"Best Practice" - Templates/Building Blocks

[JenC]

Hello all,

I am in the process of setting up new templates for our company. There are
quite a few templates, and all have similar characteristics but slightly
different information. I am creating them as .dotx files (working in Word
2007).

I'm trying to figure out the best way to use Quick Parts within the context
of multiple templates. There is some information (for example, addresses of
different company locations) that need to be inserted into several of the
templates. I'd like to create Quick Parts for doing this, and in fact have
done this in one of the templates. However, I don't see any way to add them
to other templates without recreating them each time.

Obviously I am fuzzy on how exactly these Quick Parts are stored. Ideally,
I'd be able to (a) import/export them between templates (best case scenario),
or (b) store them in some common location and then access them from each
template. However, considering that the templates are to be used
company-wide, it seems like option b would be quite complicated in terms of
enabling everyone to *easily*/seamlessly access the common storage location.

[It's becoming somewhat clearer to me that what would be fantastic would be
to create "families" of templates - all using the same styles, Quick Parts,
etc. This would allow one to change the styles for all templates at once -
for example, if it was decided to change the corporate font - without having
to go into each template and change it individually. Am I off-base here - is
there actually a way to do this that I am totally missing??]

Any suggestions or solutions would be much appreciated!
Jen

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Based on a very brief test, it appears to be possible to save quick parts in
a template that is loaded as an add-in by having been saved in the Word
Startup folder and then have the quick part available for use in a document
created from another template.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Also take a look at
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Word2007_Building_Blocks_&_AutoText.htm

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com

 

[Stefan Blom]

Yes, that is the same behavior as for AutoTexts in earlier versions of Word.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via NNTP)

Based on a very brief test, it appears to be possible to save quick parts in a
template that is loaded as an add-in by having been saved in the Word Startup
folder and then have the quick part available for use in a document created
from another template.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com

Hello all,

I am in the process of setting up new templates for our company. There are
quite a few templates, and all have similar characteristics but slightly
different information. I am creating them as .dotx files (working in Word
2007).

I'm trying to figure out the best way to use Quick Parts within the context
of multiple templates. There is some information (for example, addresses of
different company locations) that need to be inserted into several of the
templates. I'd like to create Quick Parts for doing this, and in fact have
done this in one of the templates. However, I don't see any way to add them
to other templates without recreating them each time.

Obviously I am fuzzy on how exactly these Quick Parts are stored. Ideally,
I'd be able to (a) import/export them between templates (best case scenario),
or (b) store them in some common location and then access them from each
template. However, considering that the templates are to be used
company-wide, it seems like option b would be quite complicated in terms of
enabling everyone to *easily*/seamlessly access the common storage location.

[It's becoming somewhat clearer to me that what would be fantastic would be
to create "families" of templates - all using the same styles, Quick Parts,
etc. This would allow one to change the styles for all templates at once -
for example, if it was decided to change the corporate font - without having
to go into each template and change it individually. Am I off-base here - is
there actually a way to do this that I am totally missing??]

Any suggestions or solutions would be much appreciated!
Jen