Launching word from a hyperlink

[Len B]

Word 2003, Windows 2003 (term server).
An excel workbook called FormIndex.xls lists all the corporate forms and
each entry hyperlinks to a Word template (.dot) file in a folder structure
which groups similar forms together.

When a template is launched by double-clicking it in its home folder,
everything works fine and the new document name created defaults to *.doc -
as expected.

However, when a template is launched using the hyperlink, the file type
defaults to .dot and users routinely forget to change this to .doc - as
expected.

Can anyone say why this is so and,
is there a way to have the save behaviour behave in the usual manner?

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hello Len

Word 2003, Windows 2003 (term server).
An excel workbook called FormIndex.xls lists all the corporate forms and
each entry hyperlinks to a Word template (.dot) file in a folder structure
which groups similar forms together.

When a template is launched by double-clicking it in its home folder,
everything works fine and the new document name created defaults to *.doc -
as expected.

However, when a template is launched using the hyperlink, the file type
defaults to .dot and users routinely forget to change this to .doc - as
expected.

same behavior as in a browser (say: IE): a hyperlink should really take
you to the target. That means your users are in fact opening the
template itself (instead of the familiar creation of a new document
_based_ on the template, as in what a double-click does).

Can anyone say why this is so and,
is there a way to have the save behaviour behave in the usual manner?

The usual workaround is to (in the given folder) create a shortcut to
the template, and then let the hyperlink point to the LNK file instead
of to the template itself.

HTH
Robert