10 Minute Guide to Word for Windows 95

Previous chapterNext chapterContents


- 16 -
Working With Templates

In this lesson, you'll learn how to create and modify templates.

What Is a Template?

You learned in Lesson 4 that every Word for Windows document is based on a template, and you also learned how to create a new document based on one of Word's predefined templates. You can also create your own template, or modify existing ones.

Creating a New Template

You can create new templates to suit your specific word- processing needs. To create a new template from scratch:

1. Select File New. The New dialog box is displayed.

2. In the dialog box, select the Template option.

3. In the box displaying template icons, be sure that Blank Document is selected.

4. Select OK. A blank document-editing screen appears with a default name, such as TEMPLATE1.

5. Enter the boilerplate text and other items that you want to be part of the template. Apply formatting to the text as desired; create any styles that you want in the template. (You'll learn about creating styles in Lesson 24.)

6. Select File Save. The Save As dialog box is displayed.

7. In the File name text box, enter a descriptive name up to 256 characters long for the template.

8. Select OK. The template is saved under the specified name and is now available for use each time you start a new document.


Plain English: Boilerplate This is text that appears the same in all documents of a certain type.

Modifying an Existing Template

You can retrieve any existing template from disk and modify it. Then, you can save it under a new name. To modify a template:

1. Select File New to display the New dialog box, shown in Figure 16.1.

2. Select the template that you want to modify. If necessary, select a different folder in the Look In list.

3. Be sure the Template option is selected.

4. Click OK.

5. Make the desired modifications and additions to the template's text and styles.

6. To save the modified template under its original name, select File Save. This is not advised, however. It's better to save the modified template under a new name (see step 7) so the original template will still be available.

7. To save the modified template under a new name (leaving the original template unchanged), select File Save As and enter a new template name.

Note that changes you make to a template are not reflected in documents that were created based on the template before it was changed.

Figure 16.1
Opening a template for modification.

Creating a Template from a Document

To create a template based on an existing Word document you created, follow these steps:

1. Open the document; delete any text and formatting that you do not want to appear in the template.

2. Select File Save As to display the Save As dialog box.

3. Open the Save as Type list and select Document Template.

4. Open the Save in list and select the Template folder.

5. Type the name for the template in the File name box.

6. Select Save.

In step 4, if you don't select the proper template folder, the new template will not be available in Word's New dialog box.

In this lesson, you learned how to create and modify document templates. In the next lesson, you'll learn how to add page numbers, headers, and footers to your documents.


Previous chapterNext chapterContents


Macmillan Computer Publishing USA

© Copyright, Macmillan Computer Publishing. All rights reserved.