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Every week brings new jobs, emails, files, and task lists. How much of this is different from the work you’ve done? Odds are, maybe not much. Many of our tasks are variants on something.
Do not reinvent the wheel each time you start something new. Use templates–as starting point for work that is , standardized files with formatting and text. As soon as you save a separate variant of the template, just add, remove, or alter any data for that document, and you are going to have the job.
Programs work anywhere: in word processors, spreadsheets, project management apps, survey programs, and email. Here is how to use templates from your favorite programs –and to create documents from a template–so you can get your common tasks done quicker.
Programs take the time to build, and it’s easy to wonder whether they’re worth the investment. The brief answer: absolutely. Editing a template takes far less time than formatting something from scratch. It’s the difference between copying and pasting some text, or retyping it.
That is not the only advantage: Using a template means you’re less inclined to leave out crucial information, too. By way of example, if you need to send freelance writers a contributor agreement, modifying a standard contract template (rather than writing a new contract each time) guarantees you won’t leave out that crucial clause about owning the material once you’ve paid for this.
Templates additionally guarantee consistency. You send clients or investors regular job updates. With a template, you know the update will always have the same formatting, layout, and structure.
How to Create Fantastic Templates
Not all templates are created equal–and a few things do not need a template. Listed below are a few guidelines to follow.
First, templates must be comprehensive. So err on the side of adding too instead of too little, it is more easy to delete info than add it in.
Imagine you are creating a template of your resume. You would want to list facts and that means you’ll have.
You can always delete less-important notes later on, but you might forget it in the final version when it is not in the template.
Some tools will automatically fill in all these variables for you (more on that in a bit). But should you have to fill in the data on your own, add some text that is easy and obvious to look for so you can find.