Using Ms Word 2003 templates with Ms Word 2007

[Robertico]

I've several Ms. Word 2003 templates with VBA-code and AutoText fragments
(AutoText stored in the templates and not in Normal.dot)
Now I'd like to use/convert these templates to use them in Ms. Word 2007.

So far I figured out the following:
When I open a template (using the Open menu), the AutoText is available.
When I create a new document (using the New menu) based on the same
template, the AutoText is no longer available.
I already tried to convert the AutoText fragments to Building Blocks, but
still no AutoText available when i create an new document.

The templates are available on our server and accessible via the workgroup
settings in Ms. Word.

How can i use the existing (Ms. Word 2003) templates in Ms. Word 2007,
without building them from scratch.

Thanks in advance,

Robertico