Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Changing the Attached Template.
In Word, a template is used to specify the default styles and text formatting for a document. When you first open a blank document, Word automatically attaches the Normal template, although you can specify a different template. After the file has been created, you can change the attached template by following these steps:
Figure 1. The Templates and Add-Ins dialog box.
If you don't see the Developer tab necessary for step 1, then you need to make the tab visible. You do that by first displaying the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 and Word 2013 display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.) Click Popular at the left side of the dialog box, and then select the Show Developer Tab in Ribbon check box.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5998) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Changing the Attached Template.
Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!
Documents rely on templates. If you change the location of those templates (on purpose or by accident), Word can take a ...
Discover MoreTemplates are used to store styles and lots of other customizations that affect how you use Word. On a single-user ...
Discover MoreTemplates are used to store a pattern for how a document should look. As such, they can be a very powerful tool for ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2016-11-17 17:16:27
Digmen1
What happens to text that is formatted with a style that is not in the new template?
2016-11-17 17:08:38
Digmen1
This tip sort of works.
But the styles that were in the original template seem to stay with the document.
It is very hard and tedious to delete them.
This whole area is very flakely and MS need to tidy it up.
(or is it just me?)
2015-12-09 09:34:23
Paul Franklin Stregevsky
Jonathan,
You can add the Templates shortcut to your Quick Access Toolbar (QAT).
2015-12-09 04:01:33
Jonathan Gabriele-Hay
I can never find this option, but it is essential when working with old documents for which the original custom template is long gone. Google always brings me to this page when I've misplaced my bookmark.
Great tip, thank you.
Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2018 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: 
Comments