Templates in Word Startup Folder are not loading

Copper Contributor

Hi!

 

We have a custom word template that is copied to every users's %appdata%\Microsoft\Word\Startup folder.   There also also vendor provided templates in that folder for a couple of our applications (Worldox, compareDocs)

 

For some users, the templates in the Startup folder will not load.   All of these templates should add a tab to the ribbon in Word.  There seems to be no pattern regarding OS build or Office build regarding whether the templates load for a particular user or not.  

 

We have checked and the templates are in the Startup folder and that folder is a trusted location.

For some users, the templates will show up as inactive.  You can make them active, however, the setting does not persist.  After closing Word and reopening, the templates are inactive again.

 

For other users, the templates do not show up in the list at all (as either active, inactive, or disabled).

 

For another group of users, everything works as expected.

 

We also have a Remote Desktop farm, and the templates don't load for one group of users, but load correctly for the rest of the users in the organization. 

 

Any ideas where else we can look to troubleshoot this issue?

 

5 Replies

@scarroll2The location of the Startup Folder can be customized. In addition, there is a second Office Startup folder that can be used. See my page on this: Startup Folder. I do not know why you are seeing this behavior. I generally load about 30 Add-Ins on my personal machine.

Thanks Charles.

We figured out one of the issues we were having. WE are going to work with the affected users to customize the Startup Folder location and see if that resolves their problems.

@scarroll2 

Here are some of the macros I used to discover or install in the Word StartUp folder. At least one of them is more than 20 years old.

 

Sub StartUpOpenStartupPath()
' Opens Windows Explorer window for Startup Folder
' Charles Kyle Kenyon 2018-02-14
'
Shell "explorer " & Application.StartupPath

End Sub

 

Sub ShowWorkGroupFolder()
'
' ShowWorkGroupFolder Macro
' Macro written 11/04/2000 by Charles K. Kenyon
' Displays currently set WorkGroup Folder location for application
'
' If this is being run with the file containing the code as the Active Document,
' it will further instruct the user that the
' startup folder is the location to hold this file.
' Otherwise, it just gives the information.
'
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
'
Selection.Collapse ' to keep from deleting macrobutton by a keypress after running macro
'
'
'
MsgBox Prompt:="Your WorkGroup Templates Folder location is " & _
Options.DefaultFilePath(wdWorkgroupTemplatesPath), Buttons:=vbOKOnly, _
title:="Current WorkGroup Templates Folder Setting Information"
'

On Error GoTo -1
Exit Sub
'
ErrorHandler: ' No Workgroup Templates Folder Loctation set
MsgBox Prompt:="The location of the WorkGroup Templates Folder has not been set on this Computer." _
& Chr(13) & Chr(10) & Chr(13) & Chr(10) & _
"You can set a folder location now.", _
title:="No WorkGroup Templates Folder Location Set", _
Buttons:=vbInformation

Dialogs(wdDialogToolsOptionsFileLocations).Show
On Error GoTo -1
End Sub
' ==========================================================================
Sub StartupShowStartUpPath()
' Macro written by Charles Kenyon 2014-02-25
' Shows setting for Startup Folder location in Microsoft Word in a message box.
'
MsgBox _
Prompt:="Your StartUp folder location is " & Application.StartupPath & _
"." & Chr(13) & Chr(10) & Chr(13) & Chr(10) & ".", _
Buttons:=vbOKOnly, _
title:="Current Startup Folder Setting Information"

' See also StartupOpenStartupPath
' Shell "explorer " & Application.StartupPath
'
End Sub

 

Sub TemplatesPathIsMacro()
'
' TemplatesPathIsMacro Macro
' Macro written 3 December 2001 by Charles Kyle Kenyon
'
Dim sUserTemplatesLocation As String
Dim sWorkgroupTemplatesLocation As String
Dim sStartUpTemplatesLocation As String
'
sUserTemplatesLocation = Options.DefaultFilePath(wdUserTemplatesPath) & "\"
sWorkgroupTemplatesLocation = Options.DefaultFilePath(wdWorkgroupTemplatesPath) & "\"
sStartUpTemplatesLocation = Options.DefaultFilePath(wdStartupPath) & "\"
'
MsgBox Prompt:="The user templates are in:" & vbCrLf _
& sUserTemplatesLocation & vbCrLf & vbCrLf _
& "The Workgroup Templates are in:" & vbCrLf _
& sWorkgroupTemplatesLocation & vbCrLf & vbCrLf _
& "The Startup (Add-In) Templates are in:" & vbCrLf _
& sStartUpTemplatesLocation, _
title:="Templates location settings"
End Sub

 

Sub InstallAddIn()
' Saves the template containing code in user's startup folder
' User must allow running of macro
' written by Charles Kenyon December 5, 2016
' https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_word-msoffice_custom/how-to-install-a-wo...
'
Dim strStartup As String
strStartup = Application.StartupPath
ThisDocument.SaveAs2 (strStartup & "\" & ThisDocument.Name)
End Sub

 

 

 

@scarroll2 

There is probably a Group Policy setting on your Office installation that has “Disabled UI extending from documents and templates” and you will need to have your IT people change that setting for which additional information can be seen at:

https://admx.help/?Category=Office2016&Policy=office16.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows::L_NoExtens...

Based on information from

https://getadmx.com/HKCU/software/policies/microsoft/office/16.0/common/toolbars/word

if that policy is set, you will probably see the following Registry Setting

Disable UI extending from documents and templates

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\common\toolbars\word\noextensibilitycustomizationfromdocument

If so, change the setting from 1 to 0

This assumes that you can get access to the registry, which will require Administrator privileges.

Thanks, the templates load without issue for most of our users. The same policies are applied across the board to everyone. the user can either make the template active or move it to one of the other locations you mention in your article and the templates will load.