Problem with Word's Option Startup location being different to location templates are held

[Tammy]

Our Sydney office has a problem with users having double toolbars when
they open Word. This is caused by shortcuts to Word being created
without the path .. just winword.exe. There are two fixes that we've
found (well one fix and one workaround) .. one is to put the program
files path into the path environment variable. The other is to change
the startup location in Word to the profile (Word's default). The
startup templates are physically held in c:\program files\microsoft
office\office\startup. We do not want them in the profile due to
storage issues. The startup location was changed in our Sydney office
as a bandaid measure until we came up with a fix. Our other
Australian offices have the template directory and startup location in
Word the same.

My preferred option is to change the path environment variable but our
network administrator wants to change the Word startup location in
Word to the profile as he says it has fixed the the problem in Sydney,
which would mean changing the other offices.

Are there any problems in Word 2000 that are caused by having the Word
startup location option set differently to the physical template
location?

Thanks heaps
Tammy

 

[Howard Kaikow]

Word assumes that the Startup directory is not the same as the Templates
directory.
If you make them the same, then you will likely encounter problems.

You may tell Word that you want to use other locations, but the Startup and
templates directories better be different.

 

[Tammy]

Hi Howard, sorry - didn't make myself clear. I'm referring to the
startup templates not user or workgroup templates. I'm trying to find
out if there will be any problems with Word 2000 or later versions if
the startup directory option in Word is pointing to a different
location than the physical location of the startup templates. ie the
startup templates are sitting in c:\program files\microsoft
office\office\startup but Word's startup directory option is pointing
to application data\microsoft\word\startup etc.

 

[Tammy]

Hi Howard, sorry - didn't make myself clear. I'm referring to the
startup templates not user or workgroup templates. I'm trying to find
out if there will be any problems with Word 2000 or later versions if
the startup directory option in Word is pointing to a different
location than the physical location of the startup templates. ie the
startup templates are sitting in c:\program files\microsoft
office\office\startup but Word's startup directory option is pointing
to application data\microsoft\word\startup etc.

 

[Howard Kaikow]

You specify the Startup directory, e.g., via Tools | Options | File
Locations.
That's where Word looks.

 

[Tammy]

Thanks Howard, I know all that. Again, I'm trying to find out if
there are unforeseen problems in Word 2000 on if the Tools | Options |
File locations are set to the profile and the startup templates are
physically held in the program files directory. The reason it has
been done this way is explained in my first posting.

Thanks

 

[Howard Kaikow]

The physical locations of the directories do not matter, only the logical
distinctions between Startup, etc, which are identified in Tools | File
Locations.

If you identify the Startup directory as being the same as one of the other
directories, you are causing ALL templates in that directory to be loaded as
global templates, which is highly likely to cause significant problems.

 

[Tammy]

Thanks Howard. I don't think you're going to be able to help me with
this one as you don't seem to understand the question I'm asking.
Thanks for your time anyway.

 

[Howard Kaikow]

The question was "Are there any problems in Word 2000 that are caused by
having the Word
startup location option set differently to the physical template
location?".

I answered that question.

 

[Tammy]

If there's anyone other than Howard that can help me I would
appreciate knowing whether there any problems have the startup
templates located in C:\program file\microsoft office\office\startup
when the startup file location in Word under Tools > Options > File
Locations is pointing to c:\documents & settings\'User
name'\application data\Microsoft\word\startup?

Cheers,
Tammy

 

[Howard Kaikow]

The startup templates must be in the directory identified in Tools |
Options } File Locations.
That's the ONLY place word will look.

 

[Tammy]

This is incorrect. There are 500 pcs in our Sydney office which have
the directory identified in Tools > Options > File locations > Startup
templates as c:\documents & settings\User name\application
data\Microsoft\Word\Startup but the startup templates themselves are
located in c:\program files\microsoft office\office\startup. Word
loads these templates. And no - there are no templates at all in
c:\documents & settings\User name\application
data\Microsoft\Word\Startup. If you do a search on these pcs for the
startup templates the only location they will show up in is c:\program
files\microsoft office\office\startup. They have worked this way for
a year without problems.

I disagree with Word being configured this way and it was only meant
to be a bandaid solution. Now we have found a solution to the
original problem I have requested that Word be changed back (ie under
Tools > Options > File locations the startup templates point to
c:\program files\microsoft office\office\startup). As there have been
no problems so far with having this option set to the application data
directory I have been asked why this needs to be changed back and what
technical problems it may cause if it is in fact not changed back.
This is what I'm trying to find out.

As I control Word across our centres I will more than likely be able
to push this and have the setting changed back so it complies with our
SOE, but would like to be able to answer the question originally asked
one way or the other.

 

[Tammy]

Bizarre! We haven't had that happen to us which is something, but
it's definitely one to add to the list .. thanks!