MORE INFORMATION
When you click New on the File menu, Word looks in the following places
to decide which templates to display in the File New dialog box:
- User Templates path or Workgroup Templates path
- Word program folder
The same search path is used when Word is installed as part of
Microsoft Office for Windows 95 or Microsoft Office 97 for Windows.
User Templates Path
If you installed Word as a stand-alone program, Word first looks for
the User Templates path. This path is listed on the File Locations tab,
which you can examine by choosing Options from the Tools menu. If no
folder is specified here (if the folder was deleted, moved, or renamed
during the current Word session), Word displays the message "Do you
want to create the directory now?" If you answer "No," Word looks in
the program folder for the templates.
Workgroup Templates Path
If you performed a workstation setup of Word, Word first looks for the
Workgroup Templates path. This path is listed on the File Locations
tab. To examine the path, click Options on the Tools menu. If the
folder does not exist (it was deleted, moved, or renamed during the
current Word session), Word displays the message "Do you want to create
the directory now?" If you answer "No," Word looks in the program
folder for the templates.
Word Program Folder
This is the last place Word looks for templates. Word stores any
templates in its Program folder if it cannot find the path specified by
the User Templates path or Workgroup Templates path and if you have
answered "No" to the prompt "Do you want to create the directory now?"
How to Change Where Word Looks for Templates
User Templates
To specify a new template location, follow these steps:
- On the Tools menu, click Options.
- Click the File Locations tab.
- Click User Templates and click Modify.
- Type the new path that you want Word to use.
- Click OK and then click Close.
When Word 7.0 is first installed, Setup points this setting to the
MSOffice\Templates subfolder. When Word 97 is first installed, Setup
points this setting to the Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates
subfolder.
Workgroup Templates
To specify a new workgroup template location, follow these steps:
- On the Tools menu, click Options.
- Click the File Locations tab.
- Click Workgroup Templates, and then click Modify.
- Enter the new path that you want Word to use for locating its shared
templates.
- Click OK and then click Close.
When Word is initially installed, this setting is left blank by Word
Setup during a stand-alone setup. During a workstation setup, this
setting is set to where the Word templates were installed on the
network server during the administrative setup.
Changing Template Locations Using the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar
Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office for Windows share a common template
path. The User Templates path is set to MSOffice\Templates (Microsoft
Office 7.0) or Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates (Microsoft
Office 97) and the Workgroup Templates path is left blank by both
Office Setup and Word Setup in a stand-alone installation. In the case
of a workstation installation, the User Templates path is set to the
local user's MSOffice\Templates folder for Word 7.0 or Office 7.0 (and
Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates for Word 97 or Office 97), and
the Workgroup Templates path is set to the shared administrative
installation templates directory on the network server.
Because Office and Word share a common template path, when you change
the User Templates path or the Workgroup Templates path from Office or
from Word, the change will be reflected in the other programs.
To Change the Template Location Using the Office Shortcut Bar
- Double-click a blank area of the Microsoft Office Shortcut toolbar.
The Customize dialog box appears.
- Click the Settings tab.
- Select the item to change (for example, User Templates Location),
and click Modify.
- In the Setting line, type the new path for the templates.
- Click OK, and then click OK again.