[CyberTaz]

Discounting the Word feature by the name of Master Documents, that is
exactly what a template is - a special file (master document) which is used
to generate new docs. The new docs based on the template inherit everything
the template is defined to contain. Also, it isn't affected by content
changes made to the new docs.

The characters you refer to are also not "codes" that you specifically
create yourself. They are automatically generated when you commit actions
such as pressing Enter, Spacebar, Tab, etc. For more have a look at:

http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/NonPrintChars.htm

HTH |:)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 9/10/06 5:56 PM, in article
, "K"
wrote:

Thanks Cybertaz for considering and answering my post. During our latest
customization - turning an MS Purchase Order into an Order Acknowledgement,
when we clicked the backwards "P" on the standard toolbar all these little
marks, anchors, padlocks, box and circles, etc showed up. Obviously these
marks are what anchor the background in place while the desired text is
added. We tried building the desired template with the forms building
toolbar. That has been successful in special cases, but what we are really
looking for is how we can create our own "MS Purchase Order" from scratch,
using all those special characters MS used. Of course the first question is
where did all those template characters come from and are they available to
me in Word 97? When we looked up the articles you referenced, part 1 seemed
to address exactly what we are wishing to do. But we got lost, overwhelmed,
or something on part 2, because it appeared to us as if it was simply
building a master document instead of a template. Thanks, K.

"CyberTaz" wrote:

I'm not sure what you mean by "special characters", but these two links
should get you started;

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customizat...platePart1.htm

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customizat...platePart2.htm

Someone will be glad to help if you have any specific queations.
--
HTH |:)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

"K" wrote in message
...
Over the years we have altered many of the available templates to do what
we
have needed, but now we have need of a template that is unlike any we have
been able to find. Would anyone know where we might look to find a
description of the many special characters used in template building and
how
they work? Oh, we are in Word 97. All ideas, comments, and suggestions
about
this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, K.