How to Open Template as Template NOT as '.doc' ?

[cole.simonson]

Background:
We have users that get themselves tangled up by going into Windows
Explorer, opening a template via double clicking on it so it opens as a
'.doc'. Then they go to save it, and it cannot be saved as a Template
back to the same location and name. This causes constant problems for
us in tech support.

Is there a way to tweak settings so it does not matter whether they
double click on the template name or Right-click / Open in the Explorer
Window - it will still open the Template as a Template (.dot)?

If they go into Word, click on Open and then they drill down to our
custom Templates folder where there are only templates, and they either
double click on one to open it, or highlight it and click on Open - I
believe this part works to open the Template as a Template of the
original Template name.

This would help us greatly! Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Kind regards,
Cole

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

If that is causing a problem, then almost certainly, your users should NOT
be opening templates. Seems to me like a bit of education is in order for
all of you.

That said, if you right click on a template in Windows explorer and select
Open, the template will be opened.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

If that is causing a problem, then almost certainly, your users should NOT
be opening templates. Seems to me like a bit of education is in order for
all of you.

That said, if you right click on a template in Windows explorer and select
Open, the template will be opened.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Charles Kenyon]

The way templates should be used is to create new documents. They should not
be opened to be used; but rather opened to be edited so that future
documents based on the template will be different. Opening them for use is
counter to Word's design and will cause you problems.

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.
--

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


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

The way templates should be used is to create new documents. They should not
be opened to be used; but rather opened to be edited so that future
documents based on the template will be different. Opening them for use is
counter to Word's design and will cause you problems.

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.
--

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


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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.

 

[cole.simonson]

Doug - I don't think you read my post fully. I had already stated that
IF they right click on the template, then yes, it opens as a template.
Problem is, end-users will do what they will do, and create constant
issues for Tech Support to sort out. All issues will go away if we can
get the template to open as a template REGARDLESS of how it is opened.
The reason we must have them open templates as templates is because the
templates are accessed by a third-party product (sdOffice) which passes
data to the template to do a mail merge. Without using templates, the
sdOffice application encounters constant messages of the document being
in use... We already know it SHOULD be as simple as being a training
issue, but our hands are tied. As Tech Support, we are told we must
help them do things in the wrong way.

So again, all our problems go away if we can perhaps parameterize the
Open to always open the Template as Template - EVEN if the end-user
uses Windows Explorer, and double-clicks on the document name (which
currently opens it as an unnamed '.doc' - as Templates are typically
expected to do.)

Thanks again. Kind regards,
Cole

 

[cole.simonson]

Doug - I don't think you read my post fully. I had already stated that
IF they right click on the template, then yes, it opens as a template.
Problem is, end-users will do what they will do, and create constant
issues for Tech Support to sort out. All issues will go away if we can
get the template to open as a template REGARDLESS of how it is opened.
The reason we must have them open templates as templates is because the
templates are accessed by a third-party product (sdOffice) which passes
data to the template to do a mail merge. Without using templates, the
sdOffice application encounters constant messages of the document being
in use... We already know it SHOULD be as simple as being a training
issue, but our hands are tied. As Tech Support, we are told we must
help them do things in the wrong way.

So again, all our problems go away if we can perhaps parameterize the
Open to always open the Template as Template - EVEN if the end-user
uses Windows Explorer, and double-clicks on the document name (which
currently opens it as an unnamed '.doc' - as Templates are typically
expected to do.)

Thanks again. Kind regards,
Cole

 

[cole.simonson]

Hi Charles. Yes, I am aware of what you're saying. Please see my
explanation in posting #3 of this set as to why we are using Templates
in this way. We are constrained by circumstance, and opening Templates
as Templates, and then saving them back again as the same Template name
solves a constant problem.
Kind regards,
Cole

 

[cole.simonson]

Hi Charles. Yes, I am aware of what you're saying. Please see my
explanation in posting #3 of this set as to why we are using Templates
in this way. We are constrained by circumstance, and opening Templates
as Templates, and then saving them back again as the same Template name
solves a constant problem.
Kind regards,
Cole

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Read the first sentence of my response.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Read the first sentence of my response.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Cole,

First, my sympathies for having to deal with stupid software.

As much as it hurts me to say it, yes, you can alter Windows Explorer to
open templates directly.

The GUI way is to open Windows Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options > File
Types, select the .DOT extension, click Advanced, click on the Open command,
and click the Set Default button.

If you have to roll this out to a lot of PCs, especially if their users
aren't experts, an easier way is to create a .REG file with the following
contents:

------ cut here ----------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Template.8\shell]
@="Open"
------ cut here ----------

Push this out to each PC and have the user double-click it, and answer Yes
to the prompt.

After using either of these methods, if you right-click a Word template in
Explorer, you should see that the Open command is bold, instead of the New
command which is the usual default action. Double-clicking the icon will
open the template instead of creating a new document.

Good luck!

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

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Cole,

First, my sympathies for having to deal with stupid software.

As much as it hurts me to say it, yes, you can alter Windows Explorer to
open templates directly.

The GUI way is to open Windows Explorer, click Tools > Folder Options > File
Types, select the .DOT extension, click Advanced, click on the Open command,
and click the Set Default button.

If you have to roll this out to a lot of PCs, especially if their users
aren't experts, an easier way is to create a .REG file with the following
contents:

------ cut here ----------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Template.8\shell]
@="Open"
------ cut here ----------

Push this out to each PC and have the user double-click it, and answer Yes
to the prompt.

After using either of these methods, if you right-click a Word template in
Explorer, you should see that the Open command is bold, instead of the New
command which is the usual default action. Double-clicking the icon will
open the template instead of creating a new document.

Good luck!

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

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

You should be taking this up with whoever perpetrates sdOffice.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

You should be taking this up with whoever perpetrates sdOffice.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[cole.simonson]

We have - they say "buy the new version that resolves this issue."
This will happen some time in the future. For now, our hands are tied
and I'm looking for a solution with what we've got.

Is there, perchance, a parameter that can be set in Windows Explorer:

- Under Folder Options
- File Types tab
- For 'DOT Microsoft Word Template'
- Advanced
- Open
- Edit
- Application used to perform action
- "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE" /n
/dde %1

<Note - I saw one posting (of another conversation) that seemed to
suggest it might be to get rid of the '/n' parameter and replace it
with a '/t' - I tried this, but it did not seem to make a difference.
I tried:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE" /t /dde %1

again, to no avail. Isn't there a parameter here where I can tell it
to open the Template as a Template?

If there was, it would solve all our problems.
Thanks all,
Cole

 

[cole.simonson]

We have - they say "buy the new version that resolves this issue."
This will happen some time in the future. For now, our hands are tied
and I'm looking for a solution with what we've got.

Is there, perchance, a parameter that can be set in Windows Explorer:

- Under Folder Options
- File Types tab
- For 'DOT Microsoft Word Template'
- Advanced
- Open
- Edit
- Application used to perform action
- "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE" /n
/dde %1

<Note - I saw one posting (of another conversation) that seemed to
suggest it might be to get rid of the '/n' parameter and replace it
with a '/t' - I tried this, but it did not seem to make a difference.
I tried:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE" /t /dde %1

again, to no avail. Isn't there a parameter here where I can tell it
to open the Template as a Template?

If there was, it would solve all our problems.
Thanks all,
Cole

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Cole,

In case you missed it, go look at my reply in the other branch of this
thread.

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

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Cole,

In case you missed it, go look at my reply in the other branch of this
thread.

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