Reuse text and other document parts: Introducing building blocks

Swap, format, and remove building blocksYou’ve added a cover page to your document. What if you decide at the last minute that you want a different cover page design?

You can click a new building block design at any time to see how the building block looks in your document.

If you already replaced the placeholder text with your own text, you can still change the cover page design with a single click.

Reuse text and other document parts: Introducing building blocks

Each building block is made up of different fields called content controls.

For example, a content control in a cover page building block might include a title content control and perhaps a date content control.

The important point to remember is that a content control contains information that you can replace with your own text or content.

Swap, format, and remove building blocks

Reuse text and other document parts: Introducing building blocks

Create and save boilerplate textHow often do you find yourself re-creating text in the documents you build?

Like cover pages and page numbers, boilerplate text is a common document part that you might want to create in one document and reuse again in this and other documents.

Reuse text and other document parts: Introducing building blocks

Create and save boilerplate textHow often do you find yourself re-creating text in the documents you build?

In Word 2007, you can save a text selection to a building block gallery called the Quick Part Gallery, where you can easily locate the text to use again and again.

Reuse text and other document parts: Introducing building blocks

Format building block textSay you want to make some changes to boilerplate text you already created and saved to the Quick Part Gallery.

You can change the font, color, and alignment of the text. You can even redefine the entry for the building blocks gallery so that it’s easy to find later.

After you complete your changes, you can select the text and click Save selection to Quick Part Gallery.

Reuse text and other document parts: Introducing building blocks

Remove a building block from a documentIf you decide that you no longer want a building block in your document, you can remove it as quickly as you added it.

Most galleries have an option to remove the current building block from the document.

This picture shows the start of the process of removing a header. On the Insert tab, click Header, and then click the Remove Header command that appears at the bottom of the gallery.