Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

Office 2010 – how to save files as templates

Each of the Office applications allows you to configure a look for a document, spreadsheet, publication or presentation and then save it as a template so that you can reuse it anytime.

Templates in PowerPoint 2010

In PowerPoint you’ll create your presentation and then save it using File > Save As and select from the Save As Type list choose PowerPoint Template (*.potx). Give your presentation template a name and click Save.

In future you can locate this presentation by choosing File > New > My Templates and click on the template to use it as the basis of a new document.

Templates in Word 2010

In Microsoft Word choose File > Save As and from the Save As Type dropdown list choose Word Template (*.dotx). In the top left of the dialog click the Templates option to make sure that the template will be stored in the correct location and give the template a name.

In future choose File > New > My Templates and select the template to use.

Templates in Excel 2010

In Microsoft Excel, you can save the look of your document so that it can be used as the basis of a new document by choosing File > Save as and choose Excel Template (*.xltx ) as the file type. Type a name and save the template file.

In future you can base a new worksheet on this template by choosing File > New > My Templates and select it from the Personal Templates list.

Templates in Publisher 2010

In Publisher you’ll choose File > Save As and then select Publisher Template (*.pub). Type a name for the template and click Save.

In future you can access this template by choosing File > New > My Templates, select the template and click Create. You may need to close and reopen your software before the new templates are available.

Helen Bradley

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

DIY Color Changing Clip Art

Much of the illustration Clip Art in the Microsoft Clip Organizer can be edited by changing its colors. By doing this you can not only recolor the art to match the look of your document but, if you use Theme colors then the art will change color when the Theme or Color scheme changes.

Now you won’t need information technology degrees to learn this – but maybe you’ll be so good at it, you just might consider graphic design college.

So, let’s see how the recoloring is done. First select the Clip Art and from the Picture Tools -> Format tab click the Group > Ungroup button. Answer Yes if you are prompted to convert the image to a Microsoft Office Drawing Object. In some applications  such as Publisher you’ll need to repeat the process and select Ungroup again.

Now click on individual parts of the object and either remove them or recolor them by selecting a Shape Fill Color from the Drawing Tools > Format tab. If you use Theme colors then the colors will change later on when the theme changes.

When you are done and you have recolored all the pieces you want to recolor, select all the pieces, right click and choose Group.

Change the document theme or Color Scheme to see the image change color to match the look of the theme.

Helen Bradley