Applying template to Word 2013 document

Question

I know nothing about templates in Word, so please forgive me if this is a bad question.

I'm helping a friend who is submitting an article to a journal. He has the article formatted more or less how the journal would like it to be formatted, but he needs the specifics to be applied. The journal has this template (direct .dotx download) that it requires be used to verify the correct format. I applied it as the template for the document and checked the box to apply styles to the existing text, but that did absolutely nothing to the document.

The document is 17 pages long. Do I have any options to use this template other than highlighting each section and manually applying the correct Word style (provided with the template) to each?

Solution 1

Create a new, blank document using the template. Copy & paste from the existing document into the new one. I am sure that Word 2013 has something similar to Word 2007's setting that is reached with the start button, Word Options, Advanced (from the left in the tree), go to the "Cut, Copy and Paste" section, and make sure that "Pasting Between Documents" is set to "Match Destination Formating". You will still likely have to select any indexed items (i.e. for table-of-contents) and apply the appropriate style, to have the index work, and then select to update the TOC or any other indices.

Solution 2

A/ create your template

1. open new doc (on local, not a shared doc)
2. customize your styles
3. save it as template in C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates

B/ Apply your template to your styles

1. open the doc you want to apply your own template
2. option/add-ins
3. select template in manage + go
4. check "automatically update doc style" + ok

Optional: for shared template: location of share template: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates

If you have a template bug for shared files (share template not recognized). Close your doc in MS word. Open your doc from the web link, chose open in word. It will solve the bug.

Comments

[vaindil]

Here's the really dumb question: How do I create a blank document from a user template in Word 2013 (it's Office 365, technically)? It appears to have only the option to use online templates from the Office gallery when creating a new document, not a local file.

[vaindil]

Ah, okay. I Googled for a loooong time and could not find any information. Thank you! I'll let you know how it goes when I get to my computer this afternoon.

[Debra]

You're welcome; glad it worked out.