Question

Change the location of MS Word Normal.DOT Template

Asked by: DAIIT

How do I change the default location of Microsoft Word's "Normal.dot" template in the Registry?

On each users settings in MS Word, we've set the "User Templates" location (Tools / Options / User templates) to a default location for retrieval of our companies templates (i.e. FAX, Memo, Letterhead, etc...).  We should have set this in the "Workgroup Templates" not the "User Templates".  We would like to change this on each workstation without having to touch each PC.  I've done a search in the registry for NORMAL.DOT but it did not find anything.

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-04-07 at 15:03:03ID24303885
Tags

word

,

normal.dot

,

template

Topic

Microsoft Word

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
4

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Changes made to normal.dot and global.dot in Word
    I've upgraded from Office 97 to Office 2000 and now getting the following message on a regular basis. "Changes have been made to normal.dot and then another message "Changes have been made to global.dot. I don't recall this message with Office 97. I can't say fo...
  2. Normal.dot issue
    In a Windows Server 2003 network I have the users workgroup template path in Word 2003 set to the server via a group policy entry. I have the User template path set to the local machine "C:\Documents and Settings\%user name%\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates" S...
  3. workgroup template or user template location for normal.dot
    Workstations have their template locations set as follows: User templates: c:\... (location on local drive) Workgroup templates: Q:\MSOffice\templates (mapped netword drive on server). I am getting errors, "Normal.dot is in use..." and I think this is becau...
  4. Normal.dot
    In Word the deletion of normal.dot can correct a myriad of user problems. Is there such a file for Excel and or Access and if so what are the names?

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: dopyiiiPosted on 2009-04-08 at 06:52:42ID: 24097220

You can change the default normal.dot location by adding a new string called UserTemplates to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\General

  You can get there by:
   A. Go to Start > Run > type regedit and hit enter.
   B. In the left side browser/folder tree, expand following the path indicated above
   C. Once you click on General, you'll see stuff on the right side.
   D.  Right-click on the right side of the window and choose New > String value
   E. Give it the name UserTemplates and hit enter
   F. Now, doubleclick the new UserTemplates entry you just made
   G. For the value, enter the path you want to use for your user templates (and Normal.dot) location
   H. Click OK and close the registry editor
   I. Restart Word and the setting should have take place

Note for <version>, substitute the version that corresponds with your install: 9.0 for Office 2000, 10.0 for Office 2002/XP, 11.0 for Office 2003, and 12.0 for Office 2007.

Incidentally, if you want to change the workgroup templates location, you can do the same process, except add a string in the same place called SharedTemplates, and give it the value of the path you want to use.



 

by: dopyiiiPosted on 2009-04-08 at 06:53:42ID: 24097230

That <version> comment will make a lot more sense if the registry path is:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Common\General

 

by: DAIITPosted on 2009-04-08 at 06:59:21ID: 24097292

Thanks!!  I found that path in the Registry.

My question now is, how do I change that registry setting without visiting each workstation?  I can open my registry & connect to another user's registry, but, I don't have the option to get to their "Current_User" portion of the registry.

If I have to edit each user's registry by connecting to their PC, then I'll just edit the MS Word settings within Word application.

 

by: dopyiiiPosted on 2009-04-08 at 07:19:34ID: 24097529

Well, can you add a global login script for each user? If so, you could put a script together that just does this:
regedit /s registryFix.reg

Here's how you'd make the registry file:
1. Add the appropriate Key values in your registry with the right information
2. Click File > Export to export the whole General key
3. Edit the exported file and delete all of the string values except for the one or two you want to add
4. Save the .reg file

Now, if you can push the login script out for each user (I'm assuming you're using AD or something like that), and tell everyone to reboot to get the fix.

If you can't do a script, you might have to resort to emailing out the .reg file and ask people to double-click it and click the Merge button. Not elegant, but it'd work for most people.

Beyond that, I suppose the solution depends on how your network is setup and administered. Perhaps you know of an easier way to push out a change administratively (say, though group policy?).

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...