40 min read

Templates

Document systems — .dotx with styles, themes, Quick Parts, and content controls for next year.

Template vs document

| .docx | Working file — changes save into this year's handbook | | .dotx | Blueprint — File \to New creates fresh .docx from it | Include in template: styles, theme, page setup, section breaks structure, Quick Parts, content controls placeholders, building blocks, default document properties . Exclude: year-specific dates in body, pupil names, one-off tables — those belong in the generated .docx.

What Northgate bakes into the system

Layers: 1 Theme — colours/fonts (Design tab) 2 Styles — Heading 1-3, Normal, Caption 3 Page/section architecture — cover section break placeholder 4 Quick Parts — address block, principal signature 5 Content controls — Year picker, Issue date field 6 Properties — Title, Author, Keywords for SharePoint search Next admin: File \to New \to Personal \to NorthgateHandbook.dotx \to fill content controls \to half the formatting decisions already made.

Save NorthgateHandbook.dotx

Goal

$Create .dotx from structured handbook shell.$

$James Okonkwo adds this to NorthgateHandbook.docx as part of one polished student handbook, policy pack, and open-day collateral before families arrive.$

Strip year-specific body

Where

FileSave As Copy

Do this

Copy NorthgateHandbook.docx \to delete open-day dates and pupil-specific tables \to keep styles/sections.

You should see

$Generic shell.$

Verification

Check your work

You are correct if all of these are true:

$NorthgateHandbook.dotx opens new documents with styles and page setup intact.$
$Template file unchanged after creating new .docx from it.$
$You can explain template vs working document to a colleague.$

Practice

Why save NorthgateHandbook.dotx instead of copying last year's .docx each September?

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