How to create smart Microsoft Word templates

With interactive documents, you can choose from a range of predefined options for data, instead of typing the data from scratch each time. If you write lots of letters to the same few correspondents, generate electronic data-entry forms, produce documents with boilerplate language, or find yourself typing the same phrases over and over, wouldn’t it be convenient if your documents were already partially formatted and allowed you to make selections from drop-down menus instead of copying and pasting from documents you created earlier? I’ll show you how to use the Content Control tools within Microsoft Word to create templates that you can use every day.

How to Find Word’s Content Controls

Content Controls let you add interactive elements to your Word documents, but you might not even know they exist because they're accessible only from the Developer tab in Word’s Ribbon, and that tab is disabled by default. To enable it in Word 2010, choose File > Options > Customize Ribbon. In the right-hand panel, locate and click the Developer checkbox and click OK. In Word 2007, choose File > Word Options and then click the Show Developer Tab in the Ribbon checkbox (from the Popular set of options) and click OK. Now select the Developer tab, locate the Controls group, and click Design Mode. You’re ready to set up your controls.

Select a Date Using the Date Picker Control

Hover your mouse over the icons in the Controls group, and a label will pop up identifying each control. The Date Picker Content Control creates a placeholder that you can use to choose a date from a calendar.

The Date Picker Content Control will display a small calendar that allows the user to choose a date.

Click the icon to add this element to your document. Turn off Design Mode, and you’ll see a box labeled 'Click here to enter a date.' The calendar will appear when you click the down arrow on the control. Pick a date, and that date will appear automatically in the document. The Date Picker has some handy settings you can configure. To see these, click Design Mode once again. Click the Date Picker control and then click the Properties button (it’s in the Controls segment of the Ribbon). Use the Properties dialog box to format the control (for instance, to have the month spelled out instead of being represented numerically). You can also use Properties to lock the content control so that it can’t be deleted, or you can add a title to the control telling the user about its purpose (“Select a date for a meeting,” for example).
Finally, you can format the control with a Word style so that the date looks the way you want it to. If you use styles, and the style set changes, the date’s text formatting will automatically change to match the new style set.

Add a Content Control to Manage Text Entry

Use the Plain Text Content Control as a placeholder for a user to enter text into the document.

The Plain Text Content Control creates a designated place for someone to enter text into a document. You can preformat the text in this control using a defined style, so that any text the user enters there will appear a certain way. You can also elect to permit or disallow carriage returns. On top of that, you can leave this control as is, lock it so that it cannot be deleted, or set it so that it automatically disappears once its contents have been edited. In the last mode, the content control will appear in the document until someone has typed text in it; as soon as they do, the content control will vanish, but the text typed into it will remain.

Select an Item From a List of Options

Populate the Drop-Down List Content Control with items for the user to choose from.

With some documents, you’ll want to pick from a limited number of options presented in a list. In these cases, creating a template with the Drop-Down List Content Control or the Combo Box Content Control is the way to go. Click the Drop-Down List Content Control to add it to the document. For this control, you can not only type a title and use a style to format its contents, but also format it so that it cannot be deleted. To prepopulate the control with a set of choices, select the control and then click Properties. Now click Add in the Properties dialog box, and type an entry for the list (for this example, leave the display name and the value the same). Repeat this step with each entry for the list, and click OK when you’re finished.
When you click Design Mode and return to the document, you’ll see the words 'Choose an item' in gray. Click that text, and a drop-down box will appear with the words in your list. Click one of these items, and the word will appear in the document.

Use the Check Box Control to Create Checklists

You can change the symbols used in the Check Box Content Control.

The Check Box Content Control allows a user to place a checkmark to indicate their selection of an item. To add one to your document, click the Check Box Content Control and then click Properties. A Check Box can toggle between two states when clicked on: selected, represented by an X inside a box, and not selected, which shows a blank space inside the box.

The first caller identification receiver

Devices that combined telephony and computing were first conceptualized by Theodore G. Paraskevakos in 1971 and patented in 1973, and were offered for sale beginning in 1993. He was the first to introduce the concepts of intelligence, data processing and visual display screens into telephones which gave rise to the "Smartphone." In 1971, Paraskevakos, working with Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama, demonstrated a transmitter and receiver that provided additional ways to communicate with remote equipment, however it did not yet have general purpose PDA applications in a wireless device typical of smartphones. They were installed at Peoples' Telephone Company in Leesburg, Alabama and were demonstrated to several telephone companies. The original and historic working models are still in the possession of Paraskevakos.^[4]

Forerunners

IBM Simon and charging base (1993^[5])

The first mobile phone to incorporate PDA features was an IBM prototype developed in 1992 and demonstrated that year at the COMDEX computer industry trade show. A refined version of the product was marketed to consumers in 1994 by BellSouth under the name Simon Personal Communicator. The Simon was the first cellular device that can be properly referred to as a "smartphone", although it wasn't called a smartphone in 1994.^[6][7][8] In addition to its ability to make and receive cellular phone calls, Simon was also able to send and receive faxes and e-mails and included several other apps like address book, calendar, appointment scheduler, calculator, world time clock, and note pad through its touch screen display. Simon is the first smartphone to be incorporated with the features of a PDA^[9]
The term "smart phone" appeared in print in 1995, for describing AT&T's "PhoneWriter(TM) Communicator" as a "smart phone".^[10]

PDAs

In the late 1990s, many mobile phone users carried a separate dedicated PDA device, running early versions of operating systems such as Palm OS, BlackBerry OS or Windows CE/Pocket PC.^[1] These operating systems would later evolve into mobile operating systems.
In 1996, Nokia released the Nokia 9000 which combined a PDA based on the GEOS V3.0 operating system from Geoworks with a digital cellular phone based on the Nokia 2110. The two devices were fixed together via a hinge in what became known as a clamshell design. When opened, the display was on the inside top surface and with a physical QWERTY keyboard on the bottom. The personal organizer provided e-mail, calendar, address book, calculator and notebook with text-based web browsing, and the ability to send and receive faxes. When the personal organizer was closed, it could be used as a digital cellular phone.
In June 1999, Qualcomm released a "CDMA Digital PCS Smartphone" with integrated Palm PDA and Internet connectivity, known as the "pdQ Smartphone".^[11]
In early 2000, the Ericsson R380 was released by Ericsson Mobile Communications,^[12] and was the first device marketed as a "smartphone".^[13] It combined the functions of a mobile phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA), supported limited web browsing with a resistive touchscreen utilizing a stylus.^[14]
In early 2001, Palm, Inc. introduced the Kyocera 6035, which combined a PDA with a mobile phone and operated on Verizon. It also supported limited web browsing.^[15][16]
Smartphones before Android, iOS, and Blackberry, typically ran on Symbian, which was originally developed by Psion. It was the world's most widely used smartphone operating system until Q4 2010.

Mass adoption

In 1999, the Japanese firm NTT Docomo released the first smartphones to achieve mass adoption within a country. These phones ran on i-mode, which provided data transmission speeds up to 9.6 kbit/s.^[17] Unlike future generations of wireless services, NTT Docomo's i-mode used cHTML, a language which restricted some aspects of traditional HTML in favor of increasing data speed for the devices. Limited functionality, small screens and limited bandwidth allowed for phones to use the slower data speeds available.^[18]
The rise of i-mode helped NTT Docomo accumulate an estimated 40 million subscribers by the end of 2001. It was also ranked first in market capitalization in Japan and second globally. This power would wane in the face of the rise of 3G and new phones with advanced wireless network capabilities.^[19]
Outside of Japan smartphones were still rare, although throughout the mid-2000s, devices based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile started to gain popularity among business users in the U.S. The BlackBerry later gained mass adoption in the U.S., and American users popularized the term "CrackBerry" in 2006 due to its addictive nature.^[20] The company first released its GSM BlackBerry 6210, BlackBerry 6220, and BlackBerry 6230 devices in 2003.^[21]
Symbian was the most popular smartphone OS in Europe during the mid- and late 2000s. Initially, Nokia's Symbian devices were focused on business, similar to Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices at the time. From 2006 onwards, Nokia started producing entertainment-focused smartphones, popularized by the Nseries. In Asia, with the exception of Japan, the trend was similar to that of Europe.^{[citation needed]}

iPhone & Android

In 2007, Apple Inc. introduced the iPhone, one of the first mobile phones to use a multi-touch interface. The iPhone was notable for its use of a large touchscreen for direct finger input as its main means of interaction, instead of a stylus, keyboard, or keypad typical for smartphones at the time.^[22] 2008 saw the release of the first phone to use Android called the HTC Dream (also known as the T-Mobile G1).^[23][24] Android is an open-source platform founded by Andy Rubin and backed by Google.^[25][26] Although Android's adoption was relatively slow at first, it started to gain widespread popularity in 2010, and now dominates the market.
These new platforms led to the decline of earlier ones. When Microsoft, for instance, started a new OS from scratch, in the form of Windows Phone, Nokia abandoned Symbian and partnered with MS to use it on its smartphones. Windows Phone became the third largest OS. Palm was bought by Hewlett-Packard, turned into webOS which became Open webOS and later sold to LG Electronics. BlackBerry also made a new system from scratch, BlackBerry 10.
The capacitive touchscreen also had a knock-on effect on smartphone form factors. Before 2007 it was common for devices to have a numeric keypad or QWERTY keyboard in either a candybar or sliding form factor. However, by 2010, there were no top-tier smartphones with numeric keypads. As of 2014, BlackBerry Limited – with a 0.6% share of the market in Q4 2013^[27] – is the sole remaining brand of high-end smartphones with physical keyboards.

The future

• In 2013, the Fairphone company launched its first "socially ethical" smartphone at the London Design Festival to address concerns regarding the sourcing of materials in the manufacturing.^[28]
• In late 2013, QSAlpha commenced production of a smartphone designed entirely around security, encryption and identity protection.^[29]
• In December 2013, the world's first curved-OLED technology smartphones were introduced to the retail market with the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Round and LG G Flex models.^[30] Samsung phones with more bends and folds in the screens are expected this year.^[31]
• Foldable OLED smartphones could be as much as a decade away because of the cost of producing them. There is a relatively high failure rate when producing these screens. As little as a speck of dust can ruin a screen during production. Creating a battery that can be folded is another hurdle.^[32]
• A clear thin layer of crystal glass can be added to small screens like watches and smartphones that make them solar powered. Smartphones could gain 15% more battery life during a typical day. The first smartphones using this technology should arrive in 2015. This screen can also work to receive Li-Fi signals and so can the smartphone camera.^[33] The cost of these screens per smartphone is between $2 and $3, much cheaper than most new technology.^[34]
• Near future smartphones might not have a traditional battery as their sole source of power. Instead, they may pull energy from radio, television, cellular or Wi-Fi signals.^[35]
• In early 2014, smartphones are beginning to use Quad HD (2K) 2560x1440 on 5.5" screens with up to 534 ppi on devices such as the LG G3 which is a significant improvement over Apple's retina display. Quad HD is used in advanced televisions and computer monitors, but with 110 ppi or less on such larger displays.^[36]
• As of 2014, Wi-Fi networks are much used for smartphones. As Wi-Fi becomes more prevalent and easier to connect to, Wi-Fi phones service will start to take off.^[37][38][39]
• Since 2013, water and dustproofing have made their way into mainstream high end smartphones instead of specialist models with the Sony Xperia Z continuing through the Sony Xperia Z3 and also from other manufacturers with the Samsung Galaxy S5.^[40]
• One problem with smartphone cameras is still the focus, but LG G3 Beat with Laser Focus has 8 points of focus. To focus what appears in the LCD, touch the object on screen to focus on it and the other positions will be 'bokeh'.^[41]
• Some smartphones can be categorized as high-end point-and-shoot cameras with large sensor up to 1" with 20 Megapixels and 4K video. Some can store their pictures in proprietary raw image format, but the Android (operating system) 5.0 lollipop serves open source RAW images.^[42][43]
• Modular smartphones are projected, in which users can remove and replace parts.

Mobile operating systems

Main article: Mobile operating system

Android

Main article: Android (operating system)

Android 4.4.2 home screen

Android is an open-source platform founded in October 2003 by Andy Rubin and backed by Google, along with major hardware and software developers (such as Intel, HTC, ARM, Motorola and Samsung) that form the Open Handset Alliance.^[25][26] In October 2008, HTC released the HTC Dream, the first phone to use Android.^[23][24] The software suite included on the phone consists of integration with Google's proprietary applications, such as Maps, Calendar, and Gmail, and a full HTML web browser. Android supports the execution of native applications and third-party apps which are available via Google Play, which launched in October 2008 as Android Market. By Q4 2010, Android became the best-selling smartphone platform.^[44]

iOS

Main article: iOS

The original iPhone (2007)

In 2007, Apple Inc. introduced the iPhone, one of the first mobile phones to use a multi-touch interface. The iPhone was notable for its use of a large touchscreen for direct finger input as its main means of interaction, instead of a stylus, keyboard, or keypad as typical for smartphones at the time.^[22] In July 2008, Apple introduced its second generation iPhone with a much lower list price and 3G support. Simultaneously, they introduced the App Store, which allowed any iPhone to install third-party native applications. Featuring over 500 applications at launch,^[45] the App Store eventually achieved 1 billion downloads in the first year, and 15 billion by 2011.^[46][47]

Windows Phone

Main article: Windows Phone

In February 2010, Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone 7 with a User Interface inspired by Microsoft's "Metro Design Language", to replace Windows Mobile. Windows Phone 7 integrates with Microsoft services such as Microsoft SkyDrive, Office, Xbox and Bing, as well as non-Microsoft services such as Facebook, Twitter and Google accounts. This software platform runs the Microsoft Mobile smartphones, and has received some positive reception from the technology press and been praised for its uniqueness and differentiation.^[48][49][50]

Firefox OS

Main article: Firefox OS

Firefox OS (originally called the boot to gecko project) was demonstrated by Mozilla in February 2012. It was designed to have a complete community based alternative system for mobile devices, using open standards and HTML5 applications. The first commercially available Firefox OS phones were ZTE Open and Alcatel One Touch Fire. As of 2014 more companies have partnered with Mozilla including Panasonic (which is making a smart TV with Firefox OS) and Sony.^[51]

Sailfish OS

Main article: Sailfish OS

The Sailfish OS is based on the Linux kernel and Mer.^[52] Additionally Sailfish OS includes a partially or completely proprietary multi-tasking user interface programmed by Jolla. This user interface differentiate Jolla smartphones from others.^[53] Sailfish OS is intended to be a system made by many of the MeeGo team, which left Nokia to form Jolla, utilizing funding from Nokia's "Bridge" program which helps establish and support start-up companies formed by ex-Nokia employees.^[54][55][56]

Tizen

Main article: Tizen

Tizen is a Linux-based operating system for devices, including smartphones, tablets, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) devices, smart TVs, laptops and smart cameras. Tizen is a project within the Linux Foundation and is governed by a Technical Steering Group (TSG) composed of Samsung and Intel among others. In April 2014, Samsung released the Samsung Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo, running Tizen.^[57]

Ubuntu Touch

Main article: Ubuntu Touch

Ubuntu Touch (also known as Ubuntu Phone) is a mobile version of the Ubuntu operating system developed by Canonical UK Ltd and Ubuntu Community.^[58] It is designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.

BlackBerry

Main article: BlackBerry

BlackBerry Z10 from 2013

In 1999, RIM released its first BlackBerry devices, providing secure real-time push-email communications on wireless devices. Services such as BlackBerry Messenger provide the integration of all communications into a single inbox. There are 80 million active BlackBerry service subscribers and the 200 millionth BlackBerry smartphone was shipped in September 2012.^[59] Most recently, RIM has undergone a platform transition, changing its name to BlackBerry and making new devices on a new platform named "BlackBerry 10."^[60]

Symbian

Main article: Symbian

Symbian was originally developed by Psion as EPOC32. It was the world's most widely used smartphone operating system until Q4 2010, though the platform never gained popularity or widespread awareness in the U.S., as it did in Europe and Asia. The first Symbian phone, the touchscreen Ericsson R380 Smartphone, was released in 2000,^[61][62] and was the first device marketed as a "smartphone".^[63] It combined a PDA with a mobile phone.^[64] In February 2011, Nokia announced that it would replace Symbian with Windows Phone as the operating system on all of its future smartphones, with the platform getting abandoned throughout the following few years.^[65]

Windows Mobile

Main article: Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile was based on the Windows CE kernel and first appeared as the Pocket PC 2000 operating system. Throughout its lifespan, the operating system was available in both touchscreen and non-touchscreen formats. It was supplied with a suite of applications developed with the Microsoft Windows API and was designed to have features and appearance somewhat similar to desktop versions of Windows. Third parties could develop software for Windows Mobile with no restrictions imposed by Microsoft. Software applications were eventually purchasable from Windows Marketplace for Mobile during the service's brief lifespan. Windows mobile was phased out in favor of Windows Phone.

Palm OS

Main article: Palm OS

In late 2001, Handspring launched the Springboard GSM phone module with limIn. In May 2002, Handspring released the Palm OS Treo 270 smartphone, that did not support Springboard, with both a touchscreen and a full keyboard. The Treo had wireless web browsing, email, calendar, a contact organizer and mobile third-party applications that could be downloaded or synced with a computer.^[66] Handspring was purchased by Palm, Inc which released the Treo 600 and continued releasing Treo devices with a few Treo devices using Windows Mobile. After buying Palm in 2011, Hewlett-Packard (HP) discontinued its webOS smartphone and tablet production.^[67]

Bada

Main article: Bada

The Bada operating system for smartphones was announced by Samsung in November 2009.^[68][69] The first Bada-based phone was the Samsung Wave S8500, released in June 2010.^[70][71][72] Samsung shipped 4.5 million phones running Bada in Q2 of 2011.^[73] In 2013, Bada merged with a similar platform called Tizen.

Application stores

Main article: List of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices

The introduction of Apple's App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch in July 2008 popularized manufacturer-hosted online distribution for third-party applications (software, computer programs) focused on a single platform. Up until that point, smartphone application distribution depended on third-party sources providing applications for multiple platforms, such as GetJar, Handango, Handmark, and PocketGear.
Following the success of the App Store, other smartphone manufacturers launched application stores, such as Google's Android Market in October 2008 and RIM's BlackBerry App World in April 2009.

Screen

One of the main characteristics of smartphones is their screen. It usually fills virtually the entire phone surface; screen size usually defines the size of a smartphone. They are measured in diagonal inches, starting from 2.45 inches.^[74] Phones with screens larger than 5.2 inches are called "phablets". Smartphones with screens over 4.5 inches commonly are moved around in the hand or used with both hands, since the average thumb cannot reach the entire screen surface. Types of screen include LCD, LED, OLED, AMOLED, IPS and others.

Market share

Smartphone usage

In the third quarter of 2012, one billion smartphones were in use worldwide.^[75] Global smartphone sales surpassed the sales figures for features phones in early 2013.^[76] As of 2013, 65 percent U.S. mobile consumers own smartphones.^[77] The European mobile device market as of 2013 is 860 million.^[78] In China, smartphones represented more than half of all handset shipments in the second quarter of 2012^[79] and in 2014 there were 519.7 million smartphone users, with the number estimated to grow to 700 million by 2018.^[80]
As of November 2011, 27% of all photographs were taken with camera-equipped smartphones.^[81] A study conducted in September 2012 concluded that 4 out of 5 smartphone owners use the device to shop.^[82] Another study conducted in June 2013 concluded that 56% of American adults now owned a smartphone of some kind. Android and iPhone owners account for half of the cell phone user population. Higher income adults and those under age 35 lead the way when it comes to smartphone ownership.^[83]
Worldwide shipments of smartphones topped 1 billion units in 2013 (up 38% from 2012's 725 million) while comprising a 55% share of the mobile phone market in 2013 (up from 42% in 2012).^[84]

By manufacturer

Samsung smartphones with Android OS

Worldwide Smartphones Vendor Market Share

Source	Date	Samsung	Apple Inc.	Huawei	Xiaomi	Lenovo	LG	Others	References
Gartner	Q3, 2014	24.4%	12.7%	5.3%	5.2%	5.0		47.5%	[85]
IDC	Q3, 2014	23.7%	11.7%		5.2%	5.1%	5.0%	49.3%	[86]
IDC	Q2, 2014	24.9%	11.7%	6.7%		5.2%	4.8%	46.7%	[86]
Gartner	Q4, 2013	29.5%	17.8%	5.7%	1.5%	4.6%	4.5%	37.9%	[87]

In 2013, Samsung had 31.3 percent shipment market share, a slight increase from 30.3 percent in 2012, while Apple was at 15.3 percent, a decrease from 18.7 percent in 2012. Huawei, LG and Lenovo were at about 5 percent each, significantly better than 2012 figures, while others had about 40 percent, the same as the previous years figure. Only Apple lost market share, although their shipment volume still increased by 12.9 percent; the rest had significant increases in shipment volumes of 36 to 92 percent.^[88] In Q1 of 2014, Samsung had a 31% share and Apple had 16%.^[89]

By operating system

Main article: Mobile operating system

The market has been dominated by the Android operating system since 2010. Android's market share (measured by units shipment) rose from 33.2% in Q4 2011 to 78.1% of the market in Q4 2013. Apple managed to oscillate their market share between 15% to 20.9% during the same period. BlackBerry's market share fell from 14.3% in Q4 2011 to 0.6% in Q4 2013. MS Windows Mobile market share rose from 1.5% to 3% during the same time frame.^[27]
As of the end of Q3 2014, Android was the most popular operating system, with a 84.4% market share, followed by iOS with 11.7%, Windows Phone with 2.9%, BlackBerry with 0.5% and Others with 0.6%.[90]