In this chapter, we will discuss how to use templates in Word 2010. Microsoft Word template is a collection of styles which defines paragraph styles for regular text paragraphs, a title, and different levels of headings. You can use any of the already existing templates for your Word document or you can design a template which can be used for all your company documents.

Using Existing Template

We will now understand how to use an already existing template for your newly created word document. A template is selected at the time when you create a new blank document.

Step 1 − To start a new document, click the File tab and then click the New option; this will display the Available Templates.

Step 2 − Microsoft Word provides a list of templates arranged under Sample Templates or you can download hundreds of templates from office.com which are arranged in different categories. We will use Sample Templates for our document. For this, we need to click over Sample Templates; this will display a gallery of templates. You can try using the office.com option to select a template based on your requirement.

Step 3 − You can browse a list of available templates and finally select one of them for your document by double-clicking over the template. We will select Equity Report template for our report requirement. While selecting a template for your document, you should select the Document Option available in the third column. This opens your document with predefined setting with which you can modify document title, author name, heading, etc. based on your document requirement.

Create New Template

You can create a fresh new template based on your requirement or you can modify an existing template and save it for later use as a template. A Microsoft Word template file has an extension of .dotx. The following steps will help you create a new template.

Step 1 − To create a new template using an existing template, click the File tab and then click the New option; this will display the Available Templates to be selected. Select any of the available template and open it with the Template Option turned on.

Step 2 − You can now modify an open template as per your requirements and once you are done, you can save this template with a .dotx extension which is a standard extension for Microsoft Word Templates.

You can create a template from a new document as well. Click the File button, and click New option to open a new document. Under Available Templates, double click Blank Document to create a new document template. Save the template with a unique name and .dotx extension.

You can save the created template anywhere you click and whenever you like to use this template, just double-click over the template file and it will open a new template based document for you.