How to Create New Documents in Microsoft Word

Create a Blank Document

You can create a blank document in any of these three ways:

Use the document that Word creates when you launch it.

Press CTRL-N.

Click the Office Button, click New, click the Blank Document item in the New Document dialog box, and then click the Create button.

Create a Document Based on a Template

A blank document is useful when you want to create a whole document from scratch using Word’s standard settings. But frequently you’ll want to base a new document on a template that has a particular design or content that will help you finish a document more quickly and with less effort. For example, you can get a jump-start on creating a memo by using a template that contains a standard memo layout with “To,” “From,” “Subject,” and “Date” fields. You can also create a new document based on a template—a template that you or your company has created, one of Word’s built-in templates, or a template that you download from the Microsoft Office Online web site. See the next section for instructions on downloading templates from this site.

Create a New Document Based on a Template of Your Own

To create a document based on a template, follow these steps:

1. Click the Office Button, and then click New. Word displays the New Document dialog Box.

2. In the Template list in the left panel of the New Document dialog box, choose a template category.

Blank And Recent This category shows you the Blank Document item, the New Blog Post item, and the templates you’ve used recently. You’ll normally want to choose one from this category.

Installed Templates This category shows the templates that are installed on your computer. These templates are installed in a shared folder for all Office users and include letters, reports, resumes, and faxes.

My Templates These are the templates that you’ve created or installed. Other Office users don’t have access to these templates. When you select this item, Word displays the New dialog box (see Figure 2-2). When you first run Word, this dialog box may contain only the Normal template and the My Templates tab. Select the template you want, make sure the Document option button is selected in the Create New area, and then click the OK button.

Microsoft Office Online These categories let you access a wide variety of templates stored on the Microsoft Office Online site. Click the category to make Word load the templates in the main part of the new dialog box. For example, click the Agendas category to make Word list the available agenda templates. You can then browse the templates and choose the one you want.

3. Select the template you want to use.

4. Make sure the Document option button is selected in the Create New area.

5. Click the Create button. Word creates the document, and you can start working in it.

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