Hi Jay!

Thank you for the advice protecting my sanity... unfortunately I've been
using my inferior 'renaming method' for so long that it already has driven me
bonkers! But thank you for clarifying the global templateS thing. Ignorance
isn't always bliss. Hopefully I am now enlightened.

I really appreciate the time you took to respond. And that goes for everyone
who's helped me with my template queries.
--


Many thanks
JD


"Jay Freedman" wrote:

Hi Jackie,

I'm afraid your "renaming method" is exactly what's getting you into hot
water.

First, to make something clearer: There can be *many* global templates at
the same time -- as many as you want to store in the Startup folder, plus
any you load by using the Add button in the Tools Templates & Add-Ins
dialog. There's no such thing as "the" global template.

However, Normal.dot is special. It serves as both a regular template --
whenever you click File New and ask for a "Blank Document" or click the
New Document toolbar button -- and as an always-present global template that
supplies styles, macros, autotext, toolbars, and shortcuts. You can't run
Word without a Normal.dot; if there isn't one, Word will create a new one
with the factory defaults.

Just as Joyce Kilmer wrote "only God can make a tree", only Word can make a
genuine Normal.dot. If you create any other template and rename it as
Normal.dot, you're getting an inferior imposter. It will be missing the
default set of autotext entries, at the very least. If you stored macros
etc. in the real Normal.dot, they *will* disappear when you substitute the
other template by renaming. Please kill off that "renaming method" before
you drive yourself bonkers!

Part of your problem is in overdoing the customization of your Normal.dot.
If you want a different font or style formatting, make a separate ordinary
template and base some of your documents on it. If you want macros or
toolbars that are available in all documents, save them in a global template
*other than* Normal.dot. Many expert users will, as far as possible, never
change anything in their Normal.dot -- *all* customizations are placed in
other templates.

To make sure you don't lose things that are stored in templates, start doing
regular backups. See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/FilesToBackup.htm for
advice.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org

Jackie D wrote:
Ok, I think I'm clearer now...

But if I could just make sure?

Is the normal.dot template the global template? Or is that the regular
template?

I quite often make changes to the normal.dot template (say to change
the font from Times New Roman to Arial) or I create heading styles in
the new template then save it as a new normal.dot template (and
deleting the old one). I always thought I was altering the global
template but it sounds like I'm not doing anything of the sort.

And I have created keyboard shortcuts (using the same method as
above) but when I open a new template the keyboard shortcuts have
usually disappeared.

Just one last question: I created a macro based on the normal.dot
template (to save a file to two locations), then I modified that
template and re-saved it (again using my renaming method) but when I
opened a new document (File New) the macro had disappeared so I had
to fish it out of the recycle bin. What's the best way to ensure I
don't accidentally delete templates with vital macros in them?

Sorry for so many questions but it's amazing how much I still don't
know about Word given that I've been using it for so many years!

Hi Jackie

A 'regular' template and a global template are the same kind of
file. That is, structurally they can hold the same kinds of things.
What they do, and how you use them, depends on how you use them. (If
that seems mad, consider a large book in a bookshop. Put it on the
floor in front of a door and it functions as a doorstop. Put it on a
shelf and it functions as stock.)

You can base a document on a 'regular' template. You use a regular
template by doing File New and using it as the basis for a new
document.

A global template functions as an add-in. You use a global template
by doing Tools Templates and Add-ins and adding it to the list. If
you get bored doing that, then you can store the file, or a shortcut
to the file, in your Word startup folder, then the global template
will be loaded as an add-in every time you start Word.

A global template does four (and only four) things. It makes
toolbars, keyboard shortcuts, macros and autotexts available to all
open documents.

By contrast, the toolbars, keyboard shortcuts, macros and autotexts
in a 'regular' template are available (that's available, not stored
in) only to documents based on that template.

For further reading:
What do Templates and Add-ins store?
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Custom...latesStore.htm

What is the relationship between a Word document and its template?
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/temp...ons\index.html

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word


"Jackie D" wrote in message
...
Perhaps I should know this already but ...

I'm using Word 2000. Can somebody explain, simply, the difference
between a
global template and a so-called 'regular' template? I thought they
were the
same thing!

I have moved the default loaction of the normal.dot template to a My
Documents (on a different drive). Is this the regular template or
the global
template? And what are the key differences between the two?
--


Many thanks
JD