How to Use Templates, Quick Parts and AutoText in Word

By now the Tutoring Club writes the same kinds of documents again and again: letters to families, flyers, sign-up sheets and chapters of the handbook. If every new letter starts by opening last month's letter and deleting the old details, sooner or later someone sends a family another child's name. Templates and reusable building blocks fix that problem at the root.

In this tutorial you will turn the club's family letter into a real Word template, save the signature block and the contact box as Quick Parts, and set up a few typing shortcuts. The handbook team can then start every new document from the same clean, correct starting point.

Templates versus documents

A template is a starting file. When you open it the normal way, Word does not open the template itself. It creates a brand-new, untitled document that copies everything in the template: text, styles, margins, headers and footers, and any building blocks stored in it. The template stays untouched, ready for next time.

File	Extension	What it is
Word Document	`.docx`	A normal document. Opening it opens that exact file, and saving changes it
Word Template	`.dotx`	A starting file. Opening it with a double-click gives you a new copy to fill in
Word Macro-Enabled Template	`.dotm`	A template that can also hold macros. You won't need it for this course
Normal.dotm	`.dotm`	The hidden template behind every blank document. It stores Word's default styles, and it can also store your AutoText and Quick Parts

Why bother with a template instead of reusing an old document? Three reasons. A new document from a template has no name yet, so you can't save over last month's letter by accident. It starts with placeholders such as [Family name] instead of real details that you might forget to change. And when the club changes its phone number, you fix one template instead of hunting through twenty old letters.

Start a document from a template

Go to File then New. The screen shows a Blank document, a row of templates from Microsoft and a search box for more online templates, such as newsletters, flyers and certificates. Above the thumbnails you may see two tabs:

Featured (or Office): templates from Microsoft.
Personal: templates you saved yourself. This tab appears once Word knows where your personal templates live, which is set up in the next section.

Click a template, look at the preview, and click Create. Word opens a new document with a name like Document2 in the title bar. That tells you that you are working on a copy. When you press Ctrl+S, Word asks for a new file name, which is exactly what you want.

Many Microsoft templates use placeholder text inside small boxes. Click a placeholder once and the whole sample text is selected, so you can type over it. Some templates also use their own theme and styles, so check Home then Styles before you format anything by hand.

Save your own template

Any document can become a template. Start with a finished, correct letter, then make it general:

Replace the details that change every time with clear placeholders in square brackets, such as [Date], [Family name] and [Write your message here.].
Keep everything that stays the same: the letterhead, styles, margins, footer and the closing.
Go to File then Save As, click Browse, and change Save as type to Word Template (*.dotx).
Word switches to your personal templates folder, usually Documents\Custom Office Templates. Leave it there, name the file Tutoring Club Letter, and click Save.
Close the template. Now go to File then New, open the Personal tab, and click your template to test it.

Before

Real names and dates to delete every time
One slip sends the wrong child's name

After

Placeholders show what to fill in
Letterhead, styles and footer stay the same

Turn one good letter into a template: keep what never changes, and replace what always changes with placeholders.

If the Personal tab doesn't appear, check File then Options then Save. The box Default personal templates location should contain the folder where you saved the template, such as C:\Users\you\Documents\Custom Office Templates. Add it, click OK, and look at File then New again.

Save reusable blocks as Quick Parts

A template gives you a whole starting document. A Quick Part (Word calls it a building block) is a smaller piece you reuse inside any document: the coordinator's signature, the contact box, a photo permission notice, a standard table. Formatting, tables and pictures are saved with it.

To save one:

Turn on Home then Paragraph then Show/Hide ¶ (Ctrl+Shift+8) and select the signature block. Include the last ¶ mark so the paragraph formatting comes along.
Go to Insert then Text then Quick Parts then Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery.
Fill in the Create New Building Block box (see the table below) and click OK.

InsertTextQuick Parts. The menu holds your saved Quick Parts, AutoText, Document Property, Field and the Building Blocks Organizer.

Box	What to enter
Name	A short, clear name, such as `TC contact box`, so you can find it in the gallery
Gallery	Quick Parts for things you pick from the menu. Other galleries include AutoText, Headers, Footers and Tables
Category	Optional. Create one such as Tutoring Club to keep the club's blocks together
Description	Optional. A short note shown when you point at the block
Save in	Which file stores the block. See the next section
Options	Insert content only, Insert content in its own paragraph, or Insert content in its own page. For a signature or a box, choose its own paragraph

To use it, click where it should go, open Insert then Text then Quick Parts, and click the thumbnail. Right-click the thumbnail for more choices, such as inserting it at the start or end of the document or in the page header.

AutoText, the Organizer and where blocks are saved

AutoText is another gallery of building blocks, made for things you insert by typing. Select the text, then use Insert then Text then Quick Parts then AutoText then Save Selection to AutoText Gallery. To insert it later, type the block's name and press F3. Word replaces the name with the saved block. Give AutoText entries short names without spaces, such as tcsig, so they are quick to type and Word can tell where the name starts.

Over time the galleries fill up. Insert then Text then Quick Parts then Building Blocks Organizer lists every building block in Word, including the built-in cover pages and headers. Click a name to preview it, then use Edit Properties to rename it or move it to another gallery, Delete to remove it, or Insert to add it to your document. To change the content of a block, insert it, edit it, and save it again with the same name. Word asks whether to redefine it.

Save in	Where the block is available	Choose it when
Building Blocks.dotx	Every document on this computer	The block is for you, in any kind of document
Normal.dotm	Every document on this computer	Also fine for personal blocks. AutoText is often saved here by default
Your template (such as Tutoring Club Letter)	Documents made from that template, on any computer that has the template	Other volunteers should get the block too. Edit the template itself to save into it

A simple rule: keep your personal blocks in Building Blocks.dotx or Normal.dotm, and put blocks the whole club needs in the club's template, so they travel with it when you share the .dotx file.

AutoCorrect entries for long phrases

AutoCorrect fixes typos as you type, such as teh into the. You can add your own entries to expand a short code into a long phrase, with no extra key to press. Word replaces the code as soon as you type a space or punctuation after it.

Go to File then Options then Proofing then AutoCorrect Options and stay on the AutoCorrect tab.
In Replace, type a code that is not a real word, such as tcfl.
In With, type the full phrase: Tutoring Club at the Fort Lee Community Center.
Click Add, then OK.

To keep formatting such as bold or italics, select the formatted text in your document before you open AutoCorrect Options, and choose Formatted text. Plain-text entries are shared with your other Office apps on this computer, which is handy for names you type in email too.

Tool	How you insert it	Best for
AutoCorrect	Type the code and a space. Automatic	A long phrase or a name you type many times a day
AutoText	Type the name and press `F3`	Several lines, such as a signature, that you want only when you ask for it
Quick Parts	Pick it from Insert then Text then Quick Parts	Larger blocks with tables or pictures, like the contact box

Insert document property fields

Some details belong to the whole document, such as its title, the author or the company. Word stores them in File then Info then Properties. Insert then Text then Quick Parts then Document Property lets you place one of them in the text, for example the Title in the handbook's header and again on the cover.

Two copies of the Title property and one Company property. Edit one Title box and the other updates too.

The property appears in a small box called a content control. Type a new title into any copy and Word updates the property and every other copy in the document, which keeps the handbook consistent. Fill in the properties once in File then Info before you insert them, so the boxes don't start empty.

For automatic information such as the file name or the date the file was last saved, use Insert then Text then Quick Parts then Field instead. Fields update when you select them and press F9. You'll use fields a lot more in the Advanced level.

Common mistakes

Mistake	What happens	Fix
Reusing last month's letter as the starting point	Old names, dates and details slip into the new letter	Save one clean letter as a `.dotx` template with placeholders
Double-clicking the template to change it	Edits go into a new copy, and the template stays the same	Right-click the `.dotx` and choose Open; check the title bar ends in `.dotx`
Saving the template as a `.docx`	Opening it edits the file itself, and it never shows on the Personal tab	Choose *Word Template (.dotx) in Save as type**
Clicking Don't Save for Building Blocks.dotx when closing Word	New Quick Parts and AutoText disappear	Click Save when Word asks about building blocks
Using a real word as an AutoCorrect code	The word expands every time you type it	Use codes that aren't words, such as `tcfl`
Saving club blocks only in your own Normal.dotm	Other volunteers using the template don't get them	Save shared blocks in the club's template and share the `.dotx`

Practice

Build the Tutoring Club letter template

Guided practice

Download the example file above. It is a real letter to one family, with a letterhead, a signature block and a contact box. You will turn it into a reusable template and save its repeating parts as building blocks.

Placeholders: replace the date, the family name and the message paragraph with [Date], [Family name] and [Write your message here.]. Leave the letterhead, the closing and the footer alone.
Quick Part: show ¶ marks, select the whole contact box table, and use Insert then Text then Quick Parts then Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery. Name it TC contact box, make a category called Tutoring Club, and choose Insert content in its own paragraph.
AutoText: select the three-line signature block and save it with Insert then Text then Quick Parts then AutoText then Save Selection to AutoText Gallery as tcsig.
Save as template: use File then Save As with Word Template (*.dotx), keep the Custom Office Templates folder, and name it Tutoring Club Letter. Close it.
Test it: go to File then New and open the template from the Personal tab (or double-click the file). Check that the title bar says Document, not .dotx. Fill in a short letter to the Park family.
Insert blocks: delete the signature, type tcsig and press F3. Delete the contact box and put it back from Insert then Text then Quick Parts.
AutoCorrect: add an entry that turns tcfl into Tutoring Club at the Fort Lee Community Center. Type it in a sentence of the new letter and watch it expand.
Organizer: open the Building Blocks Organizer, find your two blocks, and look at which file each one is saved in. When you close Word, click Save if it asks about building blocks.

Independent challenge: A template for the handbook

Make a second template for new handbook chapters: a Heading 1 placeholder, two Heading 2 placeholders, a footer with the page number, and a Title property in the header from Insert then Text then Quick Parts then Document Property. Open the template itself (right-click, Open) and save a photo permission notice into it as a Quick Part, choosing the template in Save in. Then create a new chapter from it and check that the notice is in the gallery.

Reflect: which pieces of text do you type or copy most often, and which tool (template, Quick Part, AutoText or AutoCorrect) fits each one best?

Check your understanding0 of 4 correct

Pick an answer to see whether it's right and why.

You double-click Tutoring Club Letter.dotx in File Explorer. What opens?
Opening a template the normal way creates a new document from it. To edit the template itself, right-click it and choose Open.
You want to type a short name and press F3 to insert the coordinator's three-line signature. Which feature is that?
AutoText entries are inserted by typing their name and pressing F3. AutoCorrect replaces text automatically as you type.
Other volunteers will use the club's template on their own computers. Where should you save the club's contact box building block?
Building blocks saved in a template travel with it. Normal.dotm and Building Blocks.dotx stay on your own computer.
Which AutoCorrect code is the best choice for Tutoring Club at the Fort Lee Community Center?
A code that is not a real word only expands when you mean it. A real word like club would be replaced every time you typed it.

You're ready to move on when

Tick each one off as you go. Your ticks are saved in this browser only.

You can explain how a .dotx template differs from a .docx document
Your letter is saved as a Word template with placeholders and appears on the Personal tab
You edit the template itself with right-click Open and check that the title bar ends in .dotx
Your signature and contact box are saved as AutoText or Quick Parts in the right file
You set up an AutoCorrect code that isn't a real word and inserted a document property

How to Use Templates, Quick Parts, and AutoText in Word

What you'll learn

Before you start

Example file