In addition to templates, Word has a number of wizards that can walk you through each step of creating a particular type of document. Here’s a list of the wizards that are available and the category they fall into in the Templates dialog box:

-          Pleading (Legal)

-          Envelope (Letters and Faxes)

-          Letter (Letters and Faxes)

-          Fax (Letters and Faxes)

-          Mailing Label (Letters and Faxes)

-          Memo (Memos)

-          Calendar (Other Documents)

-          Agenda (Other Documents)

-          Resume (Other Documents)

To launch a wizard, first we need to open the select template dialog box. We can do this in one of two ways:

1. Click the Start menu, choose Programs (or All Programs), and then click New Office Document.

2. In Word, click the File menu and click New. In the New Document task pane, click the On My Computer link.

With either of those actions, this window will appear:

(If you have opened this window from the Start menu, you may see more items or tabs as it will show templates for all of the Office applications you have installed.)

Next, we need to pick the category we want by clicking on the appropriate tab. (Remember that at the beginning of this lesson, we listed each wizard and which category they were in.) Let’s say that we want to create a calendar. Our first step is to click the Other Documents tab, select Calendar Wizard, and click OK.

This will launch the Calendar wizard. For almost all wizards, the first step will show you a summary of the steps to be completed on the left hand side. (As you progress through the wizard, different steps will be highlighted.) In the main part of the screen, there will be an explanation of the document. Then at the bottom, you can get help, go back a step, go forward a step, or finish the document without adding any more information. (These buttons at the bottom will remain the same through the wizard.)

Let’s look at the calendar wizard screen.

To start the wizard, click Next. First, we have to pick what style we want. We’ll pick Jazzy and click Next.

Our next step will ask us to choose the direction of the calendar and ask us if we want to include a picture. We’re going to leave these settings as the default (Landscape Orientation and No Picture) and click Next.

Finally, we need to pick what date range you want the calendar to span. You can pick however many months or years you want. We’re going to choose one year.

When we click Next, we’ll have a screen confirming that our calendar is complete. If you want to change any settings, click Back to go back to that screen. We’re happy with our settings, so we’ll click Finish.

Once you click Finish, your document will be created. Depending on your preferences, the Office Assistant may appear to help you customize it further.

The document we have created using the wizard is now editable just like any other document. You can insert pictures, change the font, and perform all kinds of editing tasks.

That’s all there is to creating a document using a wizard! Just launch the wizard, follow the steps, and then edit the document to personalize it.