Using Word Templates on a Network

[Sara]

I would like to hear from people who have experience in
using Word for shared documents on a network. Our company
recently switched from WordPerfect to Word. We have Word
2000 and 2002 on a Windows 2000 AD network. I am trying
to decide whether I should create document templates for
everyone to use. It seems as though we should either
automate totally, or not at all! The company has
standardized formats for the various types of documents we
produce. All documents are finished by word processing
specialists before they are sent to clients, so there is
no expectation that the staff writing the documents will
be Word experts, or even know how to use Styles or create
a Table of Contents.

So far, I have one type of document which gets formatted
using a template and styles. Users will copy existing
documents and edit them for new purposes, so documents
formatted using this template are all over the network
now. We are getting unexpected results when people edit
documents, possibly because of the interaction between
their Normal.dot template and the document template(?),
with the result that the formats are completely fouled up.

Can someone out there give me an idea of how documents can
be shared on a network without getting mis-formatted and
without templates and styles getting changed?

 

[Bill]

Couple of pointers:

1. Place your templates in a specific network folder and have each use set
their "WorkGroup Templates" setting under "Tools", "Options", "File
Locations" to that folder. If you want to get fancy (which is what I do),
you can create a simple UserForm that lists all of your templates, have a
macro that is placed on a toolbar that opens the form, provides you with a
listing of all your templates with a button to open a new document based on
that template. These items can be contained in an add-in template that
everyone in your company can have access to.

2. If your templates use specific "Styles", make sure that the styles are
"Based on Normal style". If they are, different folks will get different
results depending on the font changes that were made to the Style For
example, if your "Normal" style is "ARIAL 10" and you create a style in your
template that is based on the Normal font but all you did was change the
size to 12 and the style to BOLD. When someone opens this document and uses
Times New Roman as their "base" style, that style will be Times new Roman,
12, BOLD. See the problem. With that said, I ALWAYS create new Styles
based on "None", then specify the font, size, style, etc.

Hope this helps!

Bill Foley
www.pttinc.com

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Like Bill, I do not base styles on normal. Usually I will have a base
paragraph style and a base character style. Other styles will be based on
those.

That said, though, the problem Bill notes is due to having the box under
Tools => Templates and Add-Ins for automatically updating styles checked.
This box should (almost) never be checked. If it isn't checked, the styles
in an existing document don't care what the styles in the attached template
are.


--

Charles Kenyon

See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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[Charles Kenyon]

I'll post separately to add to Bill's thoughts on networked templates.
General comments on converting from WP to Word:

--
Word and Word Perfect work very differently from one another. Each program's
methods have strengths and weaknesses; but, if you try to use one of these
programs as if it were the other, it is like pushing on a string! You can
easily make a lot of extra work for yourself. If you are unwilling to take
the time to learn to use Word's methods, you should stick to using Word Pad.
You'll have a lot less grief, although you'll miss out on a lot of raw
power.

See <URL: http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm>
<URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WordVsWordPerfect.htm>
<URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/TipsAndGotchas.htm>
<URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm>
<URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WordPerfectConverters.htm>
<URL:
http://businesssoft.about.com/compute/businesssoft/library/blconvert.htm>
for information on Word for Word Perfect users.

--
For more:
<URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm>
<URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart1.htm>
<URL: http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm>
<URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm>
<URL: http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm>
<URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/WhatTemplatesStore.htm>

In Word 2000 (or later) You can get the function keys to display in a
special toolbar at the bottom of the screen if you want (something like
pressing F3 twice in WP). The following macro will do this.
Sub ShowMeFunctionKeys()
Commandbars("Function Key Display").Visible = True
End Sub

Learn about Styles - really learn! <URL:
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm> I resisted for years and
now regret every day of those years because although that string was still
very hard to push, it kept getting longer and longer, and had some very
important projects tied to it!

Most WP users are accustomed to using macros to store boilerplate text. In
Word use AutoText for this, instead.
--

Charles Kenyon

See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Get people out of the habit of opening old documents to create new ones. The
best way to do this is to have a good supply of custom templates for them to
use and to refuse to help them fix problems they cause using old documents
instead. You need both the carrot and the stick here.

Bill mentioned workgroup templates but I'm repeating it to stress how
important the workgroup templates folder is. Use it. People can start new
documents using File => New and have choices.

You can put custom toolbars, autotext, and macros in one or more global
templates (which do _not_ go in the workgroup templates folder. They go in a
user's startup folder. A good distribution scheme is to set up users'
network logins to copy these (if changed) from the server to each user's
hard drive in the folder marked for their Word Startup folder.

You have a big task. Good luck.
--

Charles Kenyon

See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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[PTT, Inc.]

Thanks for the added support! I have even taken it to the next level and
created an add-in (*.dot) file in the Startup Folder path that loads a
toolbar with a userform that provides access to all of your companies
templates, then by clicking an option button to select your template and
some command button to run the code, a new document is opened based on that
template. Do yourself a favor and look into automating this process as much
as possible. Your company will spend more time making money and less time
with the paperwork associated with it. Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox.

I plan on working with the Word MVPs to see about providing a tutorial
(example) on the Word FAQ on this topic. Until then, start fixing up those
templates!

Bill Foley, Microsoft MVP (PowerPoint)
www.pttinc.com