I am new to Word and have a few questions regarding "startup" of the program.

1) Is it possible to set Word to automatically load/use a template when
starting or when creating a new document? I have created a template, but the
only way I can use it is to go thru File/Open, then SaveAs my new document.

2) The background of my documents (on screen) are always gray. Is there a
way to change that background to white? I use gray backgrounds on text quite
a bit and it is difficult to follow if the entire document background is gray.

3) Is there a way to always display the header and footer of the page in
Normal view?

Thanks.