Start with the documents you type most

If you work in document support, you will recognise the pattern: the same engagement letter, the same monthly client report, the same board pack, the same three paragraphs of terms that never change. Retyping that material from scratch is not really typing — it is rebuilding. A good template is not a straitjacket; it is a head start, and it means the first hour goes on substance rather than on guessing which font the last letter used.

Begin with a short audit. Over two weeks, note every document you produce and how long each takes. You will soon spot the handful of formats that account for most of your output. Build templates for those first, and leave the genuine one-offs alone.

Get the foundations right before you design anything

Most formatting trouble in routine documents comes from direct formatting — selecting a paragraph and nudging the font size, spacing or colour by hand. Templates only work when the underlying structure is clean.

• Set up paragraph and character styles for headings, body text, quotations, lists, table text and captions. Name them plainly — "Body — justified", "Heading 2 — client name" — so anyone can pick the right one.
• Define the page setup once: margins, paper size, header and footer distances, and the position of any letterhead or logo. Everything else inherits from that.
• Anchor the branding — logo, address block, registration details, approved colour values — in the header, footer or a fixed first-page layout, so nobody has to paste it in.
• Build a small library of tables with the shading, borders and column widths your clients expect.

Do this properly once and every later template becomes a variation on a theme rather than a fresh design project.

Correspondence: letters and standard paragraphs

Client correspondence is where templates earn their keep fastest. Create a letter template that already contains the date field, address block, reference line, salutation, sign-off and enclosures line. Then keep a separate boilerplate file holding the paragraphs you reuse: the opening acknowledgement, the data protection note, the fee explanation, the closing line about next steps.

Two habits make this work. Name each reusable paragraph with a short label so you can find it in seconds — "fee note — fixed", "GDPR — short form". And keep placeholders obvious: square brackets with a brief instruction, such as [insert client reference] or [confirm date], are much safer than coloured text someone forgets to change.

Reports, proposals and longer documents

Longer documents benefit most, because their structure repeats even when the content does not. A report template should include a title page, a contents field, a document control table for version, author and approval, numbered headings, and consistent styles for figures, tables and appendices.

• Use automatic numbering tied to heading styles, so inserting a new section does not mean renumbering everything by hand.
• Insert a contents field rather than a typed list; it rebuilds itself when the document changes.
• Set up caption styles for tables and figures, and cross-reference them instead of typing "see table 4" as plain text.
• Leave footer fields in place for page numbers and document references, and check they survive the first edit.

Where a client wants a recurring monthly report, consider two layers: a master template with the fixed front matter, and a working file carrying the previous period's figures and commentary for you to overwrite.

Meeting papers, agendas and minutes

Meeting documents are short but frequent, which makes them a prime candidate. An agenda template needs a date and time block, a venue line, an item numbering scheme, and columns for the presenter and paper reference. Minutes need a fixed attendance table, a standing apologies line, an actions table with owner and due date, and a clear marker for matters arising.

The actions table is the part most often rebuilt badly. Set it up once with the right column widths and heading row, and you will never again be adjusting a table ten minutes before a board meeting. Keeping numbering identical across agenda, papers and minutes also helps references line up when the pack is assembled.

Naming, storage and keeping templates current

A template nobody can find is not a template. Agree a naming convention — for example, ClientName_Letter_Standard_v2 — and store every template in one clearly labelled folder rather than scattered across personal drives. If your team shares files, mark templates read-only so they are copied rather than overwritten.

Review the set twice a year. Check that logos and addresses are current, that contact names have not changed, and that wording touched by regulation or professional standards still holds up. Ask the people who use the templates which parts frustrate them; small fixes to a placeholder or a style take minutes and remove daily irritation.

Done well, this preparation is quiet work. Nobody thanks you for the template that made the letter go out correctly and on time — which is rather the point.