Reuse text and other document parts: Introducing building blocks

Get acquainted with building blocksWe’ve all been faced with the drama of a blank page and a deadline, knowing what needs to be in the document but not knowing how to get the parts there quickly and with polish.

Word 2007 extends some of the familiar document parts — such as headers and footers, cover pages, and tables of contents — with galleries of well-designed and formatted parts that you can insert in your document with just a click or two.

Reuse text and other document parts: Introducing building blocks

Get acquainted with building blocksBecause the document parts you’ve known have changed so much in Word 2007, let’s call these newly enhanced document parts building blocks.

You can think of a completed Word document as a file made up of regular content, such as plain text, pages, and photos or other document objects, and other optional building blocks that you can add to complete your document.

Reuse text and other document parts: Introducing building blocks

Finding building blocks in galleriesYou’ll find building blocks in galleries filled with headers and footers, watermarks, tables of contents, cover pages, and even boilerplate text.

And you’ll find these galleries, which contain many built-in designs, throughout the tabs on the Ribbon.

Built-in designs save time because you just choose a design and replace the placeholder text with your own.

Reuse text and other document parts: Introducing building blocks

Find all the building blocks in one placeYou can find the different kinds of building blocks in their individual galleries.

But the Building Blocks Organizer is the single place where you can view and manage all of the building blocks that are available in Word.

You can also use the organizer to find out more about a particular building block or to insert building blocks in your documents.

Reuse text and other document parts: Introducing building blocks

Save building blocksYou save a document that contains a building block, such as a header or footer, just as you would any other document.

Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Save or Save As.

When you exit a session of Word 2007 after making changes to a built-in building block, or after you create or delete a building block, you are asked whether you want to save the changes. Be sure to click Yes.