Forum Discussion
forcing Word templates to save as new documents
I'm trying to set up a Word template to force users to save their file as a new Word document instead of overwriting the template file, but not having any luck in getting it to work. I've attached a screenshot of what I set up under preferences > save. Does anyone have any idea what I'm missing?
GREENCREST Hi , right click on file, check as "read only", and just open and try to save the file. Hope this helps you.
The secret is to save templates as templates, not documents. Open your "template" and select Save As... Choose Save As Type Word Template (.dotx, rather than the standard .docx). Word likes to relocate templates to default template folders, so be sure to check the folder into which it will be saved.
When users double-click, it will automatically create a new Document X and force them to give it a new filename when saving.
To edit your template, select Open from Word > File OR, in File Explorer, right click on the file name and select Open.
Unfortunately this isn't working the way its supposed to. I saved the files as a dotx file but instead of forcing a resave, it will overwrite the template file. If I mark the file as read-only, it forces it that way, but just saving it as a template doesn't do it.
How are you accessing your .dotx files? Are you going to Word > File > Open...? If so, that's your edit mode. If you choose New instead of Open, then select Personal rather than Office, you should be able to use templates instead of editing them.
GREENCREST I have found that the secret is in how you open the Template. If you go to File:Open you are working in edit mode on the template itself. If you double click on the closed Template, then it will force you to save as a new document.
Badearth5 It would be very nice if the double click worked as it used to and actually opened a new document, or if a right click brought up 'New' as an option, but lately the double click only opens the template (and if you don't check the small print at the top of the screen you may not notice it's .dotx) and right-clicking gives a menu with no 'New' option unless you go down to 'Other' where it is now hidden away. I've complained about this before, including sending in screenshots; there seemed to be a temporary fix, but now it's reverted. In what possible world do people want to edit a template more often than they create a new document from it?
