Quick
Access to Microsoft® Word Templates
By
Gail Van Landingham
Did you know that Microsoft Word includes a feature called "Workgroup templates?" This is a rarely-used but powerful feature that allows everyone at a company to plug into a single source for templates. By setting up Workgroup templates for your company, you can help make access to documents easier and more efficient.
What
are the benefits of Workgroup templates?
You can update
the templates in one location on your network, and everyone will have
instant access. You just set up the file location one time for each employee.
Templates keep employees happy because they don't have to invent a document format over and over again. They no longer have to create a title page, a table of contents, headers and footers, and so forth.
Should
I start small—or tackle the whole company?
Depending
on how many templates have been created, and how far you want to reach,
you can set up Workgroup templates for just your technical publications
group or for all employees at your company.
What
kind of templates are there? And who can use them?
At
our company, we have general templates for the entire company as well
as templates that are specific to departments. Here are some sample folders
and templates:
- General Folder: Memo, Letterhead, Fax Cover
- Forms Folder: Review Tracker, Change Order, Training Record
- Service/Support Folder: Site Visit Report, Site Upgrade Report
- Engineering Folder: Project Plan, Requirements Specification, Test Verification
How do you set up Workgroup templates?
- Create a set of templates. (See your favorite Word book for details.)
- Copy the templates to a network location where your target users have access.
- Tell Word where the templates are located. You need to do this for every employee who needs access.
Tip: An ideal location is on a network drive that is automatically mapped for your target users.
- Click Tools > Options > Click the File Locations tab. (See Figure 1)
- Double-click Workgroup templates.
- Navigate to the location where you've saved the templates.
- Click OK.
- In the Options dialog box, confirm that the correct location is listed next to Workgroup templates. Click OK again.
Figure 1: Selecting the file location for Workgroup templates
- Now put on your marketing hat, and tell the staff about the new, easy access to Word templates. Tell them to:
- Click File > New. (See Figure 2)
Figure 2. Creating a new document based on one of the templates. The circled tabs correspond to subfolders in the Workgroup templates location.
- If you have Word 2000 or earlier: Select a template from the General tab, or from any specific tab.
- If you have Word XP: In the New Document panel, click General Templates. Select a template from the General tab, or from any specific tab.
What
about personal templates?
Word allows you to specify one directory for personal templates and one
directory for Workgroup templates. They are both on the File Locations
tab when you select Options from the Tools menu.
Where
do personal templates display?
Both personal templates and Workgroup templates display when you select
New from the File menu. If they are in the main directory selected, they
will be under the General tab; if they are in subdirectories, they will
be under specific tabs.
How
do the tabs correspond to file folders?
Each time you create a subfolder in the Workgroup templates location,
Word creates a tab by the same name. If the subfolder doesn't contain
a Word document or Word template, there will be no tab.
Is
network connection required to set up Workgroup templates?
No. You can select any folder on your PC as the location for your Workgroup
templates. This could work for offsite staff with laptops. The drawback
is that employees must update their own set of templates. When you add
or change a template, you may need a method to notify offsite employees.
