copy excel data into a word template via a macro

You haven't provided enough information for a meaningful response, and your reference to a template is ambiguous. Depending on what you're trying to achieve, your needs might be met via mailmerge or via Object Linking & Embedding (OLE) and may not require a macro at all. Also, in Word, a template is a file from which a document is created; updates, including automation, are usually done to the document, not its template.