templates

OrgPlus Professional is an attractive and intuitive solution to managing organization charts. The program strikes the perfect balance between providing a basic structure for the charts and allowing users to customize charts to suit their needs.

The interface is well-organized and features functions and icons that will be familiar to users of such programs as Word and Excel. Mouse-over descriptions provide hints for functions that aren't so obvious. The charts can be created freehand or, more efficiently, using data imported from flat files, Excel, ODBC, SQL Server, LDAP, or Active Directory. Charts can be set to automatically update from … Read more

Diagram Designer provides users with an opportunity to quickly design simple flow charts, which should appeal to business people. Though it has a snag with its text feature, the program's simplicity makes it a more attractive choice than other similar programs.

This download has an incredibly simple interface that should not take much getting used to, no matter what level of user you are. Happily, there are Help files on the Internet and within the program. One interface complaint comes from its ability to fill charts with color, since the palette is slightly hidden along the top. However, users … Read more

There are so many complex digital calendar systems that help you track everything from business contacts to dog-grooming appointments, it is actually difficult to find a simple, printable, old-fashioned calendar. This simple Excel Calendar Template offers one solution, although.

This free template was designed using Microsoft Excel. However, its interface is nothing like a spreadsheet. After choosing the year you would like to view, a large, easy-to-read calendar is displayed. Each month is available for viewing by clicking on the tabs at the bottom, as well as an overview of the year. Each day has ample space to write a … Read more

RapidWeaver occupies a middle ground between entry-level Web design applications like iWeb and the big-gun programs intended for Web design professionals. You still get access to higher-powered features (especially with the use of plug-ins and code snippets), but RapidWeaver is never daunting, focusing on simplicity over flexibility. You get all the tools you need to quickly create attractive, relatively complex Web sites--including easy integration of blogs, images, and video--without any coding and using a visually appealing interface that's so intuitive you'll barely have to crack a manual.

RapidWeaver offers a fast, sensible workflow, giving you many possibilities for … Read more

The other day, a friend asked if I how he could spiff up the weekly e-mail he sends to the members of his bowling team. I told him the simplest way was to download an HTML newsletter template he could customize and then send from Outlook or any other e-mail program.

Start by locating and downloading a newsletter template. You'll find a bunch of free ones at Templates Box. After you download the template you like, open it in an HTML editor. My favorite is the Composer component of the Mozilla Foundation's free SeaMonkey Web suite.

You could … Read more

I recently finished working on a project that generated a dozen separate reports published together in a single booklet. Each report was from three to eight pages long, and most of them included at least one table or chart.

When we were done, several of my co-workers commented on how nicely the reports were laid out. All I had done was create a Word template with a simple two-column layout for long text sections.

To create this template, open a new document, type a dummy document title on the first line, choose a font type and size (I used 12-point … Read more

Users of Google Docs, the online applications for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, now have a wide range of templates from which to choose.

Google on Thursday announced the templates, which were created by Google and a number of companies with experience in the business. They can be browsed and opened through a template gallery that currently has 294 to choose from.

Among the options: wedding planners, business cards, cover letters, screenplays with proper formatting, invoices, loan amortization schedulers, fantasy basketball standings predictor, wedding photo albums, and party invitations.

I personally was excited to see the Sudoku template, was initially … Read more

You could create every document, spreadsheet, and presentation you work on from scratch, but if you're like me, you'll likely spend more time futzing with the file's layout and design than entering the data that comprises it.

That's why I rely on the many free templates and extensions for my favorite productivity apps. I've written in the past about places to find add-ons for Microsoft Office, but there's also a wealth of free extensions and templates for OpenOffice.org's Writer word processor, Calc spreadsheet, and Impress presentation program.

Start at OpenOffice.org's … Read more

At a report-planning meeting last week I volunteered to add a timeline to a Word document that would ultimately become a PDF file. I could've used Word or Excel to create a horizontal timeline with about a dozen events, each denoted by a text box big enough to accommodate five or six words.

Instead, I went to Microsoft's Office templates site and downloaded one of the free service's many timelines for Word. Enter "timeline" (or the term of your choice) in the site's search box to retrieve links to a couple dozen time-related diagrams … Read more