Word Templates won't hold

[CITIZEN_RENO]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel I've made my template for Word Doc (when I press apple N, the new empty doc I get) 100's of times. I make my normal para, doc, font, keyboard shortcuts, toolbar customizations, exactly as I want and need them. I save it to the My Templates folder in Application Support-Microsoft-Office-User template-my templates. Save them as all the types:
Normal.doc
Normal.docx
Normal.docm
Normal.dot
Normal.dotm
Normal.dotx
And this happens:
Apple N brings me some old template that doesn't exist ANYWHERE on my Mac
I have to use Apple O and go into template folder, open normal.doc, start writing the new doc, then save as a new title, presumably leaving the normal.doc still with my custom normal
If I open an already worked on document, I have no way of knowing if this doc is in the formatting that i want since the hundreds of docs on my hd are from years of trying to get this right and it not working. So, sometimes I'll open an already worked on document, and its in the unwanted "normal", and I'll select all, cut, (or copy), open a normal.doc out of my templates folder, paste the text contents of the old doc into the correct template, save it as the old docs name or even a slightly different name (and delete the old one). And, sometimes, though not every time I do this, the next time I look at this doc, it has all the unwanted formatting again!!!
I bought 2 other word processing programs because this has taken up many many hours of frustration, but I still keep coming back to MS Word since its the first app I ever had back 23 years ago.
WHAT COULD I BE DOING WRONG? I followed what the book said to do to the letter. Trashed all the old templates, all the old Normals, you name it.

 

[John McGhie]

Well... The multiple file types will make a problem if there wasn't one to
begin with

In Word 2008, the Normal Template must be named exactly "Normal.dotm". It
cannot be named anything else, or it won't work. So you need to remove all
files that are named "Normal.<anything else>"

If Word cannot find Normal.dotm, it will go looking for the old Word 2004
template, which was simply called "Normal" (no extension). If it finds
that, and it is a template, it will make a new Normal.dotm using the old one
as a model.

So you need to find and remove the old Normal Template.

Next issue we may have to deal with is "Is the Normal.dotm file a TEMPLATE?"
A Word template file has a different internal structure to a document: the
content is not the same, there are extra bits in a template.

In Word 2008, there are two kinds of template. This file must be saved as a
Format of "Word Macro-Enabled Template (.dotm)" or Word will simply ignore
it, because it can't read it.

Next issue we need to deal with is the location of Normal.dotm. It can be
anywhere on your system, Word does not care where it is, so long as it can
find it.

So the next thing to do is to ask Word where it is:

Look in Word>Preferences>File Locations>User Template. The location
specified there is where the copy of Normal.dotm that Word is actually using
is. As I said, it can be anywhere, it does not even have to be on the local
computer.

If the entry there is blank, select that line and click "Modify". A Finder
window will open with the folder that is the actual location of the instance
of Normal.dotm currently in use highlighted.

Make sure the Normal.dotm in there is not set to "Read Only". If it is,
your changes will be ignored. Also make sure that your user login has write
access permission to that folder. If it hasn't, your changes will be
ignored

Finally, if you have a network, check with the network administrator. There
are two problems you can get on a network.

The first is that you may be sharing a copy of Normal.dotm with another
computer. If you are, Normal.dotm will be replaced by the last user to log
off each night, which is bloody annoying!

A variation of this is if the network administrator has created a login
script that they run when you log in, which replaces the Normal.dotm each
time you log in. Some stupid Admins do this for "standardisation". If you
have one of these Neanderthals at your company, you simply need to create
your own login script that runs after theirs and puts YOUR Normal.dotm BACK
each time. Annoying, but simple to do Don't forget to make your script
move YOUR Normal.dotm somewhere safe each time you log off, so it doesn't
get damaged by the login script next login.

There: A fairly extensive answer. My guess is that your file is not a
"template". In other words, it is "called" Normal.dotm but it is not
actually a "Word Macro-Enabled Template", so Word can't use it.

Hope this helps

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel
I've made my template for Word Doc (when I press apple N, the new empty doc I
get) 100's of times. I make my normal para, doc, font, keyboard shortcuts,
toolbar customizations, exactly as I want and need them. I save it to the My
Templates folder in Application Support-Microsoft-Office-User template-my
templates. Save them as all the types:
Normal.doc
Normal.docx
Normal.docm
Normal.dot
Normal.dotm
Normal.dotx
And this happens:
Apple N brings me some old template that doesn't exist ANYWHERE on my Mac
I have to use Apple O and go into template folder, open normal.doc, start
writing the new doc, then save as a new title, presumably leaving the
normal.doc still with my custom normal
If I open an already worked on document, I have no way of knowing if this doc
is in the formatting that i want since the hundreds of docs on my hd are from
years of trying to get this right and it not working. So, sometimes I'll open
an already worked on document, and its in the unwanted "normal", and I'll
select all, cut, (or copy), open a normal.doc out of my templates folder,
paste the text contents of the old doc into the correct template, save it as
the old docs name or even a slightly different name (and delete the old one).
And, sometimes, though not every time I do this, the next time I look at this
doc, it has all the unwanted formatting again!!!
I bought 2 other word processing programs because this has taken up many many
hours of frustration, but I still keep coming back to MS Word since its the
first app I ever had back 23 years ago.
WHAT COULD I BE DOING WRONG? I followed what the book said to do to the
letter. Trashed all the old templates, all the old Normals, you name it.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Jim Gordon Mac MVP]

John: sometimes merely brilliant; sometimes humorous. This answer
combines brilliance and humor! Bravo! John this would make a great
sidebar in the next All-In-One for Dummies book. May I adapt it and use
it in the next version of the book?

-Jim

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Jim:

Of course you may However, by the time you print the book, we both know
it will all have changed again

Cheers

John: sometimes merely brilliant; sometimes humorous. This answer
combines brilliance and humor! Bravo! John this would make a great
sidebar in the next All-In-One for Dummies book. May I adapt it and use
it in the next version of the book?

-Jim

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Jim Gordon Mac MVP]

Thank you, John.

Hi Jim:

Of course you may However, by the time you print the book, we both know
it will all have changed again

Cheers




This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]