I'm setting up a new company and am doing my templates in word with my
logo, contact details etc. However, I'm also going to have some headed
paper printed that will have the same logo etc but will be in colour and
on nicer quality paper.

What I need is to have the ability to quickly flip between the
templates - so I can write a letter once (on the headed template) and
then email it as an attachment, but then if I want to print out on the
nice headed paper I can change the template to a blank one (or in
effect print out the text of the letter with the right margins etc but
none of the header / footer text, graphics etc). I'm guessing that
this must be quite a common need, but can't find anything about how to
go about it, as I don't want to be cutting and pasting text for every
document I create. Any ideas?

Many thanks in advance,

John


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jpmoriarty

jpmoriarty wrote:
I'm setting up a new company and am doing my templates in word with my
logo, contact details etc. However, I'm also going to have some
headed paper printed that will have the same logo etc but will be in
colour and on nicer quality paper.

What I need is to have the ability to quickly flip between the
templates - so I can write a letter once (on the headed template) and
then email it as an attachment, but then if I want to print out on the
nice headed paper I can change the template to a blank one (or in
effect print out the text of the letter with the right margins etc but
none of the header / footer text, graphics etc). I'm guessing that
this must be quite a common need, but can't find anything about how to
go about it, as I don't want to be cutting and pasting text for every
document I create. Any ideas?

Many thanks in advance,

John

Word doesn't work that way -- changing which template is attached to an
existing document does nothing to change the contents of the document, only
the styles and a few other bits. But you can achieve what you want with a
single template containing the letterhead, a macro, and a toolbar button.

With the letterhead in place, you already have what you need to email the
document or to print it on plain paper with the ordinary Print button.

In the template, you'll need a macro that does something like this (the
details depend on what and where the graphics are):

- Change the font color of all header and footer text to white. That way the
text will continue to occupy the same space but not print, as opposed to
Hidden text which collapses when not displayed.

- For each graphic object, set the brightness to maximum and contrast to
minimum, which makes the object "white" and nonprinting.

- Print immediately or show the Print dialog, depending on which you prefer.

- Undo all changes in the first two steps.

Then you can create a toolbar button that runs the macro, and label the
button something like "Print on Letterhead". This button will be available
in every document that you base on the template.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org