Legal office wants all users to start w/ same Word 2007 file-yes?

[Jugglertwo]

I just started working with our legal department and they came to me with
this request:
1) They want all users (about 20) to start with the same file when they
start Word 2007.
2) They really want all the users to have the same font and size to start
with, same margins, same styles available to them and the same building
blocks.
3) Is this possible or not?
4) I read some of the posts and the referred to web site. Several mentioned
not sharing the normal.dotx(m) template.
5) What is the best way to handle this request from my new boss?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Jugglertwo

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You could start by pointing your boss to the referenced KB article (“You
cannot share the Normal.dot file among multiple users in Word†at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811468) and explaining that this is just
not the way Word is designed to work. A document template in the workgroup
templates folder, along with user training, is what is required. Note that,
although the KB article has not been updated for Word 2007, it applies
equally to Normal.dotm.

FWIW, it is much more common for a department to need multiple document
templates, each customized for a specific task.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Jugglertwo]

Thank you for the information. I will read the referenced web site.
Thanks again!
It is very much appreciated !
Jugglertwo

 

[Gordon Bentley-Mix on news.microsoft.com]

In my experience, a commonly-used solution to ensure that all users are
"singing from the same hymn book" in re the Normal template is to set up a
login script that refreshes the Normal template every time the user logs in.
The script just replaces the user's Normal template with a "clean" version
copied from a protected location.

Of course, this approach also tends to piss off some users because it wipes
out any customisations that the user may have saved in the Normal template -
keyboard shortcuts, macros, AutoText entries, etc. However, you can always
direct such complaints to your new boss and let him/her deal with the
fallout. ;-P
--
Cheers!

Gordon Bentley-Mix
Word MVP

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