In this lesson, you'll learn how to use Word's templates and wizards to create a new document.
As you learned in the previous lesson, when you start Word, it displays a blank document for you to work with. The new document uses Word's Normal template. The question is, what is a template?
You may not be aware of it, but every Word for Windows document uses a template. A template is a model, or pattern, for a document. A template can contain boilerplate text, graphics, and formatting. It can also contain styles, glossary entries, and macros (covered in later lessons). Any document that uses a template automatically contains all the elements of the template. Then, you add additional text and formatting as needed.
For example, a business-letter template might contain your company's logo and address, the date, and a salutation. When you use the template, you need to type in only the text of the letter; the standard elements are provided by the template. You can create your own templates (as you'll learn in a later lesson); you can also use the predefined templates that come with Word.
The Normal template is pretty basic; it contains no boilerplate text or special formatting. It is fine for many documents. However, Word provides a variety of specialized templates that are designed to simplify the task of creating certain types of documents, such as FAXes, memos, invoices, newsletters, and more.
Timesaver Tip: Roll Your Own You'll learn how to create your own templates in Lesson 16.
A wizard goes a step beyond a regular template. In addition to providing predefined formatting and text, a wizard automates part of the process of creating a document. For example, a FAX Wizard would prompt you to enter the recipient's name and telephone number, and then automatically insert them in the proper locations in the document.
Here are the steps for creating a new document based on a template:
Figure 4.1
The New dialog box lists available templates.
Timesaver Tip: Click Yourself a New Document To create a new document based on the Normal template, click the New button on the Standard toolbar.
Word will load the template. If the template contains any text, it will appear on your screen. You can now edit the document in the usual fashion. If you selected a wizard in step 3, see the next section for details on how to use it.
Each Word wizard is different, so it's impossible to provide detailed instructions that will apply to all of them. However, the basic steps involved are similar for all wizards. Once you understand these steps, you can handle any of the Word for Windows wizards.
A Wizard consists of a series of dialog boxes. Each dialog box presents you with
options to select or text boxes where you enter information. A typical wizard dialog
box is shown in Figure 4.2.
Figure 4.2
A typical wizard dialog box.
A simple wizard might have only two or three dialog boxes; a more complex one may
have a dozen. After entering the required information in a dialog box, here's what
to do:
Once the Wizard finishes, you can edit your new document using the standard techniques.
In this lesson, you learned how to use Word's templates and wizards to simplify the task of creating a new document. In the next lesson, you'll learn how to control the way Word displays documents on your screen.
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