If you always add the same types of content to a document or make the same formatting adjustments, then you might benefit a lot from learning the template Word document creation process.
A Word template is basically a combination of a bunch of different formatting options that you have in new documents that use that template by default.
Our tutorial below will show you how to save a Word document as a template.
How to Create Document Templates in Word
- Open your document.
- Click File.
- Choose Save As.
- Select a file location.
- Choose Word Template from the File type dropdown.
- Name the file, then click Save.
Our guide continues below with additional information on how to save a template Word document, including pictures of these steps.
If you need to have certain spacing in your template, then our how to apply double spacing in Word guide will show you how ot set that up.
Microsoft Word templates and a great way for you to quickly format or start a document.
many of the things that we create in MS Word are going to be very similar in structure, so being able to start with much of that in place already can save time, reduce frustration, and eliminate mistakes.
But while you might have downloaded some free Word templates in the past, you might be interested in generating your own Word template that is better suited to the type of document that you need to make.
Find out how to center text in the middle of the page in Word if you are creating a title page and need to format some of your text with that type of alignment.
How to Turn a Microsoft Word Document Into a Template (Guide with Pictures)
The steps in this article were performed in Microsoft Word for Office 365, but will work in many other versions of Microsoft Word as well.
Step 1: Open your document in Microsoft Word.
Note that if you don’t already have an existing document that you want to use to make your template you can always create a new one and apply the different formatting options that you want to include in the template.
Step 2: Select the File tab at the top-left corner of the window.
Step 3: Choose the Save As tab.
Step 4: Select the location to save the file.
Step 5: Click the File type dropdown menu and choose the Word Template (.dotx) option.
Step 6: Give the template a file name, then click the Save button.
The steps above can be used to create any kind of template Word document files that you think you might need for the types of documents that you regularly make in MS Word.
Do you need to put text at the center of one of your pages? Our how to put text in the middle of a page Word tutorial can show you how.
Now you can either open that template directly from the file location where you saved it, or you can select the More template option from the Word backstage view, choose the Custom tab, then select the template you created.
You can use these same steps to create other Microsoft Word template files in the future.
There are also a lot of free Microsoft Word templates that you can find by navigating through the MS Word templates options that you see in the Word backstage view.
You can find a large variety of these, such as if you need free graphic design templates, or a cover letter template because you are working on a resume (you could use a resume template for that as well.)
But leveraging all of the different Microsoft Office templates (there are options for Powerpoint templates and Excel templates, too) can make it much easier for you to create Word documents.
A new document is much easier to work with when it’s a blank document that already has the right formatting or some basic default content to start from.
There are even premium templates for purchase from various places online if you discover that the free options for things like cover letters or resumes aren’t really meeting your needs.
Matthew Burleigh has been a freelance writer since the early 2000s. You can find his writing all over the Web, where his content has collectively been read millions of times.
Matthew received his Master’s degree in Computer Science, then spent over a decade as an IT consultant for small businesses before focusing on writing and website creation.
The topics he covers for MasterYourTech.com include iPhones, Microsoft Office, and Google Apps.
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