How to Create a Word 2007 Template from Scratch

By Dan Gookin from Word 2007 For Dummies

Before you begin a project using Word 2007, you can create a new template for it. Your template may only be a guess as to what styles you’ll want, but it's enough to get you started and save you time for each new document you create.

Enlarge 1 From the Office Button menu, choose the New command. The New Document window appears.	Enlarge 2 Double-click the item labeled My Templates. A new window appears with A Blank Document Icon.	Enlarge 3 Click the Templates button under Create New.
Enlarge 4 Then click OK. A fresh, new document appears on the screen, although it's not a document! Check the title bar. It's a template!	Enlarge 5 Build the template by adding needed text, formatting, and other stuff. When creating a new template, simply put into the document all the styles you plan to use, plus common text. For example, a Book template may contain all the styles you need for writing books plus the word Chapter at the start of each page. That’s because each document is a chapter, and starting it with the text Chapter already in the template saves you valuable typing energy molecules.	Enlarge 6 Save the template by choosing the Save As command from the Office Button menu. The Save As dialog box appears.
Enlarge 7 Give the template a proper, descriptive name. Note that the Save As dialog box chooses a special Templates folder in which to place your document templates. Use that folder!	Enlarge 8 Click the Save button. Your template is ready to go.