Boxer Dog Face Coloring Pages from dog face template , image source: www.sketchite.com
Each week brings job lists, emails, files, and new jobs. How much of that is completely different from the job you have done before? Odds are, maybe not much. Many of our daily tasks are variations on something.
Do not reinvent the wheel every time you start something new. Use templates–standardized files with formatting and text as starting point for new work. As soon as you save a separate version of the template, simply add, eliminate, or change any data for that record that is unique, and you are going to have the new work completed in a fraction of this time.
Programs work everywhere: in word processors, spreadsheets, project management apps, survey platforms, and email. Here’s how to use templates from your favorite apps–and to automatically generate documents from a template–so you can get your common tasks done faster.
Templates take the time to construct, and it’s easy to wonder if they are worth the investment. The answer: absolutely. Editing a template takes much less time than formatting something. It’s the difference between retyping it, or copying and pasting some text.
That is not the only advantage: Using a template means you’re not as inclined to leave out crucial information, too. For example, if you want to send freelance authors a contributor arrangement, changing a standard contract template (instead of writing a new contract every time) guarantees you won’t leave out that crucial clause regarding owning the content as soon as you’ve paid for it.
Templates additionally guarantee consistency. Maybe you send customers or investors regular job updates. With a template, you know the upgrade will have the formatting, layout, and general structure.
How to Produce Great Templates
Not all templates are created equal–and some things don’t require a template. Here are a couple of guidelines to follow.
First, templates must be comprehensive. It is simpler to delete information than add it , so err on the side of including instead of too small.
Imagine you are creating a template of your resume. You’d want to list in-depth details about your responsibilities and achievements, so you’ll have all the information you want to submit an application for any job.
You can delete notes later on, but you may forget it when it is not from the template.
Some tools will automatically fill in all these factors for you (more on this in a little ). But should you need to fill in the data on your own, include some text that is easy and obvious to search for so you can locate text that needs to be changed without a lot of work.