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File Templates

In this lesson, you will learn:

About Template Files

Template files contain all of the formatting, page layout and appearance of a document that can be reused, including Fonts, Headers and Footers, margin settings, line spacing etc. Templates are really handy for creating Letterhead or stationary or other pubs or documents that will be reused often.

Every Word document that is created is based on a template. When you click on File >New Document, or select 'New Document' from the task pane, or 'New Blank Document' on the toolbar, Word creates a new document based on the Normal Template.

There are several types of templates, and Office Suite software loads templates automatically when the program is installed. To see the templates already installed on your computer, open the program you are interested in, for example, open Word, and from the task pane, under templates, select 'On my computer'




The dialog box that pops up has several tabs named General, Legal Pleadings, Letters & Faxes, Mail Merge, Memos, Other Documents, Publications and Reports.




Of particular interest is the 'Blank Document' template on the General Tab, and the Resumes found on the 'Other Documents' Tab. Feel free to play in this area, launching new documents that are completely different than the one before. This is the power of templates.

Creating Templates

Of course, the one you probably use most is not in here, but you can add one easily enough by creating the type of document you want, and selecting 'File > Save As' and use the drop down arrow in File Types to select 'template'. In Word it will save it as a file type of .dot, which indicates a document template file. Saving your template in the default location will make it show up in the dialog box the next time you start the program. This works for almost any type of Office Suite Software.

To create a template.

  1. Create a new folder in 'My Documents' using your name for the folder name.
  2. Create a new Microsoft Word document in the ‘Your Name ’ Folder in 'My Documents' and name it ‘Template Test.doc’
  3. At the top, type your: My Name > Enter
  4. My Address > Enter
  5. My Phone > Enter
  6. Press Enter 7 times
  7. Type  Thank You
  8. Press Enter twice and then type My Name Again.

Your document should look like the one below:




Save the file by clicking on the disk icon or select File >Save, naming it Template Test.doc. Do not select File >Save As at this time




Using Templates

You have now created a basic file that can be used as a template which can be opened and reused over and over. Here is how to use it.

  1. Double Click 'Template Test.doc' to open it
  2. As soon as the file opens select File >; Save As
  3. Using the drop down arrow in 'Save As Type', select document template to rename the file ‘My Template.dot’
  4. ‘My Template.dot‘ should be the name in the title bar at the top of the document. If it says anything else, simply repeat step 3 to change it
  5. Close all of the open windows.
  6. Re-open Word, select 'File > New and select 'On my computer' from the task pane
  7. Notice your new template! Double click it.

When opening a new template, remember that you are actually editing the template itself and this is not what you want to do. As soon as a template file opens, select 'File > Save As' and give it a new name AND new location by navigating to your working folder and saving your file with a better name. In 'Save As Type' select 'document'.

For example, open 'My Template' and select 'File > Save As' and name the file Template Test.doc. (Be sure to use the drop down arrow and change the file type to 'document'). You can rename the file in the box below, and you can also save the file as a different type using the drop down arrow in Save As.

Fill out the form letter by writing to a friend or make a change in the letter that you will notice.

Now re-save the file by naming it 'Mine.txt' (use the drop down arrow to select 'text' for the file type). Open the'Template Test.doc' file. The original information should be intact. Open'Mine.txt'. All of the changes should now be in this file also, but will look very different. Close all of the open documents.