Template

Hi Gary, Thank you for the post and welcome to the forum, in answer to your question;

Before you create your Word Template is is a good idea to outline what you want in it. You can always go back and edit the template but it is a good time saver if you spend a little time planning it first; here are a couple of tips that might be of use:

If you're creating a Word template to use as a letter, insert an updating date field, so that every time you open the template you have the current date.
Include all boilerplate text such as address and contact information
Headers and Footers - always use fields or Autotext for information that may change but will contain the same type of information (eg page numbers, file path, document title etc)
Macros - if you want to use specific macros with the document include them with the template.
If your document contains different areas with different formatting, these will not be distinguishable on a blank page, use fields with descriptive names as placeholder text, so that when you open the new document based on the template you can simply highlight the placeholder text and type over it, text entered in its place will contain the same formatting.
Once you have an outline of what you want to include in your template and have created your document you can follow these steps;

1. Click in the File Menu and select Save
2. In the File Name box, give your template a name
3. In the Save as type box, select Document Templates (*.dot)
4. Word will automatically open the default save location for Templates (generally ... \Application\Data\Microsoft\Templates). If you want to save it some other location you can do so now by navigating to your required folder/desktop, - but keep in mind that if you save elsewhere it will not appear in the Templates dialog box.
5. Click Save.

To activate your template, either go to File New, and choose Templates on my Computer from the Task Pane, or navigate to your chosen location and double-click on the icon for your template.

I hope that has helped, regards Pete