Do Word Templates work in Sharepoint?

[Rob Benz]

Is there a best practice for using word templates in Sharepoint?

If I have a Word template.dot stored in a sharepoint library and I try to
use it to spawn some documents, Sharepoint doesn't understand...it thinks I
want to check out, and edit, the template itself, rather than use the
template to spawn new documents. It doesn't let the Template behave the way
Word intends templates to behave.

If, in my Sharepoint Library, I choose "Actions\ Open with Windows
Explorer", then I can double click on the template and it behaves "normally",
asking me where I want to save “document1.docâ€â€¦. but in the save dialog it
doesn’t show me the sharepoint library folder where I'm working; it shows me
my My Documents folder on my HD, and I have no clue how to navigate the SAVE
to Sharepoint.

So, how do I use Word Templates with Sharepoint?

 

[morencigirl]

To get this to work the way you want it to work, you have to use content
types and upload the .dot file as the template for the content type.

 

[Rob Benz]

Thanks - i've also noticed that if in a Sharepoint Document Library you
choose Actions/Open with Windows Explorer, you can now see the Word Template
and when you double click on the template there, you get the normally
expected behavior...the template automatically clones itself into a "Document
1" which you can then save as needed.