Why make your documents look good?
If you are sharing data with your team, writing copy for a new product brochure, or creating a draft of a new training manual, what’s the big deal about design? Thinking through the whys and wherefores of page layout, color schemes, and font choice seems like a lot of trouble when an eye-catching, coordinated design isn’t really your main goal.
That’s a valid argument if you just want to focus only on the content of your document. But we know that people receiving your message take in more than the characters on the page when they are interpreting the information you’re sharing with them. They also notice—perhaps unconsciously—the shape of the letters. They are aware of the colors on the page. They may feel an inner tension if the words are too close together or there are too many of them without a picture to break up the long blocks of text.
And what that means to you, ultimately, is that if your readers don’t feel drawn to your document because of its design, your work may never get a good reading. And that could mean all the effort you put into creating great-sounding text could go to waste simply because the right design wasn’t used to present it to the reader.
This chapter is all about ways you can apply and customize templates and themes to help you reach and connect with your reader in a way that gets your message read. Both templates and themes move you toward a similar goal—efficiently producing documents that look and sound professional. Whether you are delivering a simple thank-you note or drafting a grant proposal asking for millions of dollars, putting your ideas in an appealing design that helps the reader easily understand what you’re trying to say can only help your purpose in the long run.
Word 2010 includes a number of features that are ready and willing to help you create the kind of design you want for your documents; you just need know which to use, and when to use them. Here’s a list of the various features that help you control the look of your documents:
Document templates contain the whole range of elements that contribute to the format of your document.
Themes provide a coordinated set of formatting choices that affect the color scheme, font choices, and effects applied to shapes and objects in your document.
Quick Styles offer a variety of different looks you can apply to the document (for example, Distinctive, Elegant, and Traditional are the names of three Quick Style sets).
Building blocks are ready-made text segments with formatting you can customize and insert in your document at the appropriate point.
Tip
In addition to these tools that help you apply coordinated effects throughout your document, you can also change the format of individual elements by using the Fonts, Effects, and various style and spacing tools to make changes on the current page. You’ll find out more about formatting specific content items—creating lists, applying typographic features, and more—in Chapter 11.
Whenever you create a new document in Word 2010, your document is based on a template that provides default document creation settings. Every Word document uses a template by default. You may have seen Normal.dotx appearing in a message box somewhere along the line. The Normal.dotx template is a global template that includes default settings for headings, body text, quotes, text boxes, and much more. All templates you work with in Word 2010 will be in one of two formats:
.dotx is the traditional Word 2010 template
.dotm is a Word 2010 template with macros enabled
Templates are stored on your computer and are available online at Office.com (as you saw in Chapter 3). When you open a new document based on a template, you are creating a new file that includes all the elements included in the template file—basic content elements like text and heading styles, column layout, color scheme, and page margins, as well as more specialized controls like building blocks, content controls, and macros.
Templates can be as complex or as simple as you choose, but their primary purpose is to streamline your document design and save it in such a way that you can use it consistently in other documents you create. For example, you might create a simple template for your business letterhead that includes the address block, space for the recipient name, the date, boilerplate text, and your signature. You can use the letterhead template over and over again for sales or prospect letters. Instead of creating a new document each time and choosing all the formatting settings—margins, fonts, colors, and so forth—you can base your new document on the template and all the formats are applied automatically for you. Simple, effective, and efficient. Nice.
Templates can also contain complex elements and operations, including macros that automate specific functions in the document; content controls that gather data from end users (or merge data from a data source); sophisticated formats; and much more. For example, you might include multicolumn designs, alternating page formats, sections, header and footer specifications, and styles for footnotes, endnotes, citations, and more.
Inside Out: Creating Documents Programmatically
Word 2007 and Word 2010 documents use a different file format than files created in earlier versions of Word. Beginning with Word 2007, the software moved to Ecma Office Open XML format, an efficient means of data storage that separates content from format and enables you to use and share your content easily in a variety of forms. Although it seems as though you open, edit, and close a singular document, the Word 2010 document you modify is actually a collection of files, zipped together and presented to you as a single document. The ZIP package contains document parts, such as individual XML files, graphics, charts, and embedded objects. Viewing the internal components of the ZIP package is simply a matter of renaming the file with a .zip file extension and opening it in any tool that functions on ZIP technology. The following figure shows a view of a template opened in Windows Explorer along with the contents of the Word folder.
The _rels folder contains information about the relationship between the various elements in the file; each of the xml files contains information that tells Word 2010 how to create the document on the screen.
A document is now stored in individual document parts, such as headers, footers, endnotes, styles, and media. This new functionality gives developers the ability to create new Word documents as well as access and alter data without going through the Word application. For example, if an address or logo stored in the header of several documents changes, the headers can be updated without the need to open each document in Word to make the modification. What this means to you as a Word 2010 user is that the content you create and edit in your Word 2010 documents can be used in a variety of ways. In addition, elements such as templates and themes that you apply to your content can be changed easily to meet different goals.
Note
For a more in-depth look at creating and editing documents in the Office Open XML Format, see Advanced Microsoft Office Documents 2007 Edition Inside Out by Stephanie Krieger (Microsoft Press, 2007).
Note
You can still use templates created and saved in the Word 97-2003 Document file format (.dot) in Compatibility Mode in Word 2010. Not all program functionality will be available to you—for example, themes work only in Word 2007 or Word 2010—but if you want (or need) to preserve continuity with an older template, you can do so. You will need to remember to use the Save As dialog box to save your document in the earlier template format (.dot) using the Word 97-2003 Document file format.
So every document you create is based on a template that contains the structure and tools for shaping the style, formatting, content, and page layout of finished files. Most templates on Office.com include visual elements such as graphics, Content Controls, and custom Building Blocks that are associated with the template. In contrast, Word 2010 bases new, blank documents on the Normal template which, by default, contains no visual elements. The Normal template is discussed in more detail in the next section.
The main purpose of templates is to make formatting and inserting information into documents as efficient, error-free, and automatic as possible. The fewer formatting and typing tasks you have to perform, the better. In addition to speeding up document creation, you can provide custom editing environments for particular projects and clients because templates can also include interface tools (such as a customized Quick Access Toolbar or a customized Ribbon) as well as the previous list of content and layout settings.
Regardless of the information included in templates or whether your template includes macros, you can use two main types of templates when you work in Word:
Global templates. These templates (most notably the Normal and Building Blocks templates) contain settings that are available to all documents regardless of the template used to create the document.
Document templates. Examples include letterhead and those from Office.com, which contain settings that are available only to documents based on that template.
When a document is based on a template, the template is attached, or linked, to the document, and the settings stored in the document template are made available through this link. Having the ability to choose the type of template changes you want to apply gives you the flexibility to affect changes in the current document alone or to create changes that affect all documents you create in Word 2010.
The Normal.dotm template is a global template that is always open and working behind the scenes, no matter which template you use to format a specific document. Whenever you start Word, the program automatically looks for the Normal template in the User Template location specified in the File Locations dialog box. In both Windows 7 and Windows Vista, the default location of the User Templates (or Templates) folder is
C:Usersuser nameAppDataRoamingMicrosoftTemplatesTo access the File Locations dialog box, click File, select Options, choose Advanced, scroll to the bottom of the Advanced options window, and click File Locations near the bottom of the Advanced tab, as shown in Figure 4-1.
Figure 4-1. Use the File Locations dialog box to change where Word 2010 stores and accesses the templates for your documents.
The Normal template uses the Office Theme and contains default styles (but no boilerplate text) that are automatically available whenever you create new, blank documents. As you work in a document, any styles, macros, or other customizations that you save are stored in the Normal template unless you specify otherwise. In addition, you can modify the Normal template to change the default document formatting in Word. As you can imagine, the longer you work with Word, the more customized your Normal.dotx file can become.
If the Normal template is damaged, moved, missing, or renamed, Word creates a new Normal template the next time you start the application. The new template is based on the default settings. This automatically generated Normal template won’t include any customizations that you’ve made to a previous version of Normal.dotx.
You can also intentionally rename your Normal template and force Word to create a new Normal template. You might want to do this, for example, when you want to preserve the customizations you’ve added to Normal.dotx but no longer want to use that template with new files you create. If you create a new Normal.dotx, Word creates a fresh Normal template, and then you can copy any selected components you want from the renamed template into the newly generated Normal template by using the Organizer, as described in Using the Organizer to Rename, Delete, and Copy Styles.
To rename the Normal template, follow these steps:
Close Word and then display Normal.dotx in your Templates folder.
Right-click the Normal template then click Rename.
Type a new name for the template.
The next time you open a new, blank document in Word, the document will be based on the standard Normal template without any custom settings.
Caution
Because the Normal template is so necessary and so widely used, it’s often the first target of macro virus creators. Third-party add-ins that aren’t developed properly can display virus-like qualities that can lead to the corruption of your Normal template. Word automatically saves any changes made to your Normal template during the current session when you exit the program, so one way you can protect yourself against viruses and corruption is to change the automatic behavior to instead prompt you before Word automatically saves changes to your Normal template. To do so, click File and then select Options. In the Advanced area under the Save options, turn on Prompt Before Saving Normal Template.
As explained in Chapter 3, Word provides easy access to a number of built-in templates that you can use to create new documents. To access Word templates, click File to display Backstage view and then choose New. Figure 4-2 displays the New tab.
Note
The location for Workgroup Templates is not set by default. Typically, this location is a shared folder on your network. You can set the Workgroup Templates location in the File Locations dialog box, which is available when you click the Advanced tab in the Word Options dialog box.
Once you set a location for Workgroup Templates, you will no longer be able to remove the Workgroup Templates location without editing the Registry. If you find that you prefer not to map Workgroup Templates to a folder after you’ve added a location, simply map the Workgroup Templates option to the Templates folder. By doing this, you basically instruct Word to show the templates in your Templates folder for both User Templates and Workgroup Templates. If you map the Workgroup Templates option to any other location, your My Templates tab on the New tab will contain files that you would probably prefer not to include.
The following list is a summary of the template options found on the New tab:
Blank. Opens a new document based on the standard blank document template (Normal.dotm)
Blog Post. Displays a new blank document formatted for a blog entry
Recent Templates. Displays a list of templates you have recently used
Sample Templates. Offers a collection of sample templates for different styles and document types
My Templates. Opens the New dialog box and displays templates that you have saved to your computer
New From Existing. Opens the New From Existing Document dialog box and enables you to create a new document based on another document (regardless of whether the document is a template)
Office.com Templates gives you access to a large collection of templates you can download from Office.com. You will find dozens of template styles for all kinds of documents—ranging from marketing and business forms, letters and contracts, to stationery, calendars, certificates, and flyers. To create a new document using a template available on the New tab, follow these steps:
Click File to display Backstage view, and then click New.
In the Available Templates area, choose the type of template you want to use.
If you are using a template from the Sample Templates or My Templates categories, verify the Document option is selected in the Create New area and then click Create or OK (depending on whether the New dialog box is displayed).
If you’re opening a template that’s installed on your computer, Word immediately creates a new document based on the selected template. If the template isn’t installed on your computer, the template is downloaded to your system and displayed in Word. You can then type the contents of the new document and save the document locally or store it on the server, just as you would any other document.
In addition to retrieving templates from your own computer and Office.com, you can access templates stored on a network, FTP site, document server, or Microsoft SharePoint site. Workgroups frequently need to share templates, so storing templates online provides an ideal way to share templates and ensure that the most up-to-date templates are readily available to team members. In Word, you can easily create new documents based on templates that are stored on networks or the Internet. For more information about sharing documents and using workgroup templates, see Chapter 21.
When you’re familiar with how templates work and how to use existing templates, you’re ready to start creating your own. In Word, you can create templates in three ways. You can base a new template on an existing document, an existing template, or create a template from scratch. The method that you use depends on the resources you have on hand, for example:
Create a template based on an existing document. You have a document that contains most or all of the settings you want to use in your new template. When you base a template on an existing document, you create a template that contains the same document Theme as well as all of the styles, macros, and other settings in the document. Most likely, you’ll want to modify the document’s settings slightly to fine-tune your template.
Create a template based on an existing template. You have a template that contains many of the settings you want to use in your new template, but you want to add or change a few settings without affecting the existing template. The main procedural difference is that you open a template file (.dot, .dotx, or .dotm) instead of a document file (.doc or .docx).
Create a template from scratch. You have no model to use as a starting point for your template or just want to start from the ground up. Building a template from scratch is similar to creating a document from scratch.
When you create custom templates, save them in the Templates folder. Doing so makes them easily accessible via the New tab. Otherwise, you need to either locate the template in Windows Explorer and double-click the template to create a new document based on the template, or locate the template on the New tab by using the New From Existing command and navigate to the location of your template.
Note
When you save a file as a Word template file, you will notice a small change in the file icon—for *.dotx templates, a small gold edge appears along the top of the document icon. For *.dotm files, the gold edge, along with an exclamation point appears. These small visual cues help you to determine whether you’ve saved the template as a regular template or a macro-enabled template, which will make a difference in the processing of the file.
Tip
If you don’t see the file extensions by default and would like to display them, click Start in Windows 7, choose Computer, and then click Organize. Click Folder and Search Options and choose View. Clear the check box beside Hide Extensions For Known File Types, and then click OK. The file extensions will appear on your files.
The best time to design a template is before you begin creating one. Yes, you can easily adapt an existing template or change a document you particularly like to work as a template for future documents, but carefully considering what you’d like to accomplish with a template before you start it is the best way to meet your document goals.
Watch your document workflow. Whether you work as part of a large business or a small team, pay attention to where documents begin—and where they end—in your particular organization. Do documents tend to stay within departments? Do documents find their way out to the public with a variety of looks and logos? Does one person shepherd the creation of all new documents to ensure that everything you create has a consistent look and feel?
Keep an eye on the design. Chances are that you already have some kind of design at work in your traditional documents. Maybe that design is nothing more than simple black text on a white page; or you might have a color logo, a distinctive font, or other design elements that you use regularly on your business cards, newsletters, and more. Revisit your design with an artist’s eye and ask yourself how well the colors, font, and style fits your business today. Is it time for a makeover? If so, gather a sample of each type of document you’d like to include in the new design (the more comprehensive the change, the better), and consider all the documents you want to change as you begin to think through what you’d like to include in a template.
Consider your assets. In some businesses or organizations, including graphics—photos, diagrams, charts, clip art, and more—is an important part of the document creation. Do you use many photos in your documents? Do your documents regularly feature product images, staff photos, or project diagrams?
Think about how you use data. Will the people who read your documents be asked to provide information in fields or forms? Will you incorporate data from a data source (such as your Outlook contacts list) as part of a larger mail merge project? If you regularly incorporate data from outside sources in your documents, you can include content controls in your template to help accommodate that need.
Share and share alike. Consider the final form for the documents you create. Are many of your creations finalized in print, presented on the Web, sent through e-mail, or distributed in PDF format?
Click File and then Open.
In the Open dialog box, open the document that contains the formatting and/or text that you want to include in your template.
Remove the content you don’t want to include in the template.
Add any other items—pictures, logos, headings, and more—that you want to include in the template.
Click File, New, and then double-click Blank Document.
Once your template has been created, save it by performing the following steps:
Click File and then choose Save As.
In the Save As dialog box, select the Templates folder by scrolling up to the top folder, which is located in the top-left of the dialog box.
In the File Name box, type a name for the new template.
In the Save As Type text box, ensure that Word Template (*.dotx) is shown or, if you intend to include macros in your template, click Word Macro-Enabled Template (*.dotm).
In Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you can also take the following actions:
Edit information in the Authors and Tags fields, if desired, by clicking the placeholder text and replacing it. If you are using Windows Vista you can also enter information in the Properties field.
Select the Save Thumbnail check box if you want to save a thumbnail image (a small image of the first page of a document and its contents) of your new template. Saving a thumbnail is a good idea because the image will appear in the New dialog box as well as in the Preview pane on the New tab; this will help you quickly find the correct template.
Click the Save button.
By default, a template saved in the Templates folder appears on the Personal Templates tab in the New dialog box or on a custom tab if the template is placed in a subfolder.
Inside Out: Adding and Removing Word Templates and Tabs in the New Dialog Box
You can control which templates and tabs appear in the New dialog box. To do so, you simply add folders and templates to the User Templates or Workgroup Templates folders. Each folder that you place in either of the template folders creates a tab with the same name in the New dialog box. The following image shows two folders stored in the Templates folder—Wide World Importers and Oriel Electronics—that appear as tabs in the New dialog box.
To create a new folder, in the Save As dialog box, click the New Folder button on the toolbar in the Save As dialog box or right-click an empty area of the file list. Select New and then Folder from the context menu.
Once you have added templates and folders, the next time you click My Templates in the New Document dialog box, the tabs and templates you added will be available in the New dialog box. If you want to restore the original tabs and templates, simply delete the templates and folders from the Templates folder. If you prefer, you can right-click and delete templates from within the New dialog box, but you will need to access the contents of the Templates folder to delete the subfolders and remove the tabs from the New dialog box.
You can now modify or add content, styles, boilerplate text, content controls, building blocks, macros, and any other elements you want to include in your template.
Once you have created a new template, test the template to verify that it works by doing the following:
Click File to display Backstage view, and then click New.
Click My Templates in the New Document task pane, and then select the tab on which the template is located (if necessary).
Ensure that the Document option is selected in the Create New area in the Templates dialog box, and then double-click the new template.
The template should open normally in the Word window and you can begin to add your own content as needed in the new document.
Earlier in this chapter you learned that the global template, Normal.dotx, is attached to all new files you create in Word 2010. When you create a document from an existing template, that document’s template is automatically attached to the document. However, you can specify which document template you want to attach to a document, regardless of which template is currently attached. In this circumstance, when you replace the existing document template with a new one, you can choose to automatically update the document’s text with the new styles. This makes short work of modifying the formatting throughout the document.
Note
Another method you can use to quickly update a document’s styles is to use Quick Style Sets—a new type of formatting template—instead of attaching a new template to your document. For more on creating and working with Quick Style Sets, see Chapter 12.
To attach a template to a document and update the document’s styles based on the newly attached template, follow these steps:
Open your document.
Click File to display Backstage view then click Options.
In the Word Options dialog box, click Add-Ins.
Click the Manage arrow, choose Templates, and then click Go (see Figure 4-3).
In the Templates and Add-Ins dialog box, click the Attach button.
Navigate to the folder containing the template you want to attach, select the folder, and choose Open.
Select the Automatically Update Document Styles check box to apply the template styles to elements in the document (see Figure 4-4).
Click OK to complete the process and attach the template.
Tip
If you often attach templates to the documents you create in Word, you can display the Developer tab in the Ribbon so that you can attach templates easily. To display the Developer tab, click File, and then in Backstage view, click Options. Click Customize Ribbon, and in the list on the right side of the window, select the Developer check box and click OK. The Developer tab appears in the Ribbon and you can click Document Template in the Templates group on the Developer tab to display the Templates and Add-Ins dialog box.
Figure 4-4. Select the Automatically Update Document Styles check box to apply styles automatically in your document.
If you configure Word to automatically update styles, keep in mind that the document text must be formatted with styles that have the same style names as those included in the newly attached template. If the style names are the same, Word will update the text formatting to match the newly attached template’s style formats. If the document’s style names are different from the attached template’s style names, you’ll need to select and replace instances of each style. If you find that you’re faced with changing styles manually, consider using the Select All Instances feature in the Styles And Formatting task pane to choose all instances of an “old” style and then click the new style name in the Styles task pane to replace the styles all at once.
Note
For more information about changing all instances of a style, see Chapter 12.
Up to this point, we’ve explored ways to create and attach document templates. In addition to the document-specific templates you use to control the formatting and function of individual files, you may in some cases need to work with the global templates Word uses to provide information to your documents. All documents have access to the Normal and Building Blocks global templates, which control features including macros, keyboard shortcuts, and building blocks; these templates are loaded automatically by Word. The main difference between global and document templates is that global templates contain functionality that affects all files you create in Word (for example, macros or keyboard shortcuts you want to be available anytime you use the program) and document templates contain formatting and layout choices that are unique to one or more specific documents.
Note
Because the Normal and Building Blocks templates are loaded automatically, they do not appear in the Add-Ins list of the Word Options dialog box or in the Templates And Add-Ins dialog box.
After you load global templates, they are listed in the Templates And Add-Ins dialog box. You can specify whether you want to use them on a per-document or per-session basis. To manually load a global template, follow these steps:
On the Developer tab in the Templates group, click Document Template.
On the Templates tab in the Global Templates And Add-Ins area, click Add to display the Add Template dialog box, which displays the contents of the Templates folder by default.
Double-click the name of a template that you want to include in the global template list then click OK to complete the setup.
The template name is added to the list and the check box to the left of the template name is selected by default. This means the template is ready to use in your document. If you do not want to apply the template at this time but leave it loaded with the document so that you can use it later, clear the check box.
By default, global templates are unloaded (but not removed from the list of global templates) when you exit Word. However, if you prefer, you can unload global templates before exiting Word. This means that when you are finished with a global template but wish to continue working in Word, you can unload it or remove a manually loaded global template from the global template list. Note that neither action deletes the template file; unloading and removing a global template from the global template list merely stops the template from serving as a global template. To unload a global template, open the Templates And Add-Ins dialog box (located on the Developer tab), and perform one of the following actions:
Clear the check box next to the template’s name in the Global Templates And Add-Ins list to stop using the global template.
Select the manually loaded global template in the Global Templates And Add-Ins list and then click Remove to stop using the loaded global template and remove the template from the list.
If the global template is stored in your Word Startup folder or the Startup folder located in the Office installation path, exit Word and move the template from the respective startup folder to another location. If you have another copy of the template, simply delete the template from the respective Startup folder. Note that the Remove button in the Templates And Add-Ins dialog box will be disabled if the template is located in a Startup folder.
Over time, the form and function you need from your templates may change. For example, you may use one template to produce a series of sales literature for a new product, but not long after you begin sharing the literature with customers, you are told that people are having trouble locating some of the content you want them to find. To resolve the problem, you can go back to your template and change the layout, styles, and design elements to fix the issues your readers have pointed out. Modifying an existing template is much easier than creating one from scratch. Now you simply need to make a few changes and apply what you’ve learned.
Tip
The changes you make to the existing template will be reflected in all new documents you create in the future that use the template; however, your changes will not affect documents you’ve created with that template in the past.
To change an existing document by working directly in the template, first open the file as a template from the Open dialog box. Here are the steps:
Click File and then select Open.
Display the contents of the Templates folder (or the folder containing the template you want to modify), and then locate and open the template you want to modify.
Change any of the template’s text and graphics, styles, formatting, Content Controls, macros, Building Blocks, Quick Access Toolbar, and keyboard shortcuts.
On the Quick Access toolbar, click Save.
Remember that whenever you make changes to a document template, you should test the changes by creating a new sample document using the template. To apply any style changes to an existing document to which the template is attached, ensure that the Automatically Update Document Styles check box in the Templates And Add-Ins dialog box is selected after you open the document.
If you are working in a document and think of a change you’d like to make to the template, you can do that easily. You might want to add a new style, for example, while you’re working on text.
In this case, in the Create New Style dialog box (or in the Modify Style dialog box), select the New Documents Based On This Template option. When you save the document, Word displays a message box that asks whether you want to update the attached document template, as shown in Figure 4-5.
In addition to modifying templates by making changes in template and document files, you can use the Organizer to manage template components. The Organizer dialog box contains tabs for Styles and Macro Project Items, as shown in Figure 4-6.
Figure 4-6. You can copy, delete, and rename styles and macros stored in specific documents and templates by using the Organizer.
To use the Organizer to copy and manage styles and macros in documents and templates, follow these steps:
On the Developer tab in the Templates group, click Document Template.
In the Templates And Add-Ins dialog box, click Organizer.
In the Organizer dialog box, click the Styles or Macro Project Items tab, depending on the element you want to copy, delete, or rename.
To copy items to or from templates, or files other than the current file’s template and the Normal.dotm template, click the Close File button to close the active document and its attached template or to close the Normal template. Then click Open File and select the template or file you want to open by double-clicking it in the Open dialog box.
Select the items you want to copy, delete, or rename. Click Copy, Delete, or Rename as appropriate.
Click Close when finished with the Organizer.
Protecting your template is a good idea, especially if you are creating a template that will be used by others. If you are creating a standard template that everyone in your department will use for any documents that will be sent to customers, putting a few safeguards in place to ensure that template elements aren’t overwritten accidentally will help you to ensure the quality of your work and the consistency of your documents. Protecting a template is slightly different from protecting a document, but it’s a straightforward process. Here are some ideas you might want to use to protect your templates:
Suggest that they be opened as read-only. Click File and then select Save As. Click Tools at the bottom of the Save As dialog box and choose General Options. In the General Options dialog box, select the Read-only recommended check box and then click OK. Note that the recommendation to open the template as read-only will be presented each time a new document based on the template is created.
Encrypt the document or template. Click File and then select Save As. Click Tools at the bottom of the Save As dialog box and choose General Options. In the General Options dialog box (see Figure 4-7), enter a password in the File Encryption Options For This Document text box and then click OK. Note that the password must be entered to create new documents based on the template.
Create a file-sharing password. Click File and then select Save As. Click Tools at the bottom of the Save As dialog box and choose General Options. In the General Options dialog box, enter a password in the File Sharing options for this document text box and then click OK. Note that a dialog box requesting the password to modify or open as read-only will be presented each time a new document based on the template is created.
Protect formatting and editing changes. Click Restrict Editing on the Review tab or Developer tab. The Restrict Formatting And Editing Task Pane opens, in which you can specify detailed formatting and editing restrictions. Note that new documents based on the template will contain the same restrictions.
Prevent the template from being forwarded, edited, or copied by unauthorized people. Apply Windows rights management by clicking the File tab to display Backstage view and then clicking Protect Document in the Permissions area. Click Restrict Permission By People and select Restrict Access to tailor document permissions (based on the roles) to specific people. You can also use the Do Not Reply All to prevent people from inadvertently forwarding the document to a number of people.
If you’ve ever spent any amount of time painstakingly selecting fonts, coordinating colors, or wishing you had a graphic artist on hand to handle all of the choices you need to make when creating high-impact and persuasive documents, you will love using Themes in Word 2010. With Themes, you can choose a consistent, professional look for your documents—with a single click of the mouse. What’s more, you can use the same theme for all sorts of collateral materials so that your annual report has a similar design to your brochures, your organization’s stationery, your newsletter, and your Web page.
Word 2010 includes a gallery of dozens of themes that you can use right away in the documents you create. You can also modify existing themes to create new ones or design new themes from scratch. In addition, you can download more themes from Office.com to continually expand and refresh your themes gallery.
Note
Themes became available for the first time in Word 2007; they are not available in versions of Word prior to that release. The settings used to create the theme (fonts, colors, and effects) are converted to styles in previous versions of Word. To obtain the full benefit of themes—which enable you to change the Theme font, color, and effects with a single click of the mouse button—your document needs to be saved in Word 2010 format.
As you learned in Chapter 1, one of the key design objectives in Word 2010 is to provide you with easy-to-use tools for creating professional, high-quality documents that help bring your ideas to life.
To create the best possible effect for professional documents, most people invest some time in finding and choosing formatting options for headings, body text, captions, borders, and so on. Choosing fonts that seem to go together well by using colors and styles that complement each other typically takes at least a little trial and error, and when you’re working under a deadline, that trial and error period uses up precious time.
Word 2010 can help you reduce the time you spend trying different designs by offering sets of options you can use to control the format of your document. By choosing a Theme, you can create professional documents with a coordinated set of colors, fonts, and backgrounds. You’ll never again have to wonder about which elements look good together. When you create a new document, you can simply choose the same theme you used for previous documents or choose that theme for a template you create, ensuring that everything you create has the same look and feel, and adding to the consistent way you present your department or company (which helps build recognition). See how the benefit snowballs?
Themes also flow through files you create in other programs in Office 2010. For example, when you create a document using the Opulent Theme in Word, you can also craft a presentation in PowerPoint 2010 that uses the same Theme. And while you’re at it, the worksheet in Excel, the data table in Access, and even the e-mail message in Outlook can all use the same theme. This means you can put together a complete package—your monthly newsletter and program literature, your year-end financials and fundraising reports, and a professional presentation for your board—all by using the same theme that can literally be applied with a single click of the mouse.
Note
Before you can change themes with a single click of the mouse, there are a couple of things that you need to be aware of. First, you need to work with a document in Word 2007 or Word 2010 format (Themes are not available in Compatibility Mode). Next, you need to assign styles to the elements in your document (such as Heading 1 or Heading 2 from the Styles group on the Home tab). Themes look for and replace the formats of each of the styles applied to the document elements.
Themes enable you to change the way that text, tables, and special elements are formatted throughout your document. Figure 4-8 displays a report that uses the Office Theme. The theme settings influence the format of the document in the following ways:
The font style and color used for the paragraph text
The font type, style, and color used for the bullet list
The fonts used in the table headings and row values
The table style (for example, alternating banded rows) applied to the table
Figure 4-8. When you choose a different theme, styled elements in your document change automatically.
When you choose a theme, the settings are instantly applied to styled elements in your document. You can change themes as often as you like, trying on different looks until you get just the right effect for your document.
By default, every document you create is given the Office theme until you choose a different one. The theme coordinates many of the formatting choices that you make throughout the document. For example, suppose that you choose the Flow theme for your current document. A specific set of fonts, colors, and theme effects are applied to the document.
Additionally, the Quick Styles available in the Styles area on the Home tab are coordinated to match the Flow theme as well. Therefore, the fonts available in the Quick Styles are determined by your theme selection. If you choose a different theme, different styles will appear in the Styles gallery to reflect your choice. You can further fine-tune your selection by choosing a particular Quick Style set for your document. When you click the Change Styles arrow (in the Styles group on the Home tab) and choose Style Set, a list of design categories appears (see Figure 4-9). You can choose the category that reflects the style you want to create, and all items—fonts, colors, and effects—consistent with the Theme choices are applied to your document.
Note
Learn more about using and customizing Quick Styles in Chapter 12.
Other galleries offer choices related to the Flow theme selection as well. For example, when you create a table and choose a style in the Table Styles gallery (available on the Design tab of the contextual Table Tools tools), the table styles in that gallery are orchestrated to match the Flow theme, as shown in Figure 4-10.
When you discover a theme that you like, simply click it to apply it to the selected document; the fonts, colors, and effects that are part of the theme are automatically applied.
Specifying a theme choice doesn’t mean that you give up your right to change your mind. You can further fine-tune your document by changing the fonts, colors, and effects applied when you selected the theme. The next section instructs you how to work with these settings in your documents.
Chances are that you selected a specific theme because it offers either the font selections or the colors that you want—or both. If you want to change the colors of the selected theme (this does not change the built-in theme itself, but instead modifies the colors already applied to your current document), follow these steps:
On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click the Theme Colors button.
A palette of Theme colors appears, as shown in Figure 4-11.
Position the mouse pointer over a color selection that you’d like to see previewed in your document. (Notice that even though the colors of your document change, the fonts and formats remain the same.)
Click the color scheme that you want to apply to your document.
Further possible changes to your document might include applying Quick Styles to your work, creating new styles, or working with style sets.
Each theme that you select contains a set of coordinated fonts that work well together for the various types of content that you might include in your document. Font sets include one font type in two sizes (one for headings and one for body text) or two fonts that complement each other for headings and text.
You can choose a different font set for the theme applied to your document by following these steps:
On the Page Layout tab, click the Theme Fonts button in the Themes group.
The Theme Fonts gallery appears.
Position the pointer on a font set selection to preview the effect in your document, as shown in Figure 4-12.
Click the font selection that you want to apply to the theme; the fonts are instantly changed.
Overriding Theme Settings
The theme settings that you choose for your document coordinate various formatting settings used throughout the content. But you don’t have to settle for those selections all the way through the document if you want to change things up. You can modify individual sections, headers, or special items (such as captions, quotations, or other elements) by applying different settings directly to those elements. Be aware, however, that when you change a font, color, or effect in this manner (such as changing a heading in your document to Times Roman when the Theme used Calibri), the element is in effect removed from the coordination controlled by the theme. This means the element will no longer change automatically if you choose a different one.
To override the theme’s font settings currently applied in your document, simply select the text that you want to change, and then on the Home tab, click the Font arrow. At the top of the Font list, Word shows you the Theme Fonts (the ones that are used in the current theme). If you choose one of these fonts, they will still be changed automatically if you choose a different theme. But you are free to click any font in the list to apply it to the selected text, as shown in the following illustration.
If you want to ensure that all elements in your document can be changed easily when you choose a different theme, consider changing the styles used in individual themes.
Theme effects enable you to add an extra touch to your charts, SmartArt graphics, shapes, and pictures. Theme effects control the line thickness, fill color or shade, lighting, and shadow of the selected object. To change the effects selected for your current theme, click the Theme Effects button in the Themes group on the Page Layout tab. The Effects gallery opens, as shown in Figure 4-13.
Word 2010 themes take the guesswork out of designing professional documents and just generally make life easier. But having themes to rely on shouldn’t keep you from creating your own coordinated design efforts. You can easily put together your own themes and save them to the Themes gallery for use in all the documents you create. If you work as part of a team, a department, or a small business, you can create a theme customized to include your own company colors and fonts, and then share the theme with others so all your documents have a similar look and feel.
How hard is it to choose a set of colors that really work together? If you’re in touch with your creative side, you may feel confident about your ability to mix and match colors. If colors aren’t your thing (or you rely on others to tell you whether your clothing choices match), choosing compatible colors may seem like a big chore. No matter where your comfort zone may be, Word can help you put together a theme color set to give your document a professional look. Here’s how to do it:
On the Page Layout tab, click Theme Colors in the Themes group to display the Theme Colors gallery.
Scroll to the bottom of the list and click Create New Theme Colors.
The Create New Theme Colors dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 4-14.
Click the arrow of any element that you want to change.
A color palette (see the illustration that follows) appears so that you can select the color for that item.
Continue changing colors until you’ve made all of the desired changes for the new theme colors. The Sample area displays changes as you make them.
When you’re satisfied with the colors you’ve selected, click the Name box and type a name for the new color scheme.
Click Save to save your new color scheme.
Apply the new theme colors to your document by clicking the Theme Colors button in the Themes group and choosing the customized theme from the Custom area at the top of the list.
Note
If you add a custom theme element—a font set or color scheme—and then decide that you don’t like it after all, you can easily delete it from the list by displaying the gallery (click Theme Colors or Theme Fonts) and right-clicking the item in the Custom area at the top. A list appears, offering three options: Edit, Delete, and Add Gallery To Quick Access Toolbar. Click Delete to remove the custom item.
You can create your own theme font set by displaying the Theme Fonts gallery (click Theme Fonts in the Themes group on the Page Layout tab), scrolling to the bottom of the list, and clicking Create New Theme Fonts. The Create New Theme Fonts dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 4-15.
Figure 4-15. Choose a new font for your headings and body text in the Create New Theme Fonts dialog box.
Click the Heading Font arrow to display a list of all fonts available on your system. When you select the font that you want to use for the headings in your document, the Sample area displays the effect of your selection; choose the Body Font in the same way. Enter a name for your new Theme font by typing it in the Name box, and then click Save to save the selection to the Fonts list. The new set appears at the top of the list in the Custom category.
After you’ve finished tailoring the theme settings to reflect your particular style, you can save the theme so it is accessible through the Themes gallery in the Themes group of the Page Layout tab.
Begin by displaying a document that contains all of the settings that you want to use in your new theme. On the Page Layout tab, click the Themes button in the Themes group. Scroll down to the bottom of the Themes gallery and choose Save Current Theme. The Save Current Theme dialog box appears.
Type a descriptive name for the theme and click Save. The new theme is now available when you click Themes in the Themes group.
Caution
Because Word 2010 looks in a specific folder to find the Themes for your documents, it’s important that you leave the default folder (Document Themes) selected when you save your theme. Otherwise, the theme will not be displayed in the Themes list by default, and you will need to use Browse For Themes (also in the Themes list) to find your customized theme.
This chapter introduced two key Word 2010 features that help you coordinate and apply various design elements in your files. You can use Word templates to quickly create professional documents based on existing document settings and use global templates to share functionality among the documents you create. You also learned how themes enable you to apply a consistent look—with specific colors, fonts, and effects—throughout your document and enable you to switch it all out easily if you decide later to choose a different theme. The next chapter helps you put all this design wisdom in the context of your page design by showing you how to control page setup and pagination in your Word 2010 documents.