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#1
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difference between 'regular' template and global template?
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 |
#2
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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 |
#3
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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! -- Many thanks JD "Shauna Kelly" wrote: 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 |
#4
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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 |
#5
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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 |
#6
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You do _not_ want your normal.dot and other templates in My Documents (and
probably not in a subfolder of My Documents). For more on the different kinds of templates, tabs on the file new dialog, and locations of templates folders see http://addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm. -- Charles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. "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 |
#7
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See my previous post explaining the different kinds of templats and their
locations. See http://addbalance.com/word/movetotemplate.htm for step-by-step instructions on moving / sharing / copying / backing-up customizations including AutoText, AutoCorrect, keyboard assignments, toolbars, macros, etc. -- Charles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. "Jackie D" wrote in message ... 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! -- Many thanks JD "Shauna Kelly" wrote: 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 |
#8
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Thank you for the links, Charles
-- Many thanks JD "Charles Kenyon" wrote: You do _not_ want your normal.dot and other templates in My Documents (and probably not in a subfolder of My Documents). For more on the different kinds of templates, tabs on the file new dialog, and locations of templates folders see http://addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm. -- Charles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. "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 |
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