NICE templates and formatting guide

  • Corporate document
  • ECD3
  • Published: 
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Page layout

Margins

Word has default settings for margins, which you should not need to change.

  • Top and bottom margins should be 2.54 cm.

  • Left and right margins should be 3.17 cm.

Alignment

Text should be ranged left (except tables of numbers, see Tables, figures and boxes) – this is easier to read than justified text. It also avoids the excessively wide spacing between words and hyphenation at the ends of lines that can occur when text is justified. All NICE styles are set up to range left automatically.

Paragraphs

The paragraph spacing is set up in the templates. Paragraphs are separated by extra space between lines, which appears automatically when you hit the return key once at the end of a paragraph, not by indentation or by adding extra line returns.

Headers and footers

To add or remove a header or footer, go to the 'Insert' tab. Click on the relevant option (that is, either 'Header' or 'Footer') in the 'Header & Footer' group. A pull-down menu will appear. Choose the 'Blank' option at the top of the list to add a header or footer. At the bottom of the menu is the option to 'Remove' your header or footer.

To edit an existing header or footer, double click on the text you want to edit. This will open the headers and footers so you can work on them in the same way as normal body text. Double click on another part of the page to return to the normal view.

Document identity

Add a short description and date to the footer (type in the date – don't use the auto-insert option or every time the document is opened it will update to the current date). If a document is a consultation draft or other item that will appear on the website, describe it in the way that it has been described in the appropriate process manual; for example, 'Obesity: NICE guideline short version DRAFT [date]'.

Many documents templates have standard text in the header and footer, so you simply need to fill in any blanks. Avoid using internal version numbers in documents that will be posted on the website or circulated to external readers. Note that using 'current' is not helpful.