Create Professional Documents Quickly with Office Templates

Create Professional Files Quickly and Easily with Office Templates

If you ever need to crank out a flyer, invoice, memo, calendar, or budget sheet in a hurry, don’t reinvent the wheel. Microsoft has a big library of templates, including a set that are designed to be accessible by default. Grab one, swap the placeholder text for your info, and you’re off to the races.

I want to start this article by asking you to use your imagination. Maybe you’re in your home office, or even working in a corporate office somewhere. One of your coworkers comes up to you asking you to create a business flyer, invoice, company memo, or any other complex document. What do you do? Here are some choices. Will you:

Stammer and mumble something about needing to go to the bathroom.

Just fire up office and go to town designing the document yourself. “Man, what ashowoff!”

Totally change the subject and ask them out for drinks after work, hoping they’ll just forget about the stupid documents.

Snap your fingers and tell them you can indeed create that stupid … uh … I mean document for you . No problem at all.

If you answered B. You can probably stop right here as you don’t need templates. If you answered D, you’re in the right place and I’m glad you made it! If you answered either A or C, all I can say to that’s, you should never work, eat, or drink with a full bladder, and if you’re buying drinks after work, you should have asked me first. OK already, enough with the funny business. Let’s get to work.

What are templates

An office template is a pre-designed document in Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint that has all of the layout built for you. Let’s pretend you’re creating a resume. When you open one of these templates, you’ll get placeholder text like:

Your Name

Address, City, ST ZIP Code | Telephone | Email

The name and address lines are “placeholder text”, meaning that when these are selected and you begin typing your info, the “your name” text gets replaced with your real name. Not only does it get replaced, but it has formatting and spacing alignment properties already set. When you click these placeholders, or arrow over them, they’ll be selected for you. Once you type, you’ll replace them with your info.

Example templates

The following was collected from the template samplers in Microsoft Office.

Business

Retail sale flyer

Customize this accessible and colorful flyer template to promote your sales event. It prints on one 8.5 x 11 inches page. Download template

PTA agenda

Plan your PTA meeting with this accessible agenda, listing talking points and times allotted for each. Download template

Business flyer

Use this accessible business flyer template to announce special events and for direct marketing or creating brand awareness. Download template

Seasonal event flyer

Let everyone know about your summer event with this color block designed seasonal flyer, which is an accessible template. Download template

Birthday

Birthday invitation postcards (2 per page)

Use this cheerful postcard template to invite people to your upcoming birthday celebration. This accessible postcard is 4 x 6 inches. Download template

Birthday cards

Send birthday cheer with this colorful and accessible greeting card. Two folded with two 4.25 x 5.5 inches cards per page. Download template

Birthday poster

Use this accessible birthday celebration poster template to spread the word about a work party or personal event. Download template

Birthday certificate note card

Print a custom birthday gift certificate with this accessible and handy template. Just fill in details and print.

Download template

Label

Floral personal business cards

Use this accessible, floral business card template to create unique professional cards of standard 3-1/2 x 2 inches size. Download template

Event postcards

Personalize this accessible and handy postcard template to announce an upcoming sale or grand opening event. Download template

Appointment cards (10 per page)

Keep track of upcoming appointments with this accessible template that contains ten 2 x 3.5 inches appointment cards. Download template

Postcard to job candidates when position is closed (4 per page)

Customize this accessible postcard to send to candidates when the position they have applied for has been closed. Download template

Accessible calendar templates

12-month calendar

Use this accessible 12-month calendar template for years to come. Set year and weekday, and the calendar updates automatically. Download template

Any year one-month calendar

Quickly set a basic one-month calendar using this accessible template. Select the year, month, and starting day of the week. Download template

Any year one-month calendar with notes

Select month, year, and starting day of the week in this accessible template to set a quick calendar for the month. Download template

Academic calendar (any year)

Use this accessible calendar to keep track of daily schedule. Change the year,

starting month and weekend, and add notes. Download template

Student calendar (mon)

This 12-month, student-focused accessible template has separate tabs for each month. Track assignments and class schedules. Download template

Any year calendar (1 month per tab)

This accessible calendar can be set to any year and each week can be set to start on either Sunday or Monday. Download template

Accessible invoice templates

Invoice

Give a professional look to invoice with this accessible template. Fill in billing information and invoice details. Download template

Simple invoice

This accessible product sales invoice template will calculate line item totals, sales tax, and deduct any discount offered. Download template

Billing invoice

This accessible, professional looking billing invoice template automatically calculates totals, making billing easy. Download template

Invoice with finance charge

Use this accessible invoice template to assess a finance charge on unpaid customer balances and calculate totals. Download template

Invoice with finance charge (simple)

Assess a finance charge on prior unpaid balances with this accessible invoice template featuring a clean and simple design. Download template

Sales invoice

This accessible small business invoice template automatically calculates if a discount is applicable to the items being sold. Download template

Accessible budget templates

Manage my money

Use this accessible template to keep track of income, expenses and savings.

Download template

Simple monthly budget

Compare your monthly income to your expenses and this accessible template will help you visualize how they stack up. Download template

Home construction budget

Track labor and materials against original budget with this accessible home construction budget template. Download template

Accessible calculator templates

Personal net worth calculator

Quickly and easily calculate your net worth using this simply elegant template. This is an accessible template. Download template

Credit card payoff calculator

This accessible template calculates the number of months required to repay credit card balance and the total interest. Download template

Mortgage loan calculator

This accessible template calculates mortgage loan payments using amount, rate, duration, and additional and optional inputs. Download template

Loan comparison calculator

Compare multiple loan scenarios using this accessible template. It contains 3 scenarios that can be customized. Download template

His and her weight loss tracker

Use this accessible template to enter starting weight and goal, and then current weight to track weight loss progress. Download template

Loan amortization schedule

Create a loan summary and payment schedule with this accessible loan amortization schedule template.

Download template

How do I get templates for Office

If you just want to browse what’s out there, start at create.microsoft.com/templates. Microsoft keeps a big library of templates there for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

If you want the shortcut to templates that are designed to be accessible by default, Microsoft says you can search for “accessible templates” on Create, or directly from inside your Office app. Here’s Microsoft’s own write-up: support.microsoft.com, Get accessible templates for Office.

Inside Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, go to File, then New, and use the search box to look for what you want. If you type accessible templates, you should see Microsoft’s accessible set pop up.

If you want a broader overview of what templates can do, Microsoft also has a general guide here: support.microsoft.com, Download free pre-built templates.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Microsoft 365 to use templates?

Not always. Many templates are free to download, and Office apps can pull online templates as long as you’re signed in and online. Some premium templates and features can be tied to your subscription.

How do I make sure a template is accessible?

Starting with Microsoft’s accessible templates is a good first step. After that, you can still run the Accessibility Checker in your Office app before you share the file, especially if you add images, tables, or charts.

I can’t find the exact template name you listed. Now what?

Templates rotate. If a name doesn’t show up, search for a few keywords instead. For example, try invoice, calendar, flyer, or business card.

Time for Pretzels and Beer

I’m still waitin’ for someone to buy me a drink after work … anyone? Well, I hope this helps you work smarter, not harder, when you have to get a document done double time. See you later.

Qapla!