A Beginner’s Guide to Using Templates in MS Excel and Word 2007/ 2010

Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010 include templates in the applications. These templates are useful when you have to create customized documents such as invoices, charts, and even blogs. If you need to create an Excel spreadsheet and you don’t have time to design the layout yourself, you can use the templates in Excel to streamline the process. In Word, there are many document templates you can use to create forms, packing slips, invoices and other formatted documents. There are many different templates available to suite almost any situation encountered. This is a brief tutorial for the beginner on how to use these templates in MS Office 2007 and 2010. The demonstration will be shown on Office 2010, but the protocol is the same for Office 2007.

Excel Templates

When you open Excel, click the File tab and this will enable the backstage view. Click New and this will display all of the templates you can choose from.

Browse through the different templates and find the template you are looking for. Click on the selected template and the different varieties of the template will be displayed. Select the type you need.

When opening the template version you will be presented with several different options once again. Again, the options are plentiful. You will see this over and over again with template options in MS Office. Make your final selection.

The Daily Chores template is the selection here. We can see what it looks like by clicking on it. In the right pane, you will see a thumbnail view of the template and the popularity rating.

If the selected template is what you are looking for, click the Download icon to begin using the template. You may not have fish or dogs or go to school. You can specify the tasks as you see fit. A slightly whimsical example is shown in the screenshot below.

All of the templates in Excel can be customized, of course. They save a great deal of time and there is a wide variety to choose from.

Word Templates

Working with templates in MS Word is similar to working with them in Excel. Open a new document and click the File tab and select New. The template options are presented.

Choose the template that you need. Word is quite useful in this respect when it comes to templates. If you are running your own business, there are a variety of different invoice formats to choose form. You can also use job description templates and forms or create flyers for promotional purposes.

After selecting Invoices, you will see the different categories, much like we saw in Excel. Select the category.

The “Simple Design” of a Sales invoice was selected and in the right panel, you see the preview. If you like what you see, click the Download icon. This will bring up the template and you are ready to start entering products and services, the cost and the total. You can modify the business name at the top as well as all other information.

These templates work the same in all aspects of MS Office. You can use them for PowerPoint too. It is simple and practical to use templates and the time saved is well worth the extra clicks.

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© Melanie Gross for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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How to Create a Master Document in Word 2010

Word 2010 features a master document feature that enables you to collect multiple Word documents into a single Word file. With older versions of Microsoft Word you may sometimes run into problems with unusually long documents. In that case it is best to split the document into multiple Word files. This creates difficulties with page numbering and it is difficult to create an appropriate table of contents and index.

The master document holds links to sets of other Word files. These sub-document contents are not inserted in the master document as such. Rather, the master document creates links to the various sub-documents. You are able to make changes to the sub-documents separately while all of these changes are added to the master document as a default. This works well for integrating separate Word documents of related subject matter. By creating a table of contents and an index in the master document, you end up with an integrated document.

Also, when several different people are writing a single document on separate computers, the master document offers the perfect solution to deliver various sections of the document to the individuals working on the project.
This article demonstrates the basics of creating a master word document as well as sub-documents. Begin creating the master document by opening a new blank document.

Title it as a master document and then save it. You can include the file name and then append with “Master Document”. Next, go to the View tab above the Ribbon and select Outline, found in the Document Views section. This opens a Navigation panel to the left of the blank document. Here you can start to enter the various headings for the document.

In the Outline Tools section in the Outlining tab, utilize the dropdown menu of Level styles and then use the green arrows to alter the headings.

After entering all of the desired headings, click Show Document. You can find this in the Master Document section in the Outlining tab.

There are several different options to access in the Master Document section. Select the entire outline and click Create in the Ribbon. It will look something like the screenshot below. Each one is a separate file attached to the master document. If you have the documents on the desktop, they are automatically added as sub-documents.

Click Collapse Subdocuments to see the links to each subdocument. Ctrl+Left-click on the link and it will open the title to the document just as you placed it in the master document outline. You can then add the content from scratch or, if the document is already created, simply cut and paste.

Do this for each subdocument heading and link and you have created a master document. This is simply the basic approach. There are options to create chapters under the headings, a table of contents or an index. Word will automatically insert a continuous section break within the master document. These section breaks will be inserted before and after each subdocument. There are a variety of different options for master documents in Word 2010. This demonstration relates more to existing documents in a simple master document format. The rest of the features are a different subject. You can always explore the user manual or look out for future articles.

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© Melanie Gross for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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