Custom Template to override Normal.dot?

[EmileeSuzanne]

I am a proficient _user_ of MS applications, but have recently bee
thrown into the tech department of our law firm. Apparently th
Normal.dot template used to be located on the server, but has recentl
been moved to the individual work stations. Several of the secretarie
had created their own "normal templates," which had been set up to ope
on "new" instead of the Normal.dot template -- in other words, thei
custom template overrode the Normal.dot template.

Changes were recently made when the law firm moved into a new buildin
(I came onboard during the move), and now the Normal.dot templat
overrides their custom templates. I don't have a clue how to set it u
so a custom template loads first -- can someone help me out here?

Also, I've noticed that sometimes when you make changes to a documen
(styles, margins, etc.), it _sticks_ to the Normal.dot template, an
future documents retain those changes! I think this is because of
script they have recently added to run on login to the server whic
removes the "read only" attribute from the template files befor
refreshing them. Although it's funny that only the firm's custo
templates are listed in the script -- not the Normal.dot template.

Because I wasn't in on any of these changes, and actual coding is
little new to me, I'm confused. I need to get these ladies up an
running smoothly again. I really appreciate any help you can offer.

Thanks!
Emile

 

[Charles Kenyon]

You can use a different template to open Word by putting a shortcut to it on
the desktop and double-clicking on it. They may have simply named a
different template "normal.dot." This is not a good idea. It is also not a
good idea to share normal.dot.

What are they trying to accomplish by doing this?

You can store macros, autotext, toolbars and keyboard shortcuts in a
different global template. You can store custom styles in document
templates.

For more on the different kinds of templates and locations of templates
folders see <URL: http://addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm>.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory:
<URL: http://addbalance.com/word/index.htm>

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

See also the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Hi Emilee,

If you are going to be a professional tech person, I strongly suggest that
you consider *not* using the WordForum.com site.

It is not an independent, self-sufficient website, but simply piggybacks
onto public, international newsgroups. It mirrors the Microsoft public news
server, and mirrors it slowly at that. Your questions show up on the server
hours after you post them, and it seems the answers show up back at the site
late. The majority of the people who may respond to your question are not
using the site.

In particular, *your* helpful posts are wasted because people have already
gotten their answers and gone away.

If you set up a newsreader, you could possibly get responses within a few
minutes or an hour.

See here for some suggestions on other ways to access the newsgroups.
http://word.mvps.org/FindHelp/index.htm

Re your actual question:

You are now being asked to fix a situation that was a bad setup in the first
place. Normal should never have been kept on a server. Normal *should* be
used to hold personal settings for each individual workstation, while all
official company documents should be based on templates created specifically
for that purpose, and which can be kept on the server and set to read-only.
I'm not expert in this issue, so I won't go on, but I suggest you use Google
Groups, advanced group search, to look for similar issues on the ms.word
ngs, particularly microsoft.public.word.docmanagement. Browsing the groups
is where I picked up all that info.

That should get you started with further info along these lines, and maybe
others will offer suggestions. They may not have seen your post yet because
of the WordForum.com issue.

DM