Shared Word Templates

[Markus]

Help!!
I have an urgent question concerning the use of word
templates over network shares. I do this in the following
way: There is only one template which can be accessed by
many users who connect over a VPN, the finished documents
are also centrally stored. Because of the VPN over the
Internet the network traffic is an issue - and this is
already the problem.
When I open a .doc of 200 KB size, which was created in
the way described before a network traffic of 1,5 MB is
generated due to (relatively strange) conversations
between the central file server and the client stations.
If the reference to the template is removed in the
document it gets a lot better. So does anyone know what to
do?

Thanks in advance!!

Best regards, Markus

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Markus,

Word maintains an active link to a document's attached
template. The document has access to toolbars, macros,
keyboardshortcuts and AutoText stored in the template.

So, before anyone can offer any useful advice, we'd need to
know
- why the templates are on a network share
- do documents created from these templates require a link to
the template for such things as mentioned above
- may the templates contain macros (which you could use to
sever the link, for example)

I have an urgent question concerning the use of word
templates over network shares. I do this in the following
way: There is only one template which can be accessed by
many users who connect over a VPN, the finished documents
are also centrally stored. Because of the VPN over the
Internet the network traffic is an issue - and this is
already the problem.
When I open a .doc of 200 KB size, which was created in
the way described before a network traffic of 1,5 MB is
generated due to (relatively strange) conversations
between the central file server and the client stations.
If the reference to the template is removed in the
document it gets a lot better. So does anyone know what to
do?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep
30 2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow
question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[Guest]

Hi Cindy,
thank you for your reply.

- the templates have to be on a network share because so
you can change them for all users at a time.
- they generally dont contain macros, toolbars etc.
- another thing I have seen through testing now is, that
if you open an ordinary word file (without template links)
the network traffic is approximately double the file size.
Can this be optimized somehow?
- in Word XP I have found two options which may be
checked, 'request template update' and 'Save: Make local
copies of files on network shares'. Both do not change
anything observable.

Thanks and best regards
Markus

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Markus

- the templates have to be on a network share because so
you can change them for all users at a time.
- they generally dont contain macros, toolbars etc.
- another thing I have seen through testing now is, that
if you open an ordinary word file (without template links)
the network traffic is approximately double the file size.
Can this be optimized somehow?

OK, one issue you may be seeing, here, is the fact that Word
is continuously writing to scratch and tmp files. It
generates duplicates of a document you're working with, and
it saves Undo information.

You might consider putting AutoNew macros in these shared
templates that, once a document is created, link it to a
local template on the users' machines (Normal.dot would be
one possibility). That would reduce the network traffic
related to documents linked to templates on a network share.

The only way you could reduce the other traffic would be to
make sure the files are saved locally. Word always puts tmp
and scratch files in the same location where a document is
saved. I don't *think* there's any way to change this; if
there is, I'd guess you'd find it in the Office Resource Kit.
You could also try asking in the word.setup.networking group.

- in Word XP I have found two options which may be
checked, 'request template update' and 'Save: Make local
copies of files on network shares'. Both do not change
anything observable.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep
30 2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow
question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Is the one template by any chance normal.dot? You don't want to be sharing
this file.

If it is a normal document template, but you have many users, consider
putting lines in each user's login script to copy the workgroup templates to
a local folder (update only after the first time). This allows you to
maintain a central bank of templates without the network overhead during
use. It also lets you modify your templates without kicking everyone off
from Word.

If normal.dot is not the shared template and users have their own versions
of this template you can put an AutoClose macro in your templates that
changes the attachment to the user's normal.dot (without updating styles).
--

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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