Where are Word 2003 options stored?

[Rick]

Hi -- I'm looking in the registry for some of Word 2003's options
(Tools | Options). I see a very few of them there in HKEY_CURRENT_USER
\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word, but I'm looking specifically for
the default File Locations. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi -- I'm looking in the registry for some of Word 2003's options
(Tools | Options). I see a very few of them there in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word, but I'm
looking specifically for the default File Locations. Any help would
be appreciated.

It's a trick question! <g>

The _default_ file locations never appear in the registry. Only when you set
a non-default location does anything get written.

There can be a separate value under the key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options for each entry
in the dialog. Their names are

Documents = DOC-PATH
Clipart pictures = PICTURE-PATH
AutoRecover files = AUTOSAVE-PATH
Tools = TOOLS-PATH
Startup = STARTUP-PATH

The Templates and Workgroup entries are in a different key in the registry,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\General, as the
values named Templates and SharedTemplates.

Refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/212242 for a discussion for Word
2000. Little has changed for Word 2003 except the "11.0" version key.

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

 

[Rick]

Under HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options\, I
see one key, and it's for DOC-PATH. Could that possibly be what I'm
looking for -- default File Location for Documents? I've never seen
this '\POLICIES\ hive before.

 

[Jay Freedman]

That indicates that a group policy has been applied, either through the Group
Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) or through a modification to the installation
package. Otherwise there wouldn't be any Office branch under the Microsoft key.
Talk to your IT department.

 

[Rick]

Thanks. Could I change my default Documents File
Location by changing this key?

 

[Jay Freedman]

Possibly you could -- assuming you have access rights to change that key.

A better solution would be to delete the whole
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options key if you can, and
then set the location through Word's options dialog.

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