We don’t need to get into how good Microsoft Office is. It is by far the most popular productivity suite for Windows and Mac and has been for quite some time. Did you know though, that Office can be even better than it is when you first install it? Well, Office templates are pre-formatted documents that allow you to quickly add your particulars and create all manner of impressive documents from flyers, to posters, to resumes in a matter of mere minutes.
Now sure, Microsoft Office does come with some pre-installed templates but there are a lot more out there, you just have to find them. No matter what type of project you’re working on, we’ll walk you through some of the best sources of Office templates on the internet. When you’re done reading this guide, you’ll be able to do so much more with your Office 365 subscription.
Microsoft Office templates
Microsoft Office Online templates
The first source of Office templates you should know about can be found right there within the Office apps themselves. You simply open up the particular Office app, if you’re looking for a Microsoft Office Template for Word then open Word or if you’re looking for Excel templates open Excel. Then you simply click New and you’ll see a search bar at the top, which says “Search for online templates”. From there you’ll be able to search for official Microsoft Office templates for resumes, cover letters, business cards, etc. simply by typing what you’re looking for.
Microsoft Office templates for Word
Without a doubt, Microsoft Word is the Microsoft Office program that people use templates with the most. On Word, you can get new templates for resumes, cover letters, calendars, invoices, newsletters, brochures, business cards, flyers, certificates, and more.
Unsurprisingly, with there being so many different types of Office templates available, there are lots of different places you can find them. Below you’ll find links to some excellent sources of Microsoft Word templates we’ve found online:
Template.Net has a wide variety of different types of Word templates including templates for newsletters, templates for cover letters and letterheads, templates for budgets, and even less common Word templates like for tracking baby growth or speciality brochures.
Layout Ready is another excellent source of Microsoft Word templates covering everything from Postcard templates to Business Card templates.
Microsoft Office Templates for PowerPoint
As if giving presentations weren’t hard enough already, creating edgy and eye-catching presentations on Microsoft PowerPoint comes with its own set of technical difficulties. PowerPoint templates, however, can take the sting out of building your presentations so that you can concentrate on your public speaking.
Smart Sheet is a great place to download free Microsoft Office templates for PowerPoint. You’ll find Office temples for marketing plans, SWOT analysis templates, finance templates, marketing plan templates, and more. Downloads are free and couldn’t be simpler. You just find the PowerPoint template you want and hit download.
Microsoft Office templates for Excel
Although you’ll find a lot of the official Microsoft Office templates using the in-app method we laid out earlier, you’ll also be able to find more Office templates over at office.com. If you go to the Excel page at templates.office.com, you’ll find some excellent options that might not show up using the in-app method. No doubt you’ll have already seen a lot of the search results that come up, but you’ll find the odd hidden gem too.
Microsoft Office resume templates 2019
Now that we’ve gone through the main app-specific sources of Microsoft Office templates, let’s look at some of the particular types of template that you might need, and start with resumes.
Resume templates are among the most useful. A good resume will help you stand out from the crowd whenever you’re applying for jobs. This is more important than ever these days as HR managers and recruiters often have to go through hundreds of applications for every position. This means they may only get to look at your resume for a few seconds at most.
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Read Now ►The best resume templates are for Microsoft Word and you’ll find some excellent examples at Template Monster.
Microsoft Office templates for invoices
Invoices are another type of tricky document that you could save a lot of time on if you simply download free templates first and then fill in all the appropriate information correctly. You can create invoices easily enough using Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel.
For a good source of Microsoft Word templates for invoices check out Hloom, where you’ll find many different types of invoice templates. If you’d prefer to create your invoices in Excel, taking advantage of the more dynamic data capabilities offered by a spreadsheet, you ‘ll find some great options at Spreadsheet 123.
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Read Now ►How to make your own Microsoft Office templates
You might not know this, but it isn’t that difficult to make your own Microsoft Office templates if you’re comfortable enough with design to think you can give it a go yourself. The process is a little different between each program but mostly the same.
To create templates in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft PowerPoint all you need to do is layout the template in each program as you’d like it to be saved. It is important to remember here that you don’t want to save any text in your templates that you may forget to change later on. It is a good idea to use text like “Insert… here” for example.
When you’ve finished designing your template, instead of saving your work as a Word document, Excel document, or PowerPoint document you save it as a Word template that has a file type of .dotx instead of .docx, Excel template, or PowerPoint template. These will then be available to use next time you launch Microsoft Office.
Wrapping up
We’ve walked you through where to find the best Microsoft Office templates for the main apps and we’ve also looked at the places to find particular types of templates like invoice templates and resume templates. If you made it all the way through this guide, you’ll also know how to save your own templates for future use too. If you do end up making your own templates, we’d love to see the results. Share them with us in the comments below.
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