This is copied from an old post of mine.
It explains some procedures and how XL treats templates in a template file,
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BUT, there *are* numerous ways to network your XL templates, probably the
easiest of which is to use the MS Office route by going through Word, which
is why I asked if you had it.
I hope that you *do realize* however, that you must go to *every* machine on
your LAN that you wish to have access to this template file. That would
have also been necessary *even* with the procedure that you originally
tried.
Let's put it this way:
Every *machine* on the LAN will need this file adjustment, whether it's
done by you, or you trust your users to do this themselves.
It is *easy*!
Close XL.
From *Word*:
<Tools> <Options> <File Locations> tab,
In the left column, among others, you will see:
User Templates
WorkGroup Templates
There should be an entry in the right column for "User Templates".
There should be *no* entry in the right column for "WorkGroup Templates".
Click on "WorkGroup Templates", and then click the "Modify" button.
In the "Modify Location" window, navigate to your templates file location
(drive) and folder,
Then <OK>.
And you're done!
The templates in the folder you specified will now be displayed in the
<File> <New> <General> tab window, where clicking on a file will open a
*copy* of the template, preserving the original from modification.
NOW ... you must go to *each* machine, and make this same revision in Word
to *all* of them.
Some NOTES:
You *don't* need .xlt files in the templates folder for this to work.
Regular .xls files will react the same. It's location that counts here, not
file type.
If your templates folder contains *another folder*, this sub-folder will
appear as a *separate* tab in the <File> <New> window, alongside the
"General" tab.
This is great if you have a large number of templates, and you wish to
perhaps segregate them by department or type.
SIDE NOTE:
If this sub-folder is empty (no files), the tab will *not* display in the
<File> <New> window.
It must be populated with XL files for it to show.
You can create numerous sub-folders, where the type of files that *each*
sub-folder contains will dictate in which *program* that tab will be visible
in.
Meaning - XL file sub-folders *only* visible in XL.
Word file sub-folders *only* visible in Word.
If a sub-folder contains *both* XL and Word files, the *tab* will be visible
in *both* programs ... BUT ... the files displayed in that tab will coincide
with the program that opened it. The other programs files will not show.
Don't forget - empty sub-folder are *not* displayed.
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--
HTH,
RD
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Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
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I have a work created template that I would like to have everyone on the
network see and use. When I copy the template into the directory where all
the other excel templates are, it does not show up in the list of templates
to choose. What am I doing wrong? How do I get this to display to users on
the network?
thx
