Microsoft Office provides several time-saving features to simplify work projects, including pre-made templates. Templates can save you hours of time with a ready to go document formatted to fit the needs of your project. To find a template, simply click ‘file’ in any Office program then ‘new from template.’  Microsoft provides a few pre-installed templates, but you can find thousands more options by using the search bar at the top of the screen.

Once a template is selected, you can start editing the file to meet your needs. The template can then be renamed and saved for easy access in the future.

PowerPoint offers several useful templates with various slide designs to best suit your presentation.

The photo below shows how entering “business” in the search box retrieves business-themed layout designs to use as a starting point for new presentations.

Once you’ve found a template you like, you are free to customize however you wish. The only limits are your own creativity.

Beyond templates, using styles is another way to save time and effort when working in Word. Styles are reusable sets of formatting options that you can apply to text. You can apply styles by clicking the Home tab in Word, and choosing a style in the Style Gallery or Styles Pane. Microsoft provides several pre-set options, but you can make your own styles if you don’t see something that matches what you are wanting.

You can edit the pre-set style options using the italics, bold, size tool, etc. found under the Home tab in Word, and under the Font Pane. In order to create a new style, you will need to change your font using the Font Pane and then select the Create a Style option at the bottom of the Styles Pane.  Once you name and save your style, it will appear as one of the options at the top of the Styles Pane for future use.

For more information on how to get the most from Microsoft Office, go to the MFA Oil University website and click on ‘Computer Skills’ in the course catalog. There you will find descriptive videos on various computer skills, including: how to add charts and graphs to Excel spreadsheets, how to format PowerPoint presentations and how to track changes in Word.

Author: Greg Sellers

Greg is the Sr. Manager of Network Operations within the Information Technology Services division, and has been with MFA Oil since 2013.