command line syntax to set file location?

[adamdoesit]

Hey all,

I'd like to globally modify the normal.dot for all of my Word 2004
clients to point their workgroup template parameter (normally set
individually through Editreferences:File Locations:Workgroup
templates) to a standard location. Ideally, I'd like to issue a Unix
command through Apple Remote Desktop to accomplish this, but would
also be willing to push out a standardized normal.dot to everyone. Is
anyone doing this now, who can advise as to a recommended technique?

Thanks,
Adam

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Hi Adam,

Point 1)

Please DO NOT try to push out a standardized Normal template to everyone
(MacWord does not use the extension). That is subject to all sorts of
pitfalls, some information here:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/MacWordNormal.html
It is a similarly bad idea with Windows Word.

Point 2)

Those file locations aren't saved in the Normal template anyhow. They
are saved in the Preferences file, or they ought to be, which is here:
~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist
(where ~ stands for home user account)

Whether you can roll out a standardized preference file and whether you
don't mind overwriting all of those preferences for your users would be
separate issues.

About your real question:

No idea about the command line, as I'm no kind of administrator or unix
person. I know that VBA can be used to change preference settings, in
general, but Word would need to be open on each computer when the script
was invoked (I think), and I've never tested it with that particular set
of preferences. It's conceivable that an AppleScript could be invoked
from outside Word to make the change, but I've not tried AppleScripting
preferences.

Someone else will hopefully come along.

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Possibly your best approach (for Word 2004) would be to email everyone a
""You Must Read This" template.

When they open the document, an AutoOpen macro written in VBA can
immediately make these settings for them.

By the time the users have realised there is nothing to read, the job has
been done. Note that this is available only for the current version of
Office: there's no VBA in the next version.

I am not sure whether AppleScript will do this: there are issues about
getting AppleScript to fire "automatically" -- it's designed not to.

You could, of course, make an AppleScript you could fire from remote
desktop, but you have to get it onto the user's machine and trusted.

Let me know if you want help to make a VBA template

cheers

Hey all,

I'd like to globally modify the normal.dot for all of my Word 2004
clients to point their workgroup template parameter (normally set
individually through Editreferences:File Locations:Workgroup
templates) to a standard location. Ideally, I'd like to issue a Unix
command through Apple Remote Desktop to accomplish this, but would
also be willing to push out a standardized normal.dot to everyone. Is
anyone doing this now, who can advise as to a recommended technique?

Thanks,
Adam

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[adamdoesit]

Daiya: Right, major brain-lapse, the template file locations are
stored in a .plist, not a template. Turns out that in Word 2004, it
shows up in ~/library/preferences/microsoft/
com.microsoft.Office.prefs.plist. There's enough in there that's user-
and machine-specific that replacing it with a standard file might get
messy, especially for laptop users who take their machines home with
them. Having ARD call sed to edit the file in each home directory
might be a possibility, but that'll take me a little bit to work out.

John: the AutoOpen macro idea is pretty neat, in a viral way. I'll
play around with that, and may take you up on your offer of further
aid.

Thank you both for your help.

Best,
Adam

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Daiya: Right, major brain-lapse, the template file locations are
stored in a .plist, not a template. Turns out that in Word 2004, it
shows up in ~/library/preferences/microsoft/
com.microsoft.Office.prefs.plist.

Ah, thanks for that information. That makes much more sense, of course,
than storing it in the Word prefs.

I personally liked the AutoOpen trick.

Daiya