Taming Templates by Nate Keyes

Vol. 1, № 1

Ah, you want to know how to download a template! You've come to the right place—a column devoted exclusively to you and helping you get the most from Microsoft Office templates.

Applies to
Microsoft Office 2003 Microsoft Office XP Microsoft Office 2000 Microsoft Office 97/98

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Put differently, if it has to do with templates, if it has to do with getting the most out of them, adapting them, reusing them, and bending them to your will that you might save hours of time (and consequently money)—rest assured I'll write about it.

And who might I be? Well, what approach would you like to take?

• Genetic. We're not so unalike, you and I. In fact, genetically we're 99.9% identical
• Existential. I am who I perceive myself to be, which may be different than what you perceive
• Familial. I am Nathan of Kent, son of Mark
• Recreational. Fiction writer, fisher, birdwatcher
• Cynical. "What a bag of hot gas"
• Hopeful. "At least the gas might ignite"

Ah, professional. I am a Microsoft employee who has used Microsoft Office for 12 years, and has made Office templates for the past three. In my career I have also written myriad manuals and online Help topics. If you were to print them all, lay them out one foot apart and use them as stepping stones, people would think that you had really lost it.

But enough about all that. Let’s abandon this time-thieving banter and put templates to work for you.

The beauty of a template

A template is a little like an office chair: it’s ready to use, it’s adjustable, and you can use it over and over again. You need not reinvent that budget every month or copy text from an old form letter to make a new form letter. That’s like manufacturing your own office chair every time you want to sit down, and then disposing of it once you stand up. And I speak from personal experience: that’s time consuming and not a little wasteful.

But with a template, you make it (or download it) once. Then whenever you need a new document that looks like that template, you simply create a new document that’s based on it. In other words, you make a clone! Just tweak it to suit your current need, and Presto! you have a complete document that required only a fraction of the time and money you would have needed to start it from scratch. Incidentally, if you accidentally shout “Pesto!” your document will turn into an Italian sauce. At least, mine does.

Now here's the kicker: because of the Office Online Templates site, you don't even have to make the template in the first place. You just find what you want, download it from Office Online onto your computer and modify it as you see fit. You might find you like the template exactly the way it is, or you may decide to tweak it here and there. In any case, you're breathing deep the fresh air of template freedom.

Now about this downloading. It's easy as pie, a piece of cake, and any number of other food-related clichés that spring to mind. But just in case you find yourself wanting the recipe, here's how downloading a template is done. And it begins with ensuring that your browser is set up correctly.

Yes, indeed. Set up correctly. For you see, it is entirely possible that your browser (the window you're using to view the Templates site) may not be set correctly to fling open the gates to the glorious world of template downloading.

Do I really need to adjust my browser settings?

Now, in all likelihood your browser is set up just fine. So if you want, you might consider giving downloading a whirl right now. Just hop down this page to "Downloading a template from Office Online" by clicking here. If you run into any issues, you can always scroll back up to these instructions and adjust your browser settings so that you can download templates effortlessly.

Setting your browser for downloading templates

You might be wondering, "Why would my browser keep me from downloading templates?" The answer is really quite touching: it's trying to protect you. Put differently, your browser is acting as a guard dog, which I suppose would make it more like a bowser. The point is, it can erroneously suspect that something's fishy about a template trying to bound from the Internet to your computer. So here's how you can throw bowser—er… your browser—a bone.

These directions, by the way, are for Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you're using a different browser, see its instructions for enabling cookies, ActiveX controls, and active scripting.

Getting those cookies

Office Online uses cookies, which are small text files stored on your computer. This procedure tells you how to inform your browser that Office Online cookies are safe and oh so good.

1. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options.

   A dialog box appears that has a number of tabs along the top.

   Note  Do you see a Privacy tab?

   If your version of Internet Explorer does not have a Privacy tab, it’s really out of date and your computer could be very vulnerable to unsavory characters on the Internet who just love to use the holes in Internet security defenses to do whatever they please with other people’s computers, such as yours. For the love of every sensitive piece of information and valuable picture and file on your computer, please upgrade your version of Internet Explorer. Just go to http://www.microsoft.com, and then click Windows Update, and you’ll be on your way.

2. Okay, then. Continuing on: click the Privacy tab so that it comes to the front.
3. The Privacy tab differs a little from one version of Internet Explorer to another. So…
   • If your Privacy tab has a Sites button, click it.
   • If your Privacy tab has an Edit button, click it. Now, if it so happens that your Edit button is grayed out so that you can't click it, it's because the slider for your privacy settings on this tab is set to Block All Cookies. If you move the slider down one notch to High, the Edit button will automagically become clickable.
4. Now, regardless of what version of the Privacy tab you have, in the Address or Web site box, type the following.

   http://office.microsoft.com/

5. Click Allow, next click OK, and then click OK again.
6. To cause these changes to be reflected on the Web page you're currently looking at, click Refresh on the toolbar of your browser.

ActiveX needs to read the script

No, were not talking about the latest single-name action star trying to learn whether to shout, "Ugh!" first and then unnecessarily yell, "C'mon, let's get outta here," or vice versa. An ActiveX control is a small program that has a job to do, and it uses a script to know how to do it.

In this case, its job is to help your template cross the information super-highway from the Templates site to your computer, and then open it up in the correct Office program. Can you think of anything more thoughtful? It's the veritable boy scout of the ActiveX universe. But before it can read the script—or show up for work, for that matter—you as the director need to green-light it.

1. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
2. Click the Security tab so that it comes to the front.
3. In the box containing icons of the different Web content zones, click the globe icon labeled Internet, if it isn’t already selected.
4. Next, click Custom Level.
5. In the Settings list, set the following four settings to Enable. You'll have to scroll down to get to all of them.
   • Download signed ActiveX controls
   • Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins
   • Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting
   • Active scripting (located in the section Scripting)
6. Once you have enabled these settings, click OK, and then click OK again.
7. To cause these changes to be reflected on the Web page you're currently looking at, click Refresh on the toolbar of your browser.

Downloading a template from Office Online

Now that your browser is set up correctly, you're good to go. Let's download a template.

1. Locate on the Templates site the template you want to download.

   You can locate a template in one of three ways:

   • By entering keywords in the Search feature
   • By searching according to the Office program you want to use, or
   • By browsing through the various template categories
2. The templates that match your searching or browsing appear in a list showing a thumbnail image of what each template looks like, along with its title, the version of Office it’s compatible with, and a rating that ranges from one to five stars, based on how others have rated it.

   If you don’t know what version of Office you have, it’s really easy to find out, and it works the same in all of the Office programs. So using Microsoft Word as an example, in Word click the Help menu, and then click About Microsoft Word.

3. When you find a template you want to download, double-click its title. Doing so takes you to a preview page of the template, where you can get a better look at it.

   By the way, your opinion means everything to us at Office Online; it’s how we know what we’re doing right and how we can improve things for you. So if you want to rate the template, pass your mouse over the stars and click the rating you want to give, from one to five stars. You can change your rating by clicking another of the stars.

   We also love to get your comments, too. So if you want to say anything about this template, just click Comment on this template, type your comments, and then click the Submit button, which is located at the bottom of the page, so you might need to scroll down to see it. You’ll then come to a lovely screen thanking you for your input. To get back to the template preview page, click the link that begins with Back to located at the bottom of the page, so again, you might need to scroll down to see it.

   You can see an example of a templates preview page by clicking here.

4. Thank you for indulging me a bit during my plea for feedback. So on the template's preview page, download the template by clicking Download Now.
5. When you download something from Office Online for the first time, a page appears displaying the end user licensing agreement. If you agree to the terms of the agreement, click Accept.
6. The first time you download a template, a security warning might appear asking if you want to install and run the ActiveX control. Click Yes.
7. Once the ActiveX control successfully installs, a page appears with the word Status in bold letters telling you that the ActiveX control installed successfully. Go ahead, then, and click the Continue button. The ActiveX control downloads the template and opens it in the appropriate Office program.
8. If you have Office 2003 installed, the first time you download a template and it opens in its Office program, a dialog box appears telling you that links to additional assistance and resources are available for templates, and asking you if you want to automatically download and display these links. If you click Yes, a pane opens along the right side of the Office program.

   This Template Help task pane can have links to Help topics specific to your template, along with links to clip art, articles, and training... essentially it's an open window to the Internet with useful Office Online resources tailored to your template, and they're always just a click away. You also get yet another opportunity to rate the template and tell us how we can make it better.

Let’s review

We're just about finished for now. But as you venture forward, I implore you to bear in mind the following points:

• Templates are beautiful because 1) you can put them to work right away, 2) they’re adjustable, and 3) you can use them over and over again
• For templates to download without a hitch, you need to give the nod to enabling cookies, ActiveX controls, and active scripting
• When you download a template, it opens in the appropriate Office program, and if you have Office 2003 you can choose to have the Template Help task pane provide you with great Office Online resources for your template

Next time

You have no doubt noticed that when you download a template, it opens as a new document, but not as the easily-reusable, much vaunted template. When we meet again, I'll show you how to save a downloaded template AS a template and then how to use it at will and whimsy. Until then, I shall leave you with a template haiku.

A template opens
productivity sweetens
my Office window

Let me hear from you!

Which of the following describe your thoughts? Feel free to respond to one or both of the following choices.

• I want to leave quick feedback stating whether this column was helpful or not helpful. Please click either the Yes or No button at the end of this column (you might have to scroll down to see them).

• I want to leave a compliment, comment, or offer a suggestion for a future edition of this column. Please click tmpltcol@microsoft.com. This link allows you to send me an e-mail that you can make as detailed as you wish.

About the author

Nate Keyes (which rhymes with "great pies") is a columnist, content programmer and technical writer for the Office Online Templates site at Microsoft. When it comes to listening to feedback, Nate knows the importance of not living in a vacuum because, well—sound doesn't travel in a vacuum. At any rate, Nate welcomes your feedback. While he might not be able to reply, your input might strike such a common chord with humanity that you could possibly see your ideas play across this page in a future column.