Profile folder for Office 2007 settings?

[Paul]

I realize that MS decided to not include a "Save My Settings" wizard for
Office 2007, which I think is unconscionable. Users who don't have Vista are
left high and dry. I've read that many settings can be saved by merely
saving the normal template.... Is there a folder that I can simply copy, that
will include all of this--macros, keyboard shortcuts, dictionaries, as well
as toolbar settings et al. ? Or are these settings scattered all over the
place?
--
Paul

MS Office 2007
XP Home SP3
Dell Inspiron 1501

 

[Jay Freedman]

I realize that MS decided to not include a "Save My Settings" wizard for
Office 2007, which I think is unconscionable. Users who don't have Vista are
left high and dry. I've read that many settings can be saved by merely
saving the normal template.... Is there a folder that I can simply copy, that
will include all of this--macros, keyboard shortcuts, dictionaries, as well
as toolbar settings et al. ? Or are these settings scattered all over the
place?

Your fears are correct; they're scattered.

The article http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/FilesToBackup.htm is mostly
correct but hasn't been updated for Word 2007. In addition to the files
mentioned there, you need to back up the following:

%appdata%\Microsoft\UProof\*.*
%appdata%\Microsoft\Document Building Blocks\*.* and all subfolders
%appdata%\Microsoft\Word\Startup\*.*

C:\Documents and Settings\<profile name>\Local Settings\
Application Data\Microsoft\Office\*.qat

(Note that %appdata% is an environment variable that expands to the path of the
folder C:\Documents and Settings\<profile name>\Application Data in Windows XP
or to C:\Users\<profile name>\AppData\Roaming in Vista. Using this shortcut also
displays this hidden folder even when the "show hidden files and folders" option
is turned off.)

In place of the AutoCorrect.zip file from
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/ExportAutocorrect.htm, use the
AutoCorrect2007.zip from http://jay-freedman.info.

 

[Paul]

Your fears are correct; they're scattered.

The article http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/FilesToBackup.htm is mostly
correct but hasn't been updated for Word 2007. In addition to the files
mentioned there, you need to back up the following:

%appdata%\Microsoft\UProof\*.*
%appdata%\Microsoft\Document Building Blocks\*.* and all subfolders
%appdata%\Microsoft\Word\Startup\*.*

C:\Documents and Settings\<profile name>\Local Settings\
Application Data\Microsoft\Office\*.qat

(Note that %appdata% is an environment variable that expands to the path of the
folder C:\Documents and Settings\<profile name>\Application Data in Windows XP
or to C:\Users\<profile name>\AppData\Roaming in Vista. Using this shortcut also
displays this hidden folder even when the "show hidden files and folders" option
is turned off.)

In place of the AutoCorrect.zip file from
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/ExportAutocorrect.htm, use the
AutoCorrect2007.zip from http://jay-freedman.info.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit.

OK, thanks. I do appreciate the numerous times you've responded to my posts
here.

One last request--is there a document that might tell me exactly what
settings I would be saving, in each of these folders/locations? I might be
able to avoid having to copy some of them if I know that they are only for
custom toolbars, etc--unless you know the answer to that off the top of your
head....

--
Paul

MS Office 2007
XP Home SP3
Dell Inspiron 1501

 

[Jay Freedman]

OK, thanks. I do appreciate the numerous times you've responded to my posts
here.

One last request--is there a document that might tell me exactly what
settings I would be saving, in each of these folders/locations? I might be
able to avoid having to copy some of them if I know that they are only for
custom toolbars, etc--unless you know the answer to that off the top of your
head....

The files in the UProof folder are the custom dictionary and (if you directly
edit them) any exclusion dictionaries. The custom dictionary is where entries
are stored when you click the Add button on a spell check.

There usually aren't any files in the Document Building Block folder itself, but
if you put any templates there that contain building blocks, those building
blocks would be loaded into Word. There is one subfolder for each language
variant (technically, for each locale ID) that contains the possibly-customized
Building Blocks.dotx file for that language. The building blocks include
AutoText, cover pages, header and footer layouts, and so forth.

The Word\Startup folder is another one that doesn't contain any files by
default, but any templates that you (or maybe some third-party software) put
there are treated as add-ins; they can supply macros and keyboard customizations
in addition to those in Normal.dotm and the templates used to base new
documents.

Files with a .qat extension contain customized Quick Access Toolbars. There may
be separate ones for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. If you haven't customized the
Quick Access Toolbar, or if all your customizations are stored explicitly in
specific templates, then the .qat files won't exist.