MS Word 2007 Tutorial - Writing A Letter Using Templates

A template is a pre-formatted document that is included with your installation of Microsoft Word 2007. Templates allow you to pick a look and feel that is appropriate for whatever Word task you need to accomplish and then simply and easily fill in your own information to make the project unique. To browse the templates available in the default installation of MS Word 2007 do the following:

1. Start Microsoft Word 2007.

2. Click the "Office Button" in the top left hand corner of the window and select "New". This brings up the "New Document" window.

3. Under the heading, "Templates", located at the top of the list on the right side of the window, select "Installed Templates".

4. Browse for a "letter" template that suits your needs.

You may have noticed that on the right hand side of the "New Document" window there is an extensive list under the heading "Microsoft Office Online". These templates are available on-line and have been supplied by members of the Microsoft Office Online Community. You can view and download these templates for personal use.

1. Click on the "Letter" subheading under "Microsoft Office Online". This brings up a list of letter styles and types. Select the type that best suits your needs.

2. Browse the options available to you. If you cannot find what you need and think you may have better luck searching under a different heading, all you have to do to return to the Type menu is press the "back" arrow at the top of the "New Document" window.

3. Once you have found a template that you would like to use, all you need to do to download and start using it is click the "Download" button, located in the bottom right-hand corner of the window.

4. A message box will likely pop up at this point, telling you that templates are only available to users of "Genuine" Microsoft Office. Simply click continue.

5. Your chosen template will appear, ready for your input.

Now comes the easy part. All you have to do to produce a professional, thorough, and well-thought-out letter is to replace the preset fields, displayed in [brackets], with your own information and type the body of your letter. Each bracketed word or sentence indicates the type of information that you should put there, such as [Sender's Name], [Sender's Phone Number], etc. Clicking inside the [brackets] will bring up a toolbar for modifying the formatting of that particular field. It will also highlight the entire field. All you have to do to begin replacing preset text with your own is to highlight it by clicking, then hit "Delete" or "Backspace" on your keyboard. This will delete the old text and place your cursor at the beginning of the space so you can enter the required information.

Once you have replaced all of the bracketed words with your information, you can start working on the body of your letter. You will have to manually delete the preset text and type your own, but this should prove no problem to you since you no doubt learned all you needed in Part 1 of this letter tutorial!