5 Great Resources for Creating Word Templates

5 min read /

Most MS Word files end up in a mess. At some stage a user will start tweaking settings for a paragraph and from there the things are getting worse. A good Word template helps delaying that point in time. It defines a cover page, headers and footers, and paragraph and character styles that make sense and can be applied easily by users.

Another option is Scroll Office for Confluence: Users work in the Confluence wiki on your documents collaboratively, and export the document as a native Word file once they have finished editing. To style the generated documents, you create Microsoft Word templates (learn more).

If you are using Word or Scroll Office for Confluence: We have collected some websites with useful information about how to create great Word templates.

#1 – Shauna Kelly: Making the most of Word in your Business

ShaunaKelly.com was initiated by Shauna Kelly, expert in Microsoft Word and a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional. The website offers lots of How-Tos, categorized in different topics and for different target groups.

As the website focuses on Word only, it provides information from Microsoft Word 2000 to Word 2010. The How-Tos are written as step-by-step instructions and are therefore easy to understand. However, also higher-level information about the functionality of Word and listings of known bugs are given.

Unfortunately Shauna Kelly passed away in 2011, and the page is not updated anymore.

#2 – TheBestData.com: Simple Tutorials for all People

TheBestData.com (sorry, the content has been removed by its creator) offers information about a multitude of different softwares: Beside the whole Microsoft Office Professional package, there are tutorials for Photoshop, HTML, and many more.

Information about Microsoft Word is available starting with edition 2007 up to the latest version, Microsoft Word 2013. The tutorial are written as step-by-step instructions and categorized by tags. Lots of screenshots clarify the given information.

A point of criticism is in the readability of the website: It takes some time to get used to the layout, as the text width is limited.

#3 – Dave's Easy Tutorials: Microsoft Word 2010 Tutorial Training

Dave's Easy Tutorials is a YouTube channel, hosted by David Bowron, an IT Trainer with 25 years training experience. The channel focuses on Microsoft Word 2010 and offers 24 video-tutorials about the usage of Microsoft Word 2010.

The tutorials provide information about the basic functionalities in Microsoft Word, as well as background information for advanced users.

As the tutorials are based on each other, the channel is nevertheless a good opportunity for absolute beginners to learn Microsoft Word right from the start.

Although the channel wasn't updated since 2011, the given information is still useful.

#4 – GCF LearnFree.org

GCFLernFree.org deals with the whole Microsoft Office package. It provides information for all of the Scroll Office supported Microsoft Word versions.

There are 24 Word 2010 step-by-step lessons with small exercises at the end, as well as some higher-level information and short video-tutorials. Apart from English, the page is also available in Spanish language.

#5 – Official Microsoft Word Blog

The official Microsoft Word Blog offers up-to-date information about the latest version of Microsoft Word. The articles are categorized in Tips, How-Tos, News, Videos and Stories. Furthermore there are webinars once a week about specific functions of Microsoft Word.

As it is an official blog from Microsoft, it seems to be focused a bit too much on marketing aspects. The given informations are more focused on advanced users, but Word newcomer can click on the provided links to step-by-step instructions in the official Microsoft Word help.

...last but not least: The Scroll Office Documentation

Check the Scroll Office documentation. Besides information about Scroll Office, you'll find some basic step-by-step instructions how to create a Microsoft Word template. 

In addition to the listed websites, have a look at the MSOfficeForums, if you have any questions or problems creating your Word template.

What do you think?

What's missing? Do you have any other interesting websites for creating better Word templates? Just leave a comment (smile).