Custom Template Development

Templates can be a game-changer for time-crunched professionals looking to increase efficiency. These pre-designed documents save time by allowing you to fill in the necessary information, rather than starting from scratch each time you need to create a new document. Whether for spreadsheets or word-processing documents, templates streamline your workflow and boost productivity.

Microsoft 365 products allow for creating templates that contain powerful features meant to save time, increase document consistency, and allow for revision control for your important documentation.​

You can think of a document template as having a pre-printed pad with an unlimited number of sheets based on that document. (Think of the pink ‘While You Were Out‘ message pads.) When you need to use one, you tear off the top sheet from the pad and fill it out. But there is always a clean new sheet left on the pad. No matter what you do your your sheet, it doesn’t affect the rest of the sheets on the pad.​

We often find users opening a copy of file and renaming it, then editing the content. The risks are that the original file may not have the most up-to-date formatting, or formula corrections. Another risk is that some portions of the old information isn’t removed, making the file incorrect.​

Some files are created to present or analyze information, but don’t need to be saved. This is typical of an Excel Spreadsheet file used to convey current information as a dashboard. Designing a template that’s ‘connected’ to live data and stored in a shared location means that any user can open the file, refresh the data, work with it, and then close it without saving.​

Another common use for a template is a form that needs to be filled out on a computer. All too often the document formatting ‘falls apart’ as a user fills in their information in the spaces provided. A professionally designed Word template will retain formatting and protect the document from being damaged no matter what level of user is working with it.

If you are interested in exploring the benefits of converting your commonly used files to templates, as well as strategies for the use and maintenance of templates, please reach out to us for more information.