Microsoft Publisher 2007

Using Publisher Templates

A template is a document with pre-defined formatting and settings. For example, if you were creating a newsletter, you could set the margins, columns, and guides where they need to be and save the file. You could then use that same file to create all your issues, building from the foundation you had saved; this way, every issue would be consistent.

If none of the existing Publisher templates fit your needs, you can create and modify your own template. The same template can be used over and over again without making changes to the original. This document covers the following topics:

Using a Publisher Template
Creating Your Own Template
Using Your Template
Modifying Your Template

Using a Publisher Template

Publisher comes with an assortment of templates from brochures to newsletter designs. You can work with these templates or modify them to meet your needs.

From the File menu, select New...
The Getting Started with Microsoft Publisher 2007 screen appears.
Under Popular Publication Types, select a category of templates
The gallery appears for the category you chose.
From the gallery, select a template
The Customize task pane appears at the right, along with a dynamic preview of your choice.
NOTE: Depending on the type of template you choose, an Options pane may appear with options specific to that category (e.g. time frames for calendars.)
Using the drop-down menus on the Customize pane, make the desired changes to your template
OPTIONAL: To make additional changes to the design, use the corresponding Options task pane
When you are done, click CREATE
Your new document opens in a project window.

Creating Your Own Template

If you create a publication design that you will be using repeatedly, you can save the design format as a template.

Create a new Publisher document
Establish the layout
EXAMPLE: Set ruler and column guides, place graphics, define styles
From the File menu, select Save As...
The Save As dialog box appears.
In the File name text box, type a name for the template
From the Save as type pull-down list, select Publisher Template (*.pub)
The Save in location is now changed to the Templates folder.
Click SAVE

Using Your Template

When you save a new template in Publisher 2007, the default save directory is a specific spot for templates. After you have saved a template, you can simply use the My Templates category on the New Publications task pane to access it. You can use a template again and again for different publications. Each time you open the template, Publisher will open a copy of the document and not the original. Any changes made to the copy of the template will need to be saved under a different name.

From the File menu, select New...
The Getting Started with Microsoft Publisher 2007 screen appears.
On the New Publications pane, under the Microsoft Publisher section, click MY TEMPLATES
The My Templates gallery appears.
NOTE: You must have created and saved a template in Publisher before you can access the My Templates gallery. If you have not done so, Publisher will alert you with a text box accordingly.
Select your template
Click CREATE
A copy of the template opens.
Develop your document
To save the changes to the document,
1. From the File menu, select Save As...
  The Save As dialog box appears.
2. From the Save in pull-down list, select a saving location
3. In the File name text box, type a name for the document
4. Click SAVE

Modifying Your Template

If you find that you need to make a few changes to your existing template, you can make changes to the original document without having to create a new one.

From the File menu, select Open...
The Open Publication dialog box appears.
NOTE: The location of the Templates folder may vary depending on your computer setup. On campus, the default save directory for templates in Publisher 2007 is
C:\Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates.
Make any desired changes to the template
On the Standard toolbar, click SAVE
Your original template is saved.