When you create a document, the umbilical cord between the document and its
template is cut at creation, so even if you later update the template, those
changes will not be reflected in existing documents (nor will changes you
make in the documents affect the templates except when you check "Add to
template" for modified styles). You can reattach the template with
"Automatically update document styles" checked, but that affects only
styles, not any other document formatting or content, such as margins,
header/footer, page size or orientation, etc. You *can* take advantage of
those new settings, however, by creating a new document based on your
revised template and inserting the old document into it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

wrote in message
...
If I format a .dot (long), save as template, AND keep these settings
as current OPTIONS, will those changes apply to ALL my previous
docs??? Even those generated in Word 2000, Word 2001, etc.

Surely I don't have to change settings on each one? (I feel a
hysterical spell coming on. LOL)

If I open a doc completed and saved in 2000 and not opened since, will
it open w/the CURRENT options???

As a writer, it's important for all my .docs to be in basic same
format. Makes completing a long doc a lot easier!

And I just use a template for a letter, invoice, etc...


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