How to make your own template in Word, Excel or PowerPoint

What a template is

A Word template is saved as .dotx, an Excel one as .xltx and a PowerPoint one as .potx. Inside they are the same as an ordinary .docx, .xlsx or .pptx, with one difference in how Office treats them: opening a template makes a new, untitled document from it, and the template itself is left alone. That is the whole point. Nobody saves over the letterhead by accident.

Templates that carry macros end in m instead: .dotm, .xltm and .potm. Only use those if the template really needs its macros, because Office will block or warn about them on many computers.

Saving one in Microsoft Office

Set the document up the way every new one should start: the styles, the headers and footers, the logo, the page size and any text that is always there. Then use File → Save As and pick Word Template (.dotx), Excel Template (.xltx) or PowerPoint Template (*.potx) as the type. Office moves you to its personal templates folder when you change the type. Since Office 2013 that is Documents\Custom Office Templates. Leave it there.

To use it, go to File → New and choose Personal. Pick the template and Office opens a new document made from it.

If there is no Personal tab, the setting behind it is empty. In Word, Excel or PowerPoint open File → Options → Save, and under Default personal templates location enter the folder your templates are in. Each of the three apps has its own copy of that setting.

Double-clicking a .dotx in File Explorer also starts a new document from it. To change the template itself, open Word first and use File → Open, or right-click the file and choose Open.

Changing what a blank document looks like

Word starts every blank document from Normal.dotm, kept in %AppData%\Microsoft\Templates. The easy way to change it is Home → Styles, right-click a style, Modify, and choose New documents based on this template before OK. Changing the file directly works too, but a damaged Normal.dotm makes Word misbehave, so keep a copy.

Excel does the same with a workbook called Book.xltx in its XLSTART folder, if you put one there. A new workbook then starts from it instead of the built-in blank one.

In LibreOffice and Google Docs

In LibreOffice, File → Templates → Save as Template keeps the document in My Templates, and File → Templates opens the Template Manager to start from one or to set one as the default. LibreOffice saves its own templates as .ott, .ots and .otp. It can also write a .dotx through Save As, if the template has to work in Word too.

Google Docs, Sheets and Slides have a template gallery, but a personal Google account cannot add its own templates to it. Only a Google Workspace organisation can publish templates there for its members. The usual way round it is to keep the document in a folder of its own and use File → Make a copy each time.

Making a template people actually use

• Use styles for headings and body text rather than formatting by hand. Whoever uses the template keeps the look by picking a style.
• Put short placeholder text where things change, such as [Client name], so nothing is sent with last month’s details still in it.
• Protect the parts that should not change. In Word, Review → Restrict Editing can leave only some areas open for typing.
• Name it for what it is for (Invoice, Board minutes), since the Personal list shows the file name and nothing else.