining the Template Attached to a Document
If you've opened a document in Word, that document has a template attached to it. This tip looks at what those templates do and shows you how you can figure out which template is actually attached to the document.

   Editing a Template
Editing a template can be as easy as editing a regular Word document, provided you know where to find the templates. Here are the steps you need to follow to open and make changes to your templates.

   Examining Styles and Macros in a Template
Templates are very powerful with the ability to contain both styles and macros. If you want to see what styles and macros are in a template, though, you're going to need to do a little sleuthing.

   Inconsistent Prompting to Save Normal Template Changes
You can configure Word to notify you when it is about to save updates to the Normal template. There may be some confusion, however, about when such notifications are supposed to occur.

   Inserting the Template Name in Your Document
Templates are a powerful part of the Word experience, as they allow you to create and format documents based on patterns. Every document has an associated template, and you can insert the name of that template in the document itself by using a special field designed for that purpose.

   Listing the Settings in a Template
Templates allow you to define and collect many formatting settings that control how your documents appear. Getting a report of what settings are stored in a template is not an easy task, however.

   Making Macros Available without Using the Normal Template
If you save your macros in your Normal template, they'll be available whenever you are using Word. What if you don't want to put them in the Normal template, though, and you still want them available? Here is a great way to make that happen on your system.

   Making Templates Available to Word
Confused about where to store your templates in Word so that they are available when using the program? This tip discusses where to put them and how to later get to them.

   Managing Corporate Templates
Templates are used to store styles and lots of other customizations that affect how you use Word. On a single-user machine, managing templates isn't that hard. In a corporate environment, however, you need to be concerned with managing templates so that you can protect the work that went into creating them.

   Moving Building Block Templates
Not all templates are created equal. Word uses two special templates for storing building blocks. If you want to move those special templates to a location of your choosing, you may be in for more work than you anticipated.

   Opening a Template
If you have a template stored on disk, you can open it and make changes to it just as you do other documents. This tip explains, in detail, how to open a template file.

   Protect Your Document Templates
If you want to protect your templates from accidental changes, the best way to do so is by using Windows instead of Word. This tip provides step-by-step instructions on how to make a template read-only, so it can't be changed.

   Protecting the Normal Template During an Update
When Microsoft decides to update your 365 system, you may find that it also overwrites your Normal template. This tip looks at ways you can help prevent or recover from such occurrences.

   Recovered Document becomes Default
Word has a feature called AutoRecover that helps you when Word or Windows crashes. If your Normal template gets messed up for some reason by a recovered document, you may long for a way to get things back to the way they were. Here's some ideas to help.

   Saving a Preview with Your Template
Templates provide a collection of styles and boilerplate for new documents. Selecting the right template by filename only may be a problem if the filenames are not descriptive. Word allows you to save a thumbnail view of the template's first page in the template to simplify making a selection.

   Template Changing On Its Own
When you attach a template to a document, you expect that template to stay attached. When you share the document with others, however, it may be possible for the template reference to change, as discussed in this tip.

   Templates and Page Setup
Templates are a great way to share styles, macros, and other settings among various documents. One thing that isn't shared through templates, however, is page setup. If you want to have this shared, you'll love the macro presented in this tip.

   Tracking Changes to Templates
Wouldn't it be great to be able to track what changes are made to a template, over time? Unfortunately, Word doesn't include such a capability. Here's a discussion of why Word's built-in tracking tools won't suffice when it comes to templates.

   Understanding Templates
Templates are used to store a pattern for how a document should look. As such, they can be a very powerful tool for creating new documents in Word.

   Updating Many Template References
Documents rely on templates. If you change the location of those templates (on purpose or by accident), Word can take a very long time to open the documents that reference those templates. Here are some ideas on how you can change template references in a large number of documents.

   Using Documents after a Server Move
Word documents can be interrelated with each other, particularly when you are dealing with templates. Move the templates and you can end up with documents that are difficult to use. This tip discusses ways you can update your documents to access templates that have been moved.

   What Changes Did I Make In that Template?
When you make changes that affect a template, Word usually asks you if you want to save those changes when you exit the program. If you see such a question and you don't remember making changes, then you should be wary.

   Where Are Templates Stored?
Need to know where templates are located in Word 2007? The locations may be the same as in earlier versions of the program, but how those locations are treated is different.

   Where is the Normal Template Stored?
The Normal template is used all the time in Word. If you want to figure out where the template is stored on your system, this tip provides several ways you can determine the location.

   Working on Shared Templates
In many companies it is common to have standard templates accessible through the internal network. If you have templates being used by dozens or hundreds of people, it can present a challenge when you need to update those templates. Here's some ideas you can apply.