It’s tempting to take shortcuts at every time. Shortcuts save time for us. If we worked hard to format a document, we may want to make it as a template so that next time we use this format we don’t need create again. However, if you create template like this, your documents based on that template will start life with whatever garbage the original document acquired during its lifetime. In fact, the best way to create a template is to start fresh, even though that might seem inefficient.
On the other hand, people always create a template by opening a new document and then save as a template. This is not the right way neither. The template you create and its offspring will be based on your current Normal template. Any customization will show up in your new template and its offspring. However, there is a solution. To illustrate this seemingly innocuous behavior, we can follow the steps below:
1. Press [Ctrl] + “o”. Then, in the Open dialog, click Trusted Templates. Double-click Normal.dotm. In Word 2003, we can find Normal.dot in Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates.
2. Right-click Normal in the Styles gallery and choose Modify. In Word 2003, go to format menu and choose Styles and Formatting, and then, right-click Normal in the Styles task pane.
3. Replace automatic by choosing any color from the Color dropdown.
4. Click OK.
After saving Normal.dotm (Normal.dot), close it. Then, press [Ctrl] + “n” to open a new document and start typing at will, and you will find the text in the color is the color you just choose for Normal.dotm. That’s great for your new documents, but probably nota new template.
Friendly Reminder:
• Don’t forget to change Normal.dotm’s font color back to Automatic.
• Don’t forget all the other customizations you’ve made that aren’t even visible in a new document!
On the other hand, people always create a template by opening a new document and then save as a template. This is not the right way neither. The template you create and its offspring will be based on your current Normal template. Any customization will show up in your new template and its offspring. However, there is a solution. To illustrate this seemingly innocuous behavior, we can follow the steps below:
1. Press [Ctrl] + “o”. Then, in the Open dialog, click Trusted Templates. Double-click Normal.dotm. In Word 2003, we can find Normal.dot in Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates.
2. Right-click Normal in the Styles gallery and choose Modify. In Word 2003, go to format menu and choose Styles and Formatting, and then, right-click Normal in the Styles task pane.
3. Replace automatic by choosing any color from the Color dropdown.
4. Click OK.
After saving Normal.dotm (Normal.dot), close it. Then, press [Ctrl] + “n” to open a new document and start typing at will, and you will find the text in the color is the color you just choose for Normal.dotm. That’s great for your new documents, but probably nota new template.
Friendly Reminder:
• Don’t forget to change Normal.dotm’s font color back to Automatic.
• Don’t forget all the other customizations you’ve made that aren’t even visible in a new document!
Now, start a new template from scratch by following the instructions below:
1. Click the File menu (Click the Office button in Word 2007). Choose New in the left pane. In Word 2003, choose New from the File menu.
2. Click My Templates in the Available Templates section. In Word 2003, go to the New Document task pane and click on My Computer.
3. Click Blank Document in the resulting dialog.
4. Click Template in the Create New section.
5. Click OK.
1. Click the File menu (Click the Office button in Word 2007). Choose New in the left pane. In Word 2003, choose New from the File menu.
2. Click My Templates in the Available Templates section. In Word 2003, go to the New Document task pane and click on My Computer.
3. Click Blank Document in the resulting dialog.
4. Click Template in the Create New section.
5. Click OK.
There are several ways to create a Word template. But, when you want to create a template to fight an urge, pay attention on these below.
• Don’t base a new template on an existing document unless for your own use.
• Don’t base a new template on a new document file.
• Always base a new template on a template file (as shown above).
• Don’t base a new template on an existing document unless for your own use.
• Don’t base a new template on a new document file.
• Always base a new template on a template file (as shown above).