How To Download Old MS Office Templates Removed By Microsoft

Recently, Microsoft did something unexpected that left a lot of users high and dry. During the overhaul of the Office Templates Gallery at Office.com, Microsoft ended up removing hundreds, if not thousands of templates overnight, resulting in broken links that are still echoing through Google.

Where Did the Old Templates Go?

Microsoft recently updated its templates gallery by turning it into Office Online, which means that all templates can only be accessed using a Microsoft account and while you can now edit these templates using an internet browser for free, many old templates are no longer available. Moreover, to download the new templates a Microsoft account is mandatory, as no template can be accessed without logging in.

Another very frustrating aspect of this upgrade is that currently there are only templates available for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, which means that people looking for templates for other products like MS Access, OneNote, Outlook or InfoPath will have to rely on third-party websites.

How to Get Back Old MS Office Templates?

Fortunately, the old templates can still be downloaded and there are workarounds that you can use to do so. We have compiled a list of methods that you can use to download old MS Office templates which have been removed at Office.com by Microsoft.

1. Use the Office Start Screen

The best method for finding old templates is the Office Start Screen. Turns out that despite removing the templates online, Microsoft has still allowed users to search and download templates using the Start Screen of Office applications.

To download a template, simply launch an application (e.g. PowerPoint, Word or Excel), type a keyword or the name of the old template and double-click to download the template. Through vigorous checks we have been able to determine that majority of templates for many Office products are still available but some old ones seem to be gone for good.

Old Office templates

2. Use Office Online

Seems like some old templates are still available at the Office Online Templates Gallery, which hosts mostly new templates. Using Office Online you might be able to at least find an alternative template, if not the exact old one. However, the old templates at Office Online are very few, in fact the overall number of templates are quite handful so far.

Office Online Templates Gallery

3. Use Web or Image Search

Through trial and error we have been able to determine that some websites have the old templates hosted on their websites or are providing links to alternative sources. If you are looking for a specific template, enter its name in Google Search and use the Web or Image search to look for websites hosting them. We were able to find many old templates via Google and Bing Search.

Using the image search option is particularly useful, as it helps you see a screenshot of the old template, after which you can visit that website and see if a functional download link is available. On the contrary, using the web search can be quite frustrating, as many templates might be hosted with similar names.

Perform image search to find old template

4. Download Templates at FPPT

We have a plethora of free and premium templates reviewed at FPPT, including templates from Office.com and third-party service providers, you can go through the below links to search and download templates for MS Office applications.