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I recall that it was quite easily doable using old Word versions, but with Word 2013 or 2019 (both Professional Pro), I would have no idea where to begin.

The most promising .dotx file is named Basic Design Blank Template; I thought that I could just keep the Standard style and remove all the others in order to build them based on Standard.

However, I cannot even remove a style (context menu reading for instance Delete Heading 4... is disabled.

So, how exactly can I build my own template absolutely from scratch?

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It appers to be the case, that creating a Microsoft Word template from scratch is not possible, mainly due to the reason that Microsoft won't allow the removal of any predefined style from an existing template. As a consequence, every Word document comes with the burden of a lot of never used styles. These unused styles, however, do not need to appear in the styles gallery displayed in a Word document.

The way to go is to modify an existing minimalistic template and adapt it as suitable to the task at hand. The following instructions apply to Word 2019, but work at least also for Word 2013. If you find it works for other versions, too, it would be nice to drop a comment, so that I can include that peace of information as well.

Open Word. Some standard templates are shown. Choose the one with a minimalistic set of styles by clicking on the Blank Document button.

Save this document by clicking File, Save As, This PC, and select the path C:\Users[User name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates. In the dropdown list Save as type, select Word Macro-enabled template, if your template is going to contain macros. The file extension changes to .dotm. You might also want to tick the checkbox Maintain compatibility with previous versions of Word, if you are going to edit your document also from other machines featuring an earlier Office version, as I plan to do. Eventually, enter an appropriate name for your template (such as High Energy Particles), then click Save. Until now, this new template is just a copy of the standard Normal.dotm template.

In the Styles tab, click on the dialog box launcher to display the Styles window. Initially it will be docked to the left of the Word window. If required it can be detached by moving its title bar.

Click on the Manage Styles button to obtain the Manage Styles window.

In the Recommended tab, click the Select All button to select all styles. (The Select Built-in button would also select all styles, if you chose the Blank Document template.) Click Hide until used, and tick the radio button New documents based on this template. Click OK.

Now both the Styles window as well as the Styles group in the main window's ribbon show only the 3 styles Normal, Heading 1, and Heading 2, all the other clutter has gone out of sight (but is still there). Save.

And now the fun begins, using the New Style and Manage Styles buttons from the Styles window.

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