A style is a set of text formats such as fonts, sizes, text alignment, spacing, etc.. A style can then be used to create text or to format existing text.
Styles should form a hierarchy that makes the report look organised and consistent. MS Word is not a typewriter. For instance, the normal style is the paragraph style. It should be set-up to insert the space before and after the paragaraph. The typist does not insert carriage returns to start a new paragraph.
Every document is based upon a template. A template is a collection of document formatting options upon which a new document is based. A template should not have more than 20 styles.
Templates need to be properly managed throughout the company. The templates provide a consistent reporting format and the text that is frequently repeated in each report. To properly maintain the templates they should reside in only one directory on one server. If a change is made it is made by an authorised person and only one template needs to be altered.
In MS Word, a template ends with .dot as in normal.dot. It is not a document that is used over and over again, all the while collecting style after style, until it causes Word to crash because it is creating corrupted documents.
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