DOT Mess

[cjobes]

We have some .dot files where the read-only flag is selected in the property
page. If we double click on one of those files in Windows Explorer, Word
opens and displays the file as a new document. User can make changes and
save it under a different name. This is exactly what we want.

Now, wenn the user clicks OPEN from within WORD, the file opens and displays
on the top xxx.dot (Read Only). Why the heck isn't it opening as a new
document in the same manner as from Windows Explorer?

We tried everything but don't seem to get it working. Any help would be very
much appreciated.

Thanks
Claus

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi Claus

'Open' means 'Open' - if you specifically ask for a .dot file to open (from
Word or in Explorer, then the .dot file itself is opened. If you explicitly
choose 'New' then you get a new document (and that applies to .doc files
too).

In Explorer, the default (double click) action for .dot files is New, and
the default for .doc files is Open - the opposite actions are available from
the menus.

It looks like you need to educate your users to use the templates correctly.
However, you may be able to make it easier for them in various ways - one
would be to place the templates (or shortcuts to them) in the templates
directory, so that the 'New' dialog will show them in the list of templates.
(If you want them on a tab, put them in a subfolder of the templates
folder). Another would be to write a one-line macro to create a new document
from each of your templates, and provide a customised menu.

 

[cjobes]

Margaret, thanks for the info. That cleared up a lot. Putting them into the
templates directory isn't really an option. They have too many of them. The
macro option sounds like more of a solution. I'm a network and application
engineer with very little experience in Word. Could you give me a hand with
that one-line macro or tell me where I can read up about it?

Thanks
Claus

 

[Charles Kenyon]

You can separate the templates into folders which will show up as tabs in
the File New dialog. For more on the different kinds of templates and
locations of templates folders see <URL:
http://addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm>.

There are a number of ways to get new documents from templates. Most require
vba but not all. You may want to take a look at <URL:
http://www.addbalance.com/word/templatesmenu.htm>.


--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory:
<URL: http://addbalance.com/word/index.htm>

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide)
<URL: http://addbalance.com/usersguide/index.htm>

See also the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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[Marco]

Put the company templates in a server folder, and use the
TOOLS -> OPTIONS -> FILE LOCATIONS -> WORKGROUP TEMPLATES
options to point to this folder. Set the file attribute to
READ/ONLY so no one can tamper the template.

 

[cjobes]

Charles,

If we point to the folder on the server it takes about 1 min before the
folders show up in the template interface.

I wanted to look at the addbalance link but that link doesn't exist. We also
tried www.addbalance.com and the site didn't come up.

Claus

 

[cjobes]

If we do this, it takes about a minute to bring up the interface when the
user clicks on File/NEW.

Claus