How to Create a New MS Word Document Automatically With a Specific Template?

© 2009 Ugur Akinci
MS word is a powerful word processor that you can use with a lot of different templates.
If you do nothing and create a new document, Word will use its default Normal.dot template to create a 8.5″ by 11″ page.
But let’s say you are generating a lot of 6″x9″ documents and you’d like to create your new documents automatically with those page dimensions.
Here is how you can do it by clicking a shortcut button on your desktop (this description is optimized for MS Word 2003 and Windows OS):
1. Create a regular Word document (by using the Normal.dot template by default).
2. Select File > Page Setup from your main menu to display the Page Setup dialog box. Change your page dimensions and page margins the way you want it.
3. Select File > Save As. From the “Save as type” drop-down list, select “Document Template (*.dot)” option. The browser window will automatically shift to Word’s Templates folder.
This folder is typically located at
C:[forward slash]Documents and Settings[forward slash]{YourUserName }[forward slash]Application Data[forward slash]Microsoft[forward slash]Templates
4. Give your new template a name (e.g., “NewTemplate”) and click Save.
5. Go to your desktop.
6. Right click and select New >Shortcut to display the “Create Shortcut” dialog box.
7. Click the Browse button and drill down to the Windows folder where you have saved your new template.
8. Select your new template. Click Next, follow the prompts and create your desktop shortcut.
When you click this shortcut, MS Word will create a new document according to the dimensions you’ve specified in the new template.
If you’d like to create a 8.5″ by 11″ document with the Normal.dot template, start your Word as you normally would, from its regular start-up link.