Extending an Existing Word Template

In certain situations, you might want to extend an existing Word template, and add on new styles.

For example, your Proposal team might use a standard RFP template which you want to modify for the Sales team, who also contribute to your proposals.

Rather than create an RFP template from scratch, we modify the existing one—retaining all the styles and formatting that we want—and adding new styles where required.

To create the new template, follow these steps:

1. Click File | New.

2. Click the template you want to modify from the Template tabs.

3. In the lower-right corner, under Create New, click Template, and click OK

4. Click File | Save As. In the Save as type box, click Document Template. This file type will already be selected if you are saving a file that you created as a template.

5. Save the template in your preferred subfolder within the Templates folder.

6. In the File name box, type a name for the new template, and then click Save.

7. In the new template, add the text and graphics you want to appear in all new documents bases on this template.

8. Modify the margin settings, page size, orientation, styles, and other formats.

9. Click Save, and Close on the File menu.

Note: all templates end in a .dot extension. If you can’t locate your templates, search for *.dot

You now have a new template, with all your styles, macros, and settings in place.