Saving documents from template

[MLRoberts]

I cannot save a microsoft word 2004 mac document from a template. When I do a Save As... and change the format to Microsoft Word Document, I get an error "You cannot save a template file to a non-template format".
So how do I save this document? Local IT support is stumped. Anybody know what's causing this?

iMac G5/2GHz
OS 10.4.11
Office 2004 v11.3.8

Thanks!
-Mike-

 

[John McGhie]

Local IT Support deserves to be thoroughly embarrassed by the answer

When you open a template in Mac Word 2004, it "opens the template", it does
not "Create a document based on the template" like Windows Word does.

I've always thought this behaviour was a bug (and it has been corrected in
the current version). However, it is a well-known "Mac-like" behaviour that
has been around since Word X.

A Template is a different internal structure from a document. You can't
save a template as a document, because, well... It "isn't" a document!

To create new from a Template in Word 2004, you must use the Project
Gallery. Choose the template in Project Gallery (you will need to move the
template to a folder Project Gallery can see...) then choose "New Document".

If you double-click a file, you will open the template as a file, and get
into this vicious circle.

Local IT support should have known this

Hope this helps

I cannot save a microsoft word 2004 mac document from a template. When I do a
Save As... and change the format to Microsoft Word Document, I get an error
"You cannot save a template file to a non-template format".
So how do I save this document? Local IT support is stumped. Anybody know
what's causing this?

iMac G5/2GHz
OS 10.4.11
Office 2004 v11.3.8

Thanks!
-Mike-

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

With WinWord and MacWord 2008, you can double click a template to create
a doc from it. With MacWord 2004 and earlier, double-clicking the
template simply opens the template. That's what you did, resulting in
your current problem.

So, you have to use File | Project Gallery to create a doc from a
template. For templates to show up in the Project Gallery, they need to
be in an official template folder.

You can move the template to Applications/Microsoft Office
2004/Templates/My Templates, or set a different location in Word |
Preferences | File Locations.

Then use File | Project Gallery to create a doc from it.

 

[MLRoberts]

Thanks John and Dalya forthe quick responses!

Local IT is really more OS and Network support. And then, it’s almost entirely pure Windows knowledge. We’re pretty much on our own for application problems. <sigh!> Such is the life of a Mac geek in a Windoze world!

I had completely forgotten about loading the template into the Templates folder and creating a document through the Gallery. So many “templates” around here are simply formatted documents that you cut and paste your information into. This was actually a real Template.

Since this was a heavily formatted, extensive document, I really didn’t want to recreate it, but kept looking for a way to convert it. I found that if I opened the template “document” and then selected “File...Web Page Preview” it opened in Safari very nicely. From Safari, I selected “File...Save As” and left the format at the default Page Source option. This saved an HTML file to my desktop. I then used Word to open the HTML file and Voila!, there was my document with all my headers, fonts, tables, indents, bullets, etc., intact. All I lost were a couple of graphics that I was able to replace easily.

In the future, obviously, I need to remember the proper use of a "real" Template.

Thanks for the reminder!

-Mike-