Expert Word Capstone: Build a Template Kit, Automation and Review System

Every tutorial in this level was about work that outlasts you: kits other people start from, macros that do a chore the same way every time, review stages that stop the wrong file from going out, rules for accessibility and sharing, and the way you give feedback. Each one is useful alone. Together they are a document system, and a system is only proven when someone else can run it.

The Tutoring Club now runs three sites with a team of volunteer coordinators. In this capstone you build the club's document system and prove it: a template kit, one working automation, a written policy, one high-stakes report taken all the way from draft to published PDF, and one coached revision. Each stage links to the tutorial in this level that taught the skill. This is the last lesson of the whole Word course.

The project brief

Here is the request from the club director: "We have three sites now and six coordinators. Every site sends families letters that look different, and last month two versions of the safety policy were going around. I need one kit everyone starts from, one place that says how documents get checked and approved, and our first proper annual report for the grant funders. And please teach the new coordinators, so this doesn't all depend on you."

Turn the request into five deliverables, each with a test you can check:

The example file above is a kit-planning workbook: a kit inventory table to fill in, the policy outline headings, the raw text of a short annual report draft and a mentoring log template. You don't write the report's content from scratch; you build the system around it and push the report through it.

Plan the system

The parts depend on each other. The report must be built from the kit, so the kit comes first. The automation checks things the policy requires, so you write the policy outline before you write the macro. The coached revision uses the same rubric and standard as the report review. Plan about three weeks of evenings:

Write down three decisions before Stage 1, because every later stage depends on them:

• Who owns the kit. One kit owner changes templates; everyone else sends requests. Without an owner, six people will improve the letter six ways.
• How versions are numbered. The club uses v1.0 for a release, v1.1 for small fixes (a typo, a color) and v2.0 for changes that make old documents look different (new styles, a new layout).
• Which tool automates. If every coordinator uses Word for Windows or Mac, a VBA macro in a .dotm is fine. If some only use Word for the web, which doesn't run VBA, choose a script you run yourself on the files, or a check people do by hand.

Stage 1: The template kit

A kit is more than templates. It is the templates plus what people need to use them correctly without you: a style guide, a sample of each document done well, and a version number so everyone knows whether they have the current one (Tutorial 1).

Build each template on purpose. Start from a clean document, set the theme fonts and colors in Design› then Document Formatting, define every style the document type needs, insert placeholders as content controls with clear prompt text ([Family name], Choose the site), then use File› then Save As and choose Word Template (*.dotx). Make test documents from each template and look for manual formatting. If you had to fix something by hand in the test, fix the template instead.

Stamp the version. Keep the template file names stable, because people learn them; put the version inside. Open each template, go to File› then Info, open the Properties drop-down at the top of the right column and choose Advanced Properties. On the Custom tab, type the name Kit version, choose type Text, type the value 1.0 and click Add. Show it in the footer with Insert› then Text› then Quick Parts› then Field: choose DocProperty and pick Kit version. New documents inherit the property and the footer field from the template, so later you can open any document and see which kit version it was made from. Record the same number in the style guide's change log.

Deploy it. Put the templates in the Kit folder synced to each coordinator's computer. Each coordinator opens File› then Options› then Save once and sets Default personal templates location to that folder. The templates then appear under File› then New› then Personal. If your organization uses SharePoint, IT may be able to publish templates centrally instead; ask before you build your own system.

Stage 2: Automation and the policy

Pick one chore (Tutorial 2). A good first automation is short, runs often and checks something your policy requires. The club's choice is a publish check: before any document becomes a PDF, update all fields and list what would block publishing (open tracked changes, open comments, an empty Title property, pictures without alt text). It doesn't change the text, which makes it safe to share.

Store it in a .dotm. Create a blank document and save it as Word Macro-Enabled Template (*.dotm) named TC Tools.dotm in the Kit folder. With the .dotm open, press Alt+F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor, select TC Tools in the Project pane, choose Insert› then Module, paste the macro and save.

Option Explicit

Sub TC_PublishCheck()
    ' Tutoring Club kit v1.0: update fields, then list
    ' what still blocks publishing. It changes no text.
    Dim doc As Document, t As TableOfContents
    Dim pic As InlineShape, msg As String, noAlt As Long
    Set doc = ActiveDocument

    doc.Fields.Update
    For Each t In doc.TablesOfContents
        t.Update
    Next t

    If doc.Revisions.Count > 0 Then
        msg = msg & doc.Revisions.Count & " tracked changes open" & vbCr
    End If
    If doc.Comments.Count > 0 Then
        msg = msg & doc.Comments.Count & " comments open" & vbCr
    End If
    If Trim(doc.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Title").Value) = "" Then
        msg = msg & "Title property is empty" & vbCr
    End If
    For Each pic In doc.InlineShapes
        If Trim(pic.AlternativeText) = "" Then noAlt = noAlt + 1
    Next pic
    If noAlt > 0 Then
        msg = msg & noAlt & " in-line pictures without alt text" & vbCr
    End If

    If msg = "" Then msg = "All clear: fields updated, nothing open."
    MsgBox msg, vbInformation, "Tutoring Club publish check"
End Sub

Make it available. Load TC Tools.dotm as a global template: choose Developer› then Templates› then Document Template, and on the Templates tab, under Global templates and add-ins, click Add and pick the file. It stays loaded until Word closes; to load it every time, put a copy in Word's Startup folder. Add a button with File› then Options› then Quick Access Toolbar: under Choose commands from pick Macros and add TC_PublishCheck.

Test it on copies. Make a copy of the annual report draft and plant one problem per test. A check that has never caught a planted problem hasn't been tested.

Write the results in a half-page how-to: what the macro does, how to load it, when to run it (before every PDF), what it doesn't check (floating pictures, headers and footers, color contrast, reading order) and who to tell if it fails. Say also that doc.Fields.Update only updates fields in the main text, and that in-line pictures marked as decorative are reported as missing alt text, so check those by eye. Limits are part of the documentation; a check people over-trust is worse than none.

from pathlib import Path
from docx import Document

APPROVED = {"Normal", "Title", "Heading 1", "Heading 2", "Heading 3",
            "List Bullet", "List Number", "Caption", "TC Note"}

for path in sorted(Path("Drafts").glob("*.docx")):
    doc = Document(path)
    title = doc.core_properties.title or "(no title)"
    off = sorted({p.style.name for p in doc.paragraphs
                  if p.style.name not in APPROVED})
    print(path.name, "|", title, "|", ", ".join(off) or "styles OK")

Write the policy (Tutorial 3, Tutorial 4, Tutorial 5). Use the policy outline in the practice file and the report template, and keep it to two or three pages. Every rule should answer a real question a coordinator will have.

Test the policy before you publish it: ask two coordinators three questions, for example Who approves a safety policy?, What do you call the second published version? and Can you put a student's first name in a newsletter? If their answers differ, the policy is unclear, not the coordinators.

Stage 3: The annual report through review

The annual report goes to grant funders, so it is the high-stakes test of the whole system. Create it from TC Report.dotx, paste the raw draft from the practice file with Ctrl+Shift+V (Keep Text Only), and give it the structure of a report readers act on (Tutorial 6): an executive summary with the three key numbers first, then programs by site, volunteers, finances, next year's goals and the sign-off page.

Run one tracked review round (Tutorial 3, Tutorial 4).

1. Save the draft in Drafts and turn on Review› then Tracking› then Track Changes (Ctrl+Shift+E). To stop reviewers turning it off, use Review› then Tracking› then Track Changes› then Lock Tracking.
2. Share the file with the reviewers only, with a deadline and a scope for each: the content reviewer checks facts and numbers, the accessibility reviewer checks the standard.
3. Reviewers edit the shared file at the same time, with tracked changes and comments. If someone works offline on a copy, bring it back with Review› then Compare› then Combine.
4. As author, go through every change with Review› then Changes› then Next and accept or reject it; reply to each comment, then resolve it. Questions you can't settle go to the approver.
5. Run TC_PublishCheck. When it reports nothing open, fill in the sign-off table and ask the approver to add their name and date.

Publish (Tutorial 7). Save a copy as the final .docx, run File› then Info› then Check for Issues› then Inspect Document to remove leftover comments and personal information, and set File› then Info› then Properties› then Title to Tutoring Club Annual Report 2026-27. Then choose File› then Export› then Create PDF/XPS Document› then Create PDF/XPS, click Options and tick Create bookmarks using: Headings and Document structure tags for accessibility. Name the PDF 2026-10-14 Annual Report 2026-27 v1.0.pdf and save it in Published.

Open the PDF and check it like a funder would: the bookmarks match the headings, the document title shows in the title bar, links work and the tables read in order. Then share it with Share and set the link to Can view in the link settings, so funders can read and download it but can't edit the club's copy. The exact wording of the link settings varies between OneDrive and SharePoint versions; what matters is that the link doesn't allow editing.

Stage 4: A coached revision

The last deliverable proves you can grow other people, not only documents (Tutorial 8). Ask a newer volunteer for a real document they made, such as a site flyer or a session handout. Agree on the goal first: they keep ownership, and you coach. You don't fix it for them.

1. Diagnose. Rate their document with the feedback rubric from Tutorial 8: Beginning, Developing or Strong in each of its six areas (Structure, Formatting, Alignment and lists, Spacing and pages, Accessibility, Wording). Pick the one or two areas that would make the biggest difference. Ten comments at once teach nothing.
2. Comment, don't rewrite. Add comments with Review› then Comments› then New Comment (Ctrl+Alt+M) that name the problem and the skill, for example These four lines look like headings but are bold Normal text, so the contents and the Navigation pane can't see them. Try Heading 2.
3. Demonstrate one skill. Show the fix once, on one paragraph, in a test file, and let them do the rest in their own document.
4. Review the revision. Rate the new version with the same rubric and compare it with the first. Write both sets of ratings, what changed and what's next in the mentoring log.
5. Move them onto the kit. End by recreating their document from the right kit template, so the next one starts right.

Finish and score it

Release the kit. Put everything in its place: the three templates, TC Tools.dotm and its how-to, the style guide and samples in Kit; the policy and the annual report PDF in Published. Add a short release note at the top of the style guide's change log: v1.0, October 2026: letter, report and form templates; publish check macro; review and governance policy. From now on, a change to any template follows your own policy: a request, a test, a new version number and a line in the change log.

Score it with the rubric. Score your system, then ask the director or another coordinator to score it too. Give each row 0, 1 or 2 points.

Total: 20 points. 18 to 20: release v1.0. 14 to 17: fix the rows that scored 0 or 1 and release v1.0 after a second check. Below 14: return to the tutorial linked in the project brief for your lowest row, then come back to the system.

Common mistakes

Practice