I don't think there is a "perfect solution" to this one, but here are some
things you can consider/try from a conversation in this group earlier this
year:
A suggestion by Grham Mayor
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I suspect this will be the same as it was for Word 2003. The information is
stored in the registry at
\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\DataServices
MyData sub key.
Substitute 12 for 11 for 2007!
However this location can only be a direct sub folder of the user's My
Documents folder.
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Some suggestions by me:
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Four suggestions. None of them does exactly what you want, and I don't know
what will work with Word 2007, although you'll probably need to change
"11.0" to "12.0" where appropriate.
Three ways to help a knowledgeable user to get tot eh correct folder faster:
a. add a shortcut to the folder you want to use, in My Data Sources. Then
it's easy for the user to navigate to the necessary folder
b. in My Data Sources, use Tools|Add to My Places to add the folder to the
list of places on the left. Windows puts relevant registry entries in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\Open
Find\Places\UserDefinedPlaces
c. Modify the registry entries at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft
Office Word\Settings\Select Data Source\File Name MRU
which control the folder/file names listed in the File Name drop down in the
Select Data Source dialog.
Maybe you've tried those three. But there's another possibility - if you
aren't using ODBC for anything else, or do not need to use ODBC FIle DSNs or
put them in a specific folder, you can also try the following:
d. Locate/create the following key in the registry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ODBC\ODBC.INI\ODBC File DSN
Create a new string value called DefaultDSNDir that contains the pathname
you want to use.
Word (2003 anyway) displays all the files in that pathname in Select Data
Source as if the files were actually in the My Data Sources folder.
This value actually overrides the value in the value of the same name in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI\ODBC File DSN
Four suggestions. None of them does exactly what you want, and I don't know
what will work with Word 2007, although you'll probably need to change
"11.0" to "12.0" where appropriate.
Three ways to help a knowledgeable user to get tot eh correct folder faster:
a. add a shortcut to the folder you want to use, in My Data Sources. Then
it's easy for the user to navigate to the necessary folder
b. in My Data Sources, use Tools|Add to My Places to add the folder to the
list of places on the left. Windows puts relevant registry entries in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\Open
Find\Places\UserDefinedPlaces
c. Modify the registry entries at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft
Office Word\Settings\Select Data Source\File Name MRU
which control the folder/file names listed in the File Name drop down in the
Select Data Source dialog.
Maybe you've tried those three. But there's another possibility - if you
aren't using ODBC for anything else, or do not need to use ODBC FIle DSNs or
put them in a specific folder, you can also try the following:
d. Locate/create the following key in the registry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ODBC\ODBC.INI\ODBC File DSN
Create a new string value called DefaultDSNDir that contains the pathname
you want to use.
Word (2003 anyway) displays all the files in that pathname in Select Data
Source as if the files were actually in the My Data Sources folder.
This value actually overrides the value in the value of the same name in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI\ODBC File DSN