Update template while in use?

[Guest]

Hi

I've got a problem. I want to update a template because of some problems
with the style definitions. There are many user using documents based upon
this template and therefore the template is writeprotected by Word.

Is there any way I can get an update saved to the template even though there
are users using documents based on a template?

/Anders

 

[Charles Kenyon]

No. You have to wait until all users disconnect from the template.

This is one reason for actually downloading workgroup templates to each
user's computer as a part of the login process. (More important with global
templates, but also useful for document templates.) Another reason is that
laptop users will have access to the templates when disconnected from the
network.

This can be done as part of a login script that copies changed or updated
files from the network to the user's computer during login.
--
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


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[Guest]

I was afraid this was the answer...

The problem in my case is that we have a software we have developed
internally for document management. This program uses word templates when
creating new documents, and this library resides on the network.

So it is not possible to place the templates locally, other reasons for this
as well.

But thanks for the knowledge.

/Anders

 

[Guest]

Yep, I can verify from personal experience that if you edit a template while
it's 'in use' on the network, (ie, you see a greyed-out temp file sitting
there in the Workgroup Templates folder; you figure it's some old artifact
from some prior crash, so you delete it and then edit the template), you
will hear an anguished groan emanating from somewhere down the hall as your
colleage who was working on a file created from that template, loses all
their work in a 'mysterious Word crash'. Chuck's warning to have them cloned
on startup (or edit them all at night when nobody's there) is good advice.

Logic would lead you to assume if a colleague on the network double clicks
on a template, and creates 'document 1', and then saves 'document 1' with
some desired name, they've created a new .doc and are no longer 'in' the
template anymore so the template should be able to be edited, corrected, etc.
as needed. I guess that's not entirely true, as the anguished groans
attested. What still confuses me is, if a document is attached to a
template, can the template ever be edited without risking screwing up all
documents that were ever created from it?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/templaterelations/index.html

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Suzanne, thanks for that great link; Shauna is a wonderful writer. Wish we
could see that kind of clear, unobfuscative writing emanating from M'soft!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Office Online has gone a good ways in that direction. The problem is that
the Assistance articles sometimes simplify to the point of being useless. It
seems difficult for some writers to understand that Help is not supposed to
be just marketing. That is, it's no good to say "You can do X. It's really
easy." You have to actually tell *how* to do it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.