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 a showoff!”
- Totally change the subject and ask them out for drinks after work, hoping they will 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 are in the right place and I’m glad you made it! If you answered either A or C, all I can say to that is, 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 Power Point, 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 will get the following placeholder text:
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 alinement properties already set. When you click these placeholders, or arrow over them, they will be selected for you. Once you type, you will replace them with your info.
Example Templates
The following was collected from the template samplers in Microsoft Office.
Business
Retail sale flyerCustomize this accessible and colorful flyer template to promote your sales event. It prints on one 8.5 x 11 inches page. | PTA agendaPlan your PTA meeting with this accessible agenda, listing talking points and times allotted for each. |
Business flyerUse this accessible business flyer template to announce special events and for direct marketing or creating brand awareness. | Seasonal event flyerLet everyone know about your summer event with this color block designed seasonal flyer, which is an accessible template. |
Birthday
Birthday invitation postcards | Birthday cardsSend birthday cheer with this colorful and accessible greeting card. Two folded with two |
Birthday posterUse this accessible birthday celebration poster template to spread the word about a work party or personal event. | Birthday certificate note cardPrint a custom birthday gift certificate with this accessible and handy template. Just fill in details and print.
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Label
Floral personal business cardsUse this accessible, floral business card template to create unique professional cards of standard 3-1/2 x 2 inches size. | Event postcardsPersonalize this accessible and handy postcard template to announce an upcoming sale or grand opening event. |
Appointment cards (10 per page)Keep track of upcoming appointments with this accessible template that contains ten 2 x 3.5 inches appointment cards | 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. |
Accessible Calendar Templates | ||||
12-month calendar | Any year one-month calendar | |||
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Select to download 12-Month calendar | Select to download Any year one-month calendar | |||
Any year one-month calendar with notes | Academic calendar (any year) | |||
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Select to download Any year one-month calendar with notes | Select to download Academic calendar (any year) | |||
Student calendar (mon) | Any year calendar (1 month per tab) | |||
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Select to download Student calendar (mon) | Select to download Any year calendar (1 month per tab) |
Accessible Invoice Templates | ||||
Invoice | Simple invoice | |||
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Select to download Invoice template | Select to download Simple invoice template | |||
Billing invoice | Invoice with finance charge | |||
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Select to download Billing invoice template | Select to download Invoice with finance charge template | |||
Invoice with finance charge (simple) | Sales invoice | |||
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Select to download Invoice with finance charge(simple) template | Select to download Sales invoice template | |||
Accessible Budget Templates | ||||
Manage my money | ||||
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Select to download Manage My Money template | ||||
Simple monthly budget | ||||
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Select to download Simple monthly budget template | ||||
Home construction budget | ||||
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Select to download Home construction budget template | ||||
Accessible Calculator Templates | ||||
Personal net worth calculator | Credit card payoff calculator | |||
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Select to download Personal net worth calculator | Select to download Credit Card Payoff Calculator | |||
Mortgage loan calculator | Loan comparison calculator | |||
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Select to download Mortgage loan calculator | Select to download Loan comparison calculator | |||
His and her weight loss tracker | Loan amortization schedule | |||
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Select to download His and her weight loss tracker | Select to download Loan amortization schedule |
How Do I Get Templates for Office?
The templates listed here can just be downloaded. However, if you’d like to download and search for other templates yourself, either go to templates.office.com, or to this link to get all accessible office templates.
If you are in an office program such as word, excel, or power point, you can search for any template you are interested in from the new tab. You can search for accessible templates, if you want to be sure your template is accessible. You can also browse various categories of templates.
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!L
Julia Watson
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Julia Watson
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Julia Watson
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Stewart Overbey
August 8, 2019Very useful, practical, an interesting. Thank you for this offering.