Why You Need Templates in Microsoft Word

Does your organization have a standard style for case studies, media releases and other office documents? How about a Word document that gets updated internally on a regular basis – maybe by multiple people – and needs to look consistent?

Almost every business does. And unless you want to continually re-tweak your design – or worry about people accidentally shifting the layout of your document, you should think about using Word templates.

Once created, templates are easy to access and use over and over again. From the built-in, generic templates that Microsoft developed, to custom templates that are professionally designed to enhance and clarify your message, Word templates can play a vital role in your workflow, regardless of the size of your business. For instance:

An individual, small-business owner uses invoices, stationery, proposals and other documents on a regular basis. But if you’re opening up an old letter or proposal, deleting the old content and replacing it with new content, end that habit now! Any of these documents can and should be set up as Word templates. This will enable you to start a fresh document with all the components that need to be standard, already in place. Then, when you click Save, Word will save it as a document by default, keeping the elements of the template unchanged, ready to be used again.

Departments, work groups or collaborative projects within a larger organization can benefit from the use of Word templates as well. Especially when the group’s communications need to reflect the company’s and/or group’s identity, templates can enable consistency and collaboration to go hand in hand. By creating stylized templates for reports, memos, agendas, purchase orders and more, anyone can add and revise content while maintaining a consistent, professional presentation.

For a company, templates are about maintaining the brand. From memos, purchase orders and invoices to business reports, newsletters and case studies, business documents provide an excellent opportunity to reflect the organization’s brand consistently. Word templates can help avoid accidental changes, such as shifts in logo placement and display, font substitutions, and added or deleted graphics. Once again, a Word template satisfies this need, and can be write-protected to keep it from being inadvertently revised and saved incorrectly

Get in the habit of using templates in Word. They are easy to set up and easy to use. You can customize a template from scratch, use Word’s built-in template options, or work with a professional to create branded templates that reflect the culture and services of your organization. If you need a consistent look and feel for a document that can be easily edited, changed or re-written, you’ll appreciate how using a template can lend a sense of speed, ease, reliability to the work you do.