Forum Discussion
cedi0003
Nov 20, 2023Copper Contributor
Problem transferring my Word shortcuts to clean local installs of Word using custom .dotm -> AppData
Here are my circumstances: University campus where I am frequently changing between PCs, with the following properties Each PC I access has a shared intranet e.g., C:\Users\[myName] and my OneDr...
- Nov 20, 2023
Chris Woodman's utility is not an .exe file. His original is a .dot template and my updated version is a .dotm template.
Styles should be stored in document, not global templates. The Normal template is an exception but should not be a shared template. Look into using a Workgroup Templates folder to hold your document templates. You can copy styles from one template to another using the Organizer. You should also look into storing some style customizations in [Quick] Style Sets. See my article [Quick] Style Sets and Word Themes in Microsoft Word.
- You can set your Word Startup Folder to be any folder you want. You do not use templates in the startup folder as the basis for new documents. These are Global Templates that share many customizations with all other documents and templates when they are "loaded.." They are automatically loaded by being in the Startup Folder.
- When you double-click on a .dotx or .dotm template, it creates a new document based on that template and is attached to that template. See What is the relationship between a Microsoft Word document and its template? Keyboard shortcuts, macros, and QAT modifications in a document template are not inherited by the document but are available so long as the template is attached. The same modifications that are in a global template are available in all documents on a machine where that template is loaded. Styles in a template become styles in the document and travel with the document.
- Editing, renaming, and copying templates that contain keyboard shortcuts does not change the shortcuts.
- I keep my Normal.dotm, my User Templates Folder, my Workgroup Templates folder and my Startup Folder in folders on my computer which are synced to Dropbox. I have all of my computers synced to the same Dropbox folders but the settings for the file locations of those are the local files that are synced. I am not that trusting of cloud folders. In addition, I regularly backup my Normal.dotm file using a macro. Backup Normal.dotm template using a macro
- My custom building blocks are virtually all stored in global templates, not in the Building Blocks.dotx file nor the Normal.dotm file.
- See Word 2007 & Later Key Data File Locations for other files that you may want to be backing up, especially including language-specific custom dictionary files and AutoCorrect. See How to Backup/Copy/Move AutoCorrect Entries and Mastering the Spelling Checker by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP .
cedi0003
Nov 20, 2023Copper Contributor
Thank you Charles. The "What is the relationship between a Microsoft Word document and its template?" essay was very useful and to-the-point (although the inner-workings of Word are amusingly arcane)
So if I understand correctly:
- Styles/content/page layout are inherited once at conception, then interact no more
- Keyboard shortcuts (and macros and some other things) exist in an ongoing relationship with the template
So, I think some of the strange behaviour I was observing was not that renaming removed shortcuts from my templates, but that it severed the connection between the template and its children.
If I need to move a template, is there a way to explicitly direct a child to where its template now lives?
My main goal is to not sever the connection while using 50 different unsynced versions of Word.
I'd like to follow best practice in regards to where I store things, but also I want to expediate very quickly setting up on new machines. I should note that I don't have admin access on these machine.
So, would you advise that I change the start-up folder to a dedicated startup folder on my OneDrive every time I sit at a new machine (and back up to avoid cloud troubles)?
Edit:
"Styles should be stored in document, not global templates"
Some of the shortcuts I want to always have available are style shortcuts. So they are excluded from global template, is that correct?
Will this be effective?
- Make a OneDrive folder with two subfolders, startup and user templates
- In "startup", make a dotx (dotm?) that has all shortcuts other than style shortcuts
- In "user templates", make a dotx that acts as a style template, including style shortcuts
- At each new machine, open "file locations" dialogue and direct it to these two folders on my OneDrive
Charles_Kenyon
Nov 20, 2023Bronze Contributor
cedi0003 wrote:
Thank you Charles. The "What is the relationship between a Microsoft Word document and its template?" essay was very useful and to-the-point (although the inner-workings of Word are amusingly arcane)
So if I understand correctly:
- Styles/content/page layout are inherited once at conception, then interact no more
- Keyboard shortcuts (and macros and some other things) exist in an ongoing relationship with the template
So, I think some of the strange behaviour I was observing was not that renaming removed shortcuts from my templates, but that it severed the connection between the template and its children.
If I need to move a template, is there a way to explicitly direct a child to where its template now lives?
My main goal is to not sever the connection while using 50 different unsynced versions of Word.
I'd like to follow best practice in regards to where I store things, but also I want to expediate very quickly setting up on new machines. I should note that I don't have admin access on these machine.
So, would you advise that I change the start-up folder to a dedicated startup folder on my OneDrive every time I sit at a new machine (and back up to avoid cloud troubles)?
Edit:
"Styles should be stored in document, not global templates"
Some of the shortcuts I want to always have available are style shortcuts. So they are excluded from global template, is that correct?
Will this be effective?
- Make a OneDrive folder with two subfolders, startup and user templates
- In "startup", make a dotx (dotm?) that has all shortcuts other than style shortcuts
- In "user templates", make a dotx that acts as a style template, including style shortcuts
- At each new machine, open "file locations" dialogue and direct it to these two folders on my OneDrive
Style shortcuts should be in the same file as the styles.
- Again, styles are best stored in document templates, not global templates.
- You can have styles in global .dotm templates that use macros to transfer the styles. See A Global StyleSheet in Microsoft Word?
- In most cases, a better solution would be [Quick] Style Sets.
Re-acquainting a document with its attached template or attaching a new template.
- What happens when I attach a new template to my document? or How do I copy content and settings from a template to a document? by Shauna Kelly MVP
- If a document is moved to a new computer, it will look for its templates. There is a hierarchy of locations where it will look. Which template is attached if there are multiple templates with the same name.
I expect that the OneDrive folders will work.
When you have a .dotx (or .dotm) template in your user templates folder the way you use that is to create a new document based on the template. That way, that template's resources are available to it and your styles are already in the document to be activated by any shortcuts. I have a few custom styles that I use, but mostly I use the built-in styles and modify them to suit my needs. For those built-in styles which will be available in every document, keyboard shortcuts in global templates work well. I have a global template that has keyboard shortcuts for headings 4-9 that correspond with the built-in ones for heading 1-3.
50 different computers that you are using? Seriously? If these are not your computers, I would say your cloud solution will work. I prefer to have these folders on my local computer, synced to the cloud folders, rather than referring directly to the cloud folders. But, I use a laptop and want my use of Word to be independent of having an Internet connection.
Note that File > New will not look in your user templates folder for templates unless that folder is also designated as the default save location for new templates. File New Variations in the Versions of Word (Word will look for your normal.dotm template in the user templates, though.) Templates that are stored in the Workgroup templates folder will be available in any version of Word when you use File > New.
Your active Normal.dotm template will always be the one that is in your user templates folder.
Take a look at the free Template Add-Ins on my downloads page and try some of them to get an idea of what you can accomplish with Global templates in the Startup Folder.