Transferring custom keyboard shortcuts via Normal.dotm

[macaboy]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel I know there was a thread on this topic last fall (which I read), but even after reading this carefully, combing through this and other forums, I'm still having trouble. Any hints greatly appreciated.

I have a significant number of customized keyboard shortcuts for inserting (mostly, but not limited to) Greek symbols (Symbol font). All that I've read (in several places including MS's knowledge base) would indicate I can transfer these shortcuts to another machine by copying over the Normal.dotm file... but it won't work for me.

I have a Macbook(intel), Mac mini(intel) and an iMac(G5) all running the latest updates of Leopard and all running the latest updates of MS Office 2008 for Mac. I have an iDisk shadowed on each machine auto-sync'd through MobileMe. My first attempt was to create a common Normal.dotm on the iDisk and put aliases in Users/myname/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/ - no luck. A change made on one machine would stick for that machine but not show up on either of the other two. Next, I tried to actually copy the Normal.dotm from one and move it to, and overwrite in the other - same problem. The "copied to" machine would keep its old shortcuts, but not see the new ones! I did a bunch of other testing and copying (trashing, re-starting Word, re-starting the OS...) to no avail. Always the same result. It's as if the shortcuts are stored somewhere else completely!! My latest attempt was to copy the entire contents of the 'User Templates' folder onto the iDisk and then, through 'Word preferences/File Locations', select that location for these folders and the Normal.dotm combo.

Sorry for the long explanation, but I spent MANY hours on this about a year ago and then gave up in frustration. (At that time, I also tried copying files like com.microsoft.Word.plist.) I've gone back at it again because I'm always modifying my customized shortcuts, and I just can't accept that this can't be done somehow. What am I missing??

Thanks.

 

[John McGhie]

You are missing the fact that Word holds an edit lock on Normal.dotm while
it is running.

You have to quit Word on each machine before making a change on the other
machine, otherwise when you quit Word on the machine that was not in use,
the old Normal.dotm will be re-saved out of memory, overwriting the new one.

It's a really high-risk activity to attempt to share Normal.dotm. It can be
done, but it will be more trouble than it is worth.

Your first challenge is to FIND the copy of Normal.dotm that Word actually
has in use. Use Word>Preferences>File locations to see the location of User
Templates: that's where it is, and it can move around.

Now: I suspect that MobileMe is using a shadow copy mechanism to keep the
iDisk up to date. That will fail if Word has the file open.

The only reliable way to do this would be to manually copy the active
Normal.dotm between the machines every so often. Making sure than no
Microsoft applications were running when you did it.

Too hard! Put the thing on a USB stick and carry it with you

Cheers

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel I
know there was a thread on this topic last fall (which I read), but even after
reading this carefully, combing through this and other forums, I'm still
having trouble. Any hints greatly appreciated.

I have a significant number of customized keyboard shortcuts for inserting
(mostly, but not limited to) Greek symbols (Symbol font). All that I've read
(in several places including MS's knowledge base) would indicate I can
transfer these shortcuts to another machine by copying over the Normal.dotm
file... but it won't work for me.

I have a Macbook(intel), Mac mini(intel) and an iMac(G5) all running the
latest updates of Leopard and all running the latest updates of MS Office 2008
for Mac. I have an iDisk shadowed on each machine auto-sync'd through
MobileMe. My first attempt was to create a common Normal.dotm on the iDisk
and put aliases in Users/myname/Library/Application
Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/ - no luck. A change made on one
machine would stick for that machine but not show up on either of the other
two. Next, I tried to actually copy the Normal.dotm from one and move it to,
and overwrite in the other - same problem. The "copied to" machine would keep
its old shortcuts, but not see the new ones! I did a bunch of other testing
and copying (trashing, re-starting Word, re-starting the OS...) to no avail.
Always the same result. It's as if the shortcuts are stored somewhere else
completely!! My latest attempt was to copy the entire contents of the 'User
Templates' folder onto the iDisk and then, through 'Word preferences/File
Locations', select that location for these folders and the Normal.dotm combo.

Sorry for the long explanation, but I spent MANY hours on this about a year
ago and then gave up in frustration. (At that time, I also tried copying
files like com.microsoft.Word.plist.) I've gone back at it again because I'm
always modifying my customized shortcuts, and I just can't accept that this
can't be done somehow. What am I missing??

Thanks.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]