by Barb Binder 
At least one student in every one of my Adobe FrameMaker classes inquires about templates. And why shouldn't they? Templates are the single best way to get a jump start on the design of a new document. In FrameMaker, there are two different locations for the templates that come with the software.
Start by exploring the standard templates:
- Choose File > New.
- Click the Explore Standard Templates button at the bottom of the dialog box.
There are two screens of templates that represent a variety of business documents. I have to admit that they are not the most attractive designs, but don't discount them. Because they demonstrate a wide variety of FrameMaker features, the templates that ship with FrameMaker are a great learning resource for you. Take the outline templates for example. Numbered paragraphs tend to be one of the hardest things for new users to figure out. If you open up these templates and look over their formatting properties, it all becomes very clear.
If you are still looking for inspiration, FrameMaker 9 and 10 ship with additional templates, but you have to know where to look.
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Framemaker9\samples\More Samples
And for FrameMaker 10, you will find them in
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Framemaker10\samples\More Samples
There are five categories of templates just waiting for you to find them: Books, Data sheets, Reports, Education and Special. Go explore!