Better yet, you could start from scratch and make your own templates. It's easy. Here's how to create customised templates in Word and WordPerfect. Afterwards, you'll be able to access your new templates by selecting FileûNew in your program.

Word 6.0 and later. If you have a formatted document you can use as a model for your template, open it, then delete all text that won't be common to all documents created with this template. Retain other parts of the document, including the graphical elements. Skip to step 6.

1. To create a template from scratch, select FileûNew and choose the Blank Document icon or the Normal style sheet (Version 6.0) in the New dialogue box, then click OK. Select FileûPage Setup to set margins and other basic page layout options.

2. Type and format any text that you want included in all documents created with this template.

3. Using normal Word tools, insert and format any graphical images needed in all documents, along with borders, lines, blank tables, and other graphical elements.

4. To add special text styles to the template, select FormatûStyle and modify existing styles or create new ones from the Modify Style or New Style dialogue box.

5. If you want to add automation features, such as automatic dates or prompts that ask the user for text, position your cursor where you want the prompt to go, and then select InsertûField. To insert the current date, for example, select Date and Time in the Categories list of the Field dialogue box and choose Date in the Field Names list. Click Options to pick a date format. If you want to prompt users for text, add a fill-in field ù select (All) in the Categories list, then click Fill-In in the Field Names list. See Word's built-in help for information on how to use fields to automate your documents.

6. Once you're satisfied with the template, select FileûSave As. In the Save As dialogue box, choose Document Template in the Save as type list. Type a file name in the File name field. Click Save. If you're working in Word 95 or 97, the new template will appear under the General tab in the New dialogue box. To save it under a different tab, double-click the appropriate folder icon before you click Save.

WordPerfect 6.0 and later. WordPerfect won't let you save an existing document as a template.

1. Select FileûNew, then choose OptionsûCreate WP Template (in WordPerfect 8) or OptionsûNew Template (in WordPerfect 6.x and 7) in the New dialogue box. Then select FileûPage Setup to set margins and other page layout features (in Version 8), or use commands in the Format menu (in earlier versions).

2. Type and format any text that you want included in all documents created with this template.

3. Using the customary WordPerfect tools, insert and format any graphical images needed in the document, along with borders, lines, blank tables, and other graphical elements.

4. If you have special text styles you want to use in the template, select FormatûStyles and modify existing styles or create new ones in the Style List dialogue box.

5. If you want to add automated prompts to help users create a document, place the cursor where you want the prompt, then click Build Prompts on the template bar. Follow the instructions in the Prompt Builder dialogue box to add prompts, then select a prompt and click Paste to insert it in the template.

6. Once you're satisfied with the way your new template looks, select FileûSave As. In the Save Template dialogue box, type a description of the template in the Description field and type a file name without a file extension in the Template name field. Then choose an appropriate document type in the Template group list, and click OK to save your template.