Rebuilding Templates for Word 2007*
Applies to: Word 2007, Word 2010
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As organizations prepare for migrations into an updated version of Word, one task is to rebuild templates for Word 2007. To give your Word 2007 documents their best start, create your templates new with Word 2007 vs. opening existing templates and simply saving them with Word 2007.
In this tip, we provide you with steps to ensure templates leverage functionality new to 2007 while efficiently bringing forward investments in your current document and template designs.
1. Create a new template: Office Button | New | Blank document| Create, then Office Button | Save As | Word Template.
2. Verify initial settings:
- Office Button | Word Options | Advanced | (scroll) Compatibility Settings set to Word 2007
- Office Button | Word Options | Advanced | (scroll) Font Substitution ensure No Substitution
- Page Layout Tab| Page Set-up Group | Expand Dialogue Launcher (establish proper Margins, Paper and Layout, section properties – e.g., Different First Page, etc.)
- Insert |Header Footer Group |Dropdown Header Gallery |Edit Header
Note: If the template uses Different First Page Header/Footer, you will need to a) assign this property in Page Setup (dialogue launcher) | Layout tab, and b) add a temporary manual page break to get a second page header/footer to appear. Once in the Edit Header mode, you can select Next Section to edit each Header independently.
- Repeat above steps for Footers
- Home Tab| Styles group | (dialog launch) the Styles pane; click on the Manage Styles button, click the Set Defaults tab. Establish initial defaults for Font, Font Size, Paragraph Position (e.g., indents and alignment), and Paragraph Spacing, as desired. (NOTE: This can be used to remove Microsoft’s defaults for Theme-Ready fonts (e.g., +Body, +Headings), Space After of 10 points, and Line Spacing of Multiple 1.15.)
3. Relocate text and styles from the original template into the new template:
- Office Button | Open the original template, delete any extraneous styles (use of DocXtools Style Maintenance would be a valuable method)
- Remove any defined style aliases (use of DocXtools Do It Yourself | Style | Remove Style Aliases)
- (If applicable) Clean up text, ensuring all applied styles are accurate and up to date.
First, relocate the Styles:
Launch the Styles pane, and choose Manage Styles.
Click on Import/Export (formerly known as Organizer).
On the right-side, Close File, then Open File, selecting your new template as the target.
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On the left-side, select all styles, then click the Copy button three times to move them from your current template into your new template. (Perform this operation a total of three times: the first copy includes all styles, the second copy ensures all based upon relationships are made, and the final operation ensures all style and numbering links are made where applicable.)
Second, relocate the text:
- Save the new template, naming it as desired using Office Button | Save As Word template (e.g., .dotx format).
- Insert | Object | Text from File, and choose the .dotx template created in the step above. All text and styles are brought into your open/new template. Save your result.
4. If applicable, add new Word 2007 style traits of Priority, Visibility or Quick Style status:
- Set Priority and Visibility using Home | Styles group (dialogue launcher) | Styles pane | Manage Styles | Recommend tab | (Assign Value) and (Show, Hide until Used or Hide)
- Set Quick Style status using Home | Styles group) | Styles pane | (select style) | Modify | check or uncheck Add to Quick Style list.
5. If rebuilding the Normal template, relocate any formatted AutoCorrect entries following the instructions in Microsoft Knowledge Base article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926927.
6. Establish proper Footnote and Endnote defaults:
- Set View to Draft
- Insert a temporary Footnote with References | Insert Footnote
- Drop down the Footnotes list, selecting each entry (Footnote Separator, Footnote Continuation Separator and Footnote Continuation Notice) and making appropriate modifications. Often these include insertion of text, altering the length of separator lines or applying appropriate styles. Close the pane
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- Delete the footnote, then insert a temporary Endnote with References | Insert Endnote
- Drop down the Endnotes list, selecting each entry (Endnote Separator, Endnote Continuation Separator and Endnote Continuation Notice) and making appropriate modifications. Often these include insertion of text, altering the length of separator lines or applying appropriate styles. Close the pane.
- Delete the endnote.
7. Extract, clean, then relocate all former AutoText entries into corresponding Building Block
- Using current version of Word (e.g., Word 2002, Word 2003), extract all AutoText entries into a blank document (note: this is a manual process).
- Cleanup, reapply styles as appropriate. Ensure a) no substitute fonts are present, b) style alias’ are applied, or c) “Char” styles are present (use of corrections within DocXtools will ease the time challenge of this process).
- Office Button | Open into Word 2007. Select each entry, then using the Insert | Quick Parts | Save Selection to Quick Parts Gallery, taking care to a) set appropriate properties and b) add into Building Blocks.dotx.
* In Word 2010, AutoText is being moved back into Normal.dotm. For complete details see Changes in Word 2010 at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179199(office.14).aspx
