templates on network drive

[Guest]

I'm not sure if this is a Windows question or Excel question, so I'm starting
here. A client has Win XP/Office 2003. She would like to be able to use the
File, New command to access Excel templates (.xlt files) that are saved on a
network drive. She would like these templates to appear on their own own tab
in the dialog box when clicking on "On my computer..." Any suggestions?
Thanks!

 

[Guest]

I'm not sure if this is a Windows question or Excel question, so I'm starting
here. A client has Win XP/Office 2003. She would like to be able to use the
File, New command to access Excel templates (.xlt files) that are saved on a
network drive. She would like these templates to appear on their own own tab
in the dialog box when clicking on "On my computer..." Any suggestions?

Click on Tools>Options then select the General tab and change the Alternate
Startup file location as described in this extract from the help file
entitled "Guidelines for storing templates" :-

To use templates stored on a network file location, you can specify that
location as the alternate startup folder. Custom templates stored in the
XLStart folder or the alternate startup folder appear on the General tab in
the New dialog box (File menu).

Alternatively, as Excel is part of MS office, the default template folder
can be set in MS Word (Tools, Options, File Locations)

 

[Dave Peterson]

But this will open all those templates in the alternate startup location each
time she opens excel.

 

[Dave Peterson]

You can specify a workgroup template location in MSWord and excel will use it.


Inside MSWord
Tools|options|File Locations tab|
Workgroup templates

 

[Guest]

But this will open all those templates in the alternate startup location each
time she opens excel.

Strange, it didn't when I tried it ;-)

 

[Guest]

You can specify a workgroup template location in MSWord and excel will use it.


Inside MSWord
Tools|options|File Locations tab|
Workgroup templates

That's precisely what I'd said...

 

[Dave Peterson]

You're right. It didn't open it for me when I tested it. (I should have tried
it before my other post.)

 

[Dave Peterson]

Yes you did.

That's precisely what I'd said...

 

[Dave Peterson]

So if you put templates in that alternate startup location, how did you get to
choose them when you did the File|New?

 

[RagDyeR]

BUT fellas, I believe that the OP is asking for a *separate* tab in the
<File> <New> window.

What you describe, adds the *contents* of the folder in the specified WORD
workgroups file to the "General" tab.
Also, WBs (templates) that are contained in the folder designated in XL's
Alternate StartUp Location will be displayed under the "General" tab.

There are several ways to add *separate* tabs to the <File> <New> window.
Since the OP mentioned Office, then going through Word might be the easiest.

All you have to do to create a separate tab is create a new folder *in* the
folder you designated as the WORD Workgroups folder.
A strange thing here though, is that this folder within a folder will *not*
display as a separate tab in the <File> <New> window *unless it is
populated*!!!

Create this folder within a folder, and see nothing when you go to <File>
<New>.
Add a WS to this folder, and it now becomes a tab, displayed in <File>
<New>.
And this WS can be an .xls OR .xlt file, and it still acts as a template,
opening a copy of the original, preserving the actual original from
revisions.

As many folders as you create within the Word Workgroups main folder will
display as that many *separate* tabs in the <File> <New> window, each
needing to be populated to be displayed.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================



Yes you did.

 

[Guest]

"RagDyeR" skrev:

BUT fellas, I believe that the OP is asking for a *separate* tab in the
<File> <New> window.

What you describe, adds the *contents* of the folder in the specified WORD
workgroups file to the "General" tab.
Also, WBs (templates) that are contained in the folder designated in XL's
Alternate StartUp Location will be displayed under the "General" tab.

There are several ways to add *separate* tabs to the <File> <New> window.
Since the OP mentioned Office, then going through Word might be the easiest.

All you have to do to create a separate tab is create a new folder *in* the
folder you designated as the WORD Workgroups folder.
A strange thing here though, is that this folder within a folder will *not*
display as a separate tab in the <File> <New> window *unless it is
populated*!!!

Create this folder within a folder, and see nothing when you go to <File>
<New>.
Add a WS to this folder, and it now becomes a tab, displayed in <File>
<New>.
And this WS can be an .xls OR .xlt file, and it still acts as a template,
opening a copy of the original, preserving the actual original from
revisions.

As many folders as you create within the Word Workgroups main folder will
display as that many *separate* tabs in the <File> <New> window, each
needing to be populated to be displayed.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================



Yes you did.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for good suggestions. Now my templates work in Excel. But as I
have many templates in Word too, when opering Excel I now get warnings for
all the ".dot" files!!!??? Any suggestions to solve this problem??

Regards Bodiller

"RagDyeR" skrev:

 

[Guest]

Sorry to have troubled you - have solved the problem
Regards
Bodiller

"Bodiller" skrev:

 

[Ragdyer]

It would be nice of you to share what you did to solve your problem.

Don't forget that others may run into similar problems, and perhaps they'll
not be as fortunate as you to find a solution.
Just as you received help here, wouldn't it be nice to help someone
yourself?

If I were to guess at what you did, I would say that perhaps you created
another separate folder within the Workgroups folder, exclusively for .dot
files.

Actually, if done correctly, that folder within the Workgroups folder,
should be able to contain .dot and .xls and .xlt files, but *only* the files
pertaining to the application that opened the <File> <New> window should be
displayed.

Also, if there are *no* files in the folder that pertain to an app, then the
tab itself will not display in that app, even though the folder is populated
with files from the other Office apps. So, take out all the .dot files, and
leave the .xls files, and the tab is invisible to Word, but *is* displayed
in XL, and vice versa.

 

[Guest]

You are so right - I am new at this.

Yes I did as you thought. Under "templates" on the server drive - I created
EXCEL and WORD and moved the files to the respective files.

I am sure that with all the .dot and .xlt files in one folder, only the .xlt
files would open FILE - NEW. The problem was, that when opening EXCEL, the
warnings regarding the .dot files came.!!

In Excel under TOOLS - OPTIONS - GENERAL - AT STARTUP , OPEN ALL FILES IN:
"drive in question":\"name of folder" (templates)

In Word under TOOLS - OPTIONS - FILE LOCATIONS - WORKGROUP TEMPLATES ---- I
entered as in Excel.

And it works beautifully - thanks!!
Regards
Bodiller

"Ragdyer" skrev:

 

[RagDyer]

If I understand your feedback, I think the reason you had a conflict is
because you created 2 *different* template systems!

I'm not advocating that you change anything, since you say that everything
is working fine, and if it ain't broke, why fix it?
But this is what I believe is the actual scenario.

MS placed a group (network) template feature for Office in Word, I guess
because "everybody" who has Office, has Word, but not everybody has XL.
So, using Word, you can access all the Office apps, including XL.

But they also created something that can be used in XL, even if it's in a
"stand-alone" mode (Word not installed).
That's the "Alternate Start-Up" file location (which is used for more then
just templates).
However, that "Alternate" file location is exclusively XL's.
You placed .dot files in there, so that's why you received error messages,
since those .dot files weren't recognized by XL.

The Word "Work Groups" feature *is* made to recognize and accept all Office
app files.
So, if you decide at some time in the future to streamline your system, you
could eliminate the files and folders in XL's Alternate Start-Up file
location, and move everything into the Work Groups folder.
As I explained before, you can have all your templates in one folder, where
*only* the Word templates display in Word, and *only* the XL templates
display in XL.