MOS Talk: Templates save time and work
Time is a precious commodity. Once it's gone, we can't get it back.
Time machines, like the one written about by H.G. Wells, haven't been invented yet. Until DeLoreans with flux capacitors become a reality, we have to make the most of our time and make it count.
In business, lost time can mean less productivity and higher costs. One of the most time-consuming tasks is formatting documents, a laborious effort that can eat up the clock.
Setting tabs or indents, spacing lines and paragraphs, adding columns, even installing boxes, lines or other design elements can take up an inordinate amount of time that interferes with work efficiency.
Fortunately, the Microsoft Office tool box is full of options designed to make work easier for the business professional, saving time and empowering users to work smarter, not harder.
One of these tools is the template, a pre-formatted document that only requires a user to input data. All of the formatting is done for you.
There are dozens, even hundreds of templates to meet your particular needs. From invoices to fax cover sheets, from resumes and cover letters to fliers, reports and spreadsheets for every need, work can be completed in a fraction of the time that formatting often takes simply by using templates.
To find and browse the selection of templates, go to the colored file tab on the top left-hand side of your Office document. Scroll down to new. There you should find options like blank document or sample templates.
If you do not have internet access, then click on the sample templates function to see the library of templates pre-loaded into your Office program.
When your system is online, a host of template libraries from Office.com should appear, organized in folders according to your particular needs.
Browse the templates until you find one you like. A thumbnail preview of the template design should appear on a right-hand side pane of the Office document window.
Select a desired template, open it, and begin typing your data into the document. Templates function as brand-new, blank documents with formatting on them, so you will get a "save as" prompt when you go to save the file.
Although templates are pre-formatted for convenience, you are able to make adjustments to the settings that fit the requirements of your data.
You can even change the pre-set design elements if you so desire; although completely redesigning a pre-formatted document defeats the purpose of the template tool.
The document, though, is yours to customize as you wish. To each, their own.
There is often an easy way and a hard way to perform tasks. The former saves time, while the latter wastes it.
Microsoft Office gives you the tools to make work easier on you and your business. I encourage you to utilize these to your advantage, because Doc and Marty are probably too busy jet-setting through time to give you a ride into your work past.
Brett Fisher is a certified Microsoft Office Specialist instructor and writer residing in Carson City.