M365 Unlocked: Enhance Productivity with Word Templates
Microsoft Word has been around for a long time. For many people, Word was their first application that they used to create reports, proposals, or instructional documents. Word has evolved over the years and added a multitude of new features, designed to improve productivity and enhance efficiency. However, we are all creatures of habit, and often times we just don’t take the time to learn new ways of working because we are used to the way we’ve always done it! Believe me, I fall into that same routine of using the same methods and features that I’ve used for decades. Creating documents one at a time, typing every single character out manually, and then doing it repeatedly for multiple documents that share similar graphics, formatting, and structures can prove exhausting.
In this blog post and subsequent video tutorial, I’m going to provide you a way to save yourself time in the long run when creating lots of documents in Word. This is accomplished using Word templates, which can save valuable time and ensure consistency across all of your projects. There are many features of Word templates, but to keep it focused and simple, we’re going to look at four features that help streamline document creation:
Reusable Templates – Build structured documents once and use them repeatedly.
Autofill Table of Contents with Heading Styles – Keep navigation effortless and automated through the use of built-in heading styles.
Quick Parts – Predefine and insert commonly used text blocks instantly.
Easy Placeholder Text – Quick code to automatically fill in placeholder/dummy text for your documents (aka “Lorem ipsum”).
Reusable Templates
Templates eliminate reinventing the wheel each time you create a new document. Instead of starting from scratch, you build a structured layout once and reuse it each time from the .dotx file.
How to Use It:
Open a blank document and format it according to your needs.
Save it as a template: File > Save As > Word Template (.dotx).
Next time, open the template and start writing—your design remains intact!
Autofill Table of Contents with Heading Styles
Manually updating a Table of Contents (TOC) is a hassle and can lead to inconsistency when you are trying to keep up with multiple documents at a time. Instead, use Heading Styles to ensure automatic TOC generation, which is perfect for long reports and instructional guides.
How to Use It:
Format headings using Styles (Home > Styles > Heading 1, 2, etc.).
Insert TOC: References > Table of Contents > Choose a Format.
Word then pulls headings automatically and populates your TOC going forward. All you have to do is update it with Right-click > Update Field when you modify content.
Quick Parts
Repeatedly typing the same information? Use Quick Parts to store frequently used text blocks (e.g., disclaimers, company boilerplates, or common signatures) for quick insertion.
How to Use It:
Navigate to the location in your document where you’d like text to appear repeatedly. Example - in the video above, the Author and Date fields are used)
Select it and go to Insert > Quick Parts > Document Property (or Field) and make your selection.
You can update the Field later if you want to change the text, which will automatically update all other Fields in your document.
Easy Placeholder Text
When working on layouts before content is finalized, placeholder text helps maintain formatting while keeping the document visually structured. It also provides some content for your document if being shared with others.
How to Use It:
Use Lorem Ipsum text by typing the code =lorem() for Latin-style filler text.
Once ready, replace it with actual content while retaining alignment.
Final Thoughts
Using Microsoft Word templates effectively can help you eliminate redundant/manual work while also maintaining format consistency. It is even more useful if you are creating lots of documents that retain the same graphics and structure.
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