W2003 Templates & Docs Referencing Docs- help!

[Guest]

Whenever anyone in our company opens a .DOT template and then saves the
document as a new file, the document will maintain a path to that template as
a reference.

SEE THIS PICTURE:
www.vizonscitec.com/template.jpg

This is a huge problem! Because over time we have 1000's of word documents
generated off templates, and all of those documents have references to other
files. Over time we move files, and move servers...and those documents wont
open correctly if they reference a non-existing path.

How could we ever send a word document to another company if it references a
template on our servers? How do I stop word from doing this? I dont want
documents that reference other documents. I want to create a document off of
a template and have the entire document self-contained!

How do I open a template, save the document, and not have the template
attached as a reference? I dont want any documents created to have UNC or
Absolute paths to other files embedded in them. Why cant word simply embedd
the template into the document, rather than embed a path to an external file
that may or may not exist in a year? I do not like files that reference
other files.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Short answer is you can't create a Word document that does not reference a
template.

To create a document you do not open a template, you reference it and create
a new document.
File > New.

You can change the reference to the normal.dot template if you want.
However, you will lose any interface customizations that are normally pulled
from a template when you do this. Most templates, though, only have layout
and content, those are retained in the document.
Tools > Templates and Addins...
If you are changing this reference, make sure the box to update styles is
_not_ checked. This box should never be left checked.

For more on the different kinds of templates, tabs on the file new dialog,
and locations of templates folders see
http://addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm.

Finally, when creating a new document based on a template, your could create
a template rather than a document. That will not have the references, it
will self-reference. I don't recommend doing this, though.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


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