In Word, both templates and add-ins are *.dot files. The difference is
primarily where they're stored (in the User Templates or Workgroup Templates
location for templates; in the Startup location for add-ins) and what
contents they make available to documents. The article at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customizat...latesStore.htm gives the
specifics.
The LAN scheme should work for most purposes, but it may give you occasional
problems. The main one is that if any user on the LAN has the template open,
you won't be able to replace the template. You'd have to do any
fixes/upgrades to the template when no one else is using Word. The other
problem appears if you have any users with laptops, who may need access to
the template when they aren't connected to the LAN.
One solution that has been suggested is a login script that pushes a local
copy of the template to each user's PC whenever they log into the server.
Don't ask me how to do that, though. :-)
--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ:
http://word.mvps.org
Stuart wrote:
Many thanks for the suggestions.
Some of these users are of the 'wilfull' variety ....as soon as you
say "Don't do this" they seem to shrug off their apparent apathy, and
become extremely interested in what you're saying g, like some
users everywhere I guess. They're already exploring the Macros option
from the menubar, but hopefully the VBE is scaring them off!
If one of them gets hold of a pw cracker......
I'm using Office2003 SBE over a Lan network, so I think I'll follow
the VBA route (as long as I can resolve those previously mentioned
issues) to best suit the following needs:
1. to more easily distribute and update via a Lan server
2. with Admin rights, I could place the template in a
hidden folder on the server (to better stop messing
with the template via Windows Explorer).
3. place a button on the Word menubar (making it the only
way to open the template?).
Do you approve of this approach? I have further 'master' documents to
similarly deploy.
Further, despite researching, I do not yet understand the differences
between a template, and Word's version of an addin (eg in Excel, I
would simply distribute this as an addin, having set the appropriate
protection, hidden sheets requirement, etc).
Regards and thanks.
"Jay Freedman" wrote in message
...
Stuart wrote:
I have a template with just 2 Sections. The 1st section
is protected (and contains fields accessible to the user), the 2nd
is not protected.
When a user opens the template, they are actually opening a copy of
the template (as is true for a standard
document). If the user makes changes to the copy and saves it with a
different name, then the template is preserved unchanged. If however
they make changes but save it with the original template's name,
then the template will be overwritten.......I believe this to be
correct?
Can I stop this without using code, please? (I wish to avoid the
macro warning/Certificates issue, if possible).
If not, then I'm going to have to use code...perhaps a test for the
'Save name' in the Document_BeforeClose Event
(if that event exists in the Word Object model).
Regards.
Hi Stuart,
Users are *not* supposed to "open" the template. They're supposed to
place the template file in their Templates folder and use File New
to create new
documents *based* on the template. That avoids the whole messy
situation, as
the template is never altered (except in a few situations that are
best avoided, such as having "Add to template" checked in the Modify
Style dialog).
The best course is one of education -- if a user opens and alters the
template, beat him or her about the head and shoulders with stinging
nettles. :-)
If you can't change that behavior, the next choice is to set the
template file as read-only or place it in a folder to which ordinary
users are given
read access but not write access.
If you need to use macro code, make sure the users all go to Tools
Macro
Security, click the Trusted Publishers tab, and check the box for
"Trust all
installed add-ins and templates". When you put the template
containing code
into the Templates folder (which is a trusted location), there won't
be any
warning or any requirement for a certificate. The macro can check
whether ActiveDocument.Type is wdTypeTemplate and, if so, display a
warning and close the template. See
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...ea8b70f3a22342
for a sample macro.
--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org