Building blocks are reusable pieces of content or other document parts that are stored in galleries. You can access and reuse the building blocks at any time. You can also save building blocks and distribute them with templates so that other users can use the building blocks you created.

• Create a reusable building block

• Find and use a building block

• Rename a building block

• Save and distribute building blocks with a template

• Delete a building block

Create a reusable building block

1. Select the content or document part that you want to store as a reusable building block.

   To store paragraph formatting — including indentation, alignment, line spacing, and pagination — with the entry, include the paragraph mark () in the selection.

    Note    To view paragraph marks, on the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Show/Hide.

2. Click Save Selection to Gallery Name Gallery.

   Building block galleries are available throughout Microsoft Office Word 2007. For example, you can create a header that you want to reuse. On the Insert tab, in the Header & Footer group, click Save Selection to Header Gallery.

3. Fill out the information in the Create New Building Block dialog box:
   • Name  Type a unique name for the building block.
   • Gallery  Select the gallery that you want the building block to show up in.
   • Category  Select a category, such as General or Built-In, or create a new category.
   • Description  Type a description of the building block.
   • Save in  Click the name of the template in the drop-down list.

     A template must be open to be displayed in the drop-down list of template names.

   • Options  Choose one of the following:
     • Select Insert content in its own page to place the building block on a separate page with page breaks before and after the building block.
     • Select Insert in own paragraph to make the content into its own paragraph, even if the user's cursor is in the middle of a paragraph.
     • Select Insert content only for all other content.

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Find and use a building block

1. Click where you want to insert a building block in the document.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Quick Parts, and then click Building Blocks Organizer.

   If you know the name of the building block, click Name to sort by name.

3. Click Insert.

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Rename a building block

1. On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Quick Parts, and then click Building Blocks Organizer.
2. Click the name of the building block that you want to rename, and then click Edit Properties.
3. In the Modify Building Block dialog box, type a new name for the entry, and then click OK.
4. When asked whether you want to redefine the building block entry, click Yes.

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Save and distribute building blocks with a template

You can access and reuse building blocks at any time. You can also distribute building blocks with templates. For example, you can create building blocks in a template and distribute the template to other users, who can save the template to the building blocks folder and use the building blocks you created.

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click New.
2. Click Blank document, and then click Create.
3. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Save As.
4. In the Save As dialog box, click Templates (Windows Vista) or Trusted Templates (Microsoft Windows XP).
5. Type a name for the new template, click Word Template in the Save as type list, and then click Save.

    Note   You can also save the template as a Word Macro-Enabled Template (.dotm file) or a Word 97-2003 Template (.dot file).

6. In the open template, create the building blocks that you want to provide to other users.

   For example, create your own header, select the content, and then on the Insert tab, in the Header & Footer group, click Header, and then click Save Selection to Header Gallery.

7. When you fill out the information in the Create New Building Block dialog box, be sure to click the template name in the Save in list.

   Use the same category name for all of the choices that you want users to have for a particular building block.

    Note   After you save the building block to a gallery, you can delete the content from the template. The content will remain associated with the building block.

8. Distribute the template.

   Instruct the template recipients to save the template to the Application Data folder, so that the building blocks that you saved with the template will be available in the galleries that you specified and in the Building Blocks Organizer.

   In Windows Vista, the Application Data folder is located by default at C:\Users\user name\AppData.

    Tip   You can also open the AppData folder by clicking the Start button and typing %appdata% in the Start Search box.

   In Microsoft Windows XP, the Application Data folder is located by default at C:\Documents and Settings\user name\Application Data.

    Tip   You can also open the Application Data folder by clicking Run on the Start menu, and then typing %appdata%.

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Delete a building block

1. Open the template that contains the building block that you want to delete.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Quick Parts, and then click Building Blocks Organizer.

   If you know the name of the building block, click Name to sort by name.

3. Select the entry, and then click Delete.
4. Close the template, and then click Yes when you are prompted to save the template.

The building block that you deleted is no longer available in galleries when you distribute the template, although the content might still appear in the template.

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