A template in Office can contain both content elements and design elements, which you can use as a starting point for your own documents. Themes are also useful if you use multiple Office programs and want to implement the same style. In this article, we take a closer look at using templates and themes.
Hundreds of templates are available, including online. In Word, PowerPoint and Excel you can use a template as follows: go to File, New and enter a keyword Find online templates (and themes)or click on one of the Suggested searches. Select a template and confirm with To make.
Although you can use hundreds of existing templates, you do not have to limit yourself to them and you can easily create your own creations. With a side note, because Microsoft is pushing the use of Officethemes to obtain and maintain consistency within your documents and presentations. Themes have the advantage that you can exchange and use them between the different Office applications, while with templates you are limited to the program in which you created them.
Create and share templates yourself
How do you create a template yourself? That is not that difficult. First, choose whether you want to use the basis of an existing template, or whether you use a blank document in which you make any desired adjustments, such as margins, page size and orientation, styles, and so on. In a template it is even possible to link all kinds of controls to it via the tab Developers. This allows you to determine what and where the recipients of your template can change things.
If you do not need this, you can make the tab invisible by clicking on File, Options, Customize Ribbon, uncheck the box at Developers in the right panel and confirm with OK.
You can save your template via File, Save As. Then choose the folder C: Users
A template is also easy to share with other users. They only need to place a template file (dotx, potx or xltx) in the standard subfolder of their own Windows account, after which they can also find it via File, New, Private.
Note: With PowerPoint it may happen that certain added text parts are not in the font that you have defined in the template. If so, select all the relevant slides in the thumbnail overview and right-click on the slide selection. Choose hereRestore slide.
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Working with themes
As mentioned, Microsoft is in favor of using Office themes as much as possible since they can run across applications. We’ll include Excel – where you might not expect working with themes that quickly. To start, load any worksheet, preferably with a table and graph. Then go to the tab Page layout and hover over one of the available themes: you will notice that your table and graph look different immediately.
Your choice of theme automatically extends to the range of cell colors. You notice that, for example, when you are on the tab Start click the arrow next to the fill color: the suggested colors have been adapted to the theme. This also applies to table, graph and even WordArt styles, among other things. Office ensures that the color scheme remains consistent within the theme you have selected. In Word and PowerPoint you will find the themes on the tab To design.
Create and share themes yourself
What is possible for styles, style sets and templates is also possible for themes: making your own designs. You must of course make sure that all parts are adjusted to your liking and that they match the colors of your logo and / or your corporate identity. Let’s take Word again. Open the tab To design and choose a theme that best suits what you like. Click on the arrow below the button Colors and choose Adjust colors. Then click the color next to one of the items you want to adjust, click More colors and open the tab Adjusted: here you can choose the desired hsl or rgb color.
If you also want to tackle the fonts of the theme, then that is actually the same way. Click on the arrow below the button Fonts, choose Customize fonts and select a suitable font for the header and body text.
When you are done, click on the button Themes and select you Save current theme. Name your theme and save it as an Office theme (thmx file). The default location is C: Users
As we mentioned earlier, you can also use themes in other Office applications. For example, start up PowerPoint or Excel. You can find the theme under Themes, in the section Adjusted, under the name you provided. Also note that the various parts of the tab Page layout or To design automatically match that theme. You can even find this theme in Outlook: open a new message, go to the tab Options and choose your theme within the group Themes.
You can also share themes with others. It is sufficient to send the thmx file to those who are interested, who then only have to place it in the correct folder.
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