ID: Q138059
The information in this article applies to:
This article describes how Setup sets the template path and how you can change where Word looks for templates.
When you click New on the File menu, Word looks in the following places to decide which templates to display in the File New dialog box:
1. User Templates path or Workgroup Templates path 2. Word program folder
The same search path is used when Word is installed as part of Microsoft Office for Windows 95 or Microsoft Office 97 for Windows.
If you installed Word as a stand-alone program, Word first looks for the User Templates path. This path is listed on the File Locations tab, which you can examine by choosing Options from the Tools menu. If no folder is specified here (if the folder was deleted, moved, or renamed during the current Word session), Word displays the message "Do you want to create the directory now?" If you answer "No," Word looks in the program folder for the templates.
If you performed a workstation setup of Word, Word first looks for the Workgroup Templates path. This path is listed on the File Locations tab. To examine the path, click Options on the Tools menu. If the folder does not exist (it was deleted, moved, or renamed during the current Word session), Word displays the message "Do you want to create the directory now?" If you answer "No," Word looks in the program folder for the templates.
This is the last place Word looks for templates. Word stores any templates in its Program folder if it cannot find the path specified by the User Templates path or Workgroup Templates path and if you have answered "No" to the prompt "Do you want to create the directory now?"
To specify a new template location, follow these steps:
1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Click the File Locations tab.
3. Click User Templates and click Modify.
4. Type the new path that you want Word to use.
5. Click OK and then click Close.
When Word 7.0 is first installed, Setup points this setting to the MSOffice\Templates subfolder. When Word 97 is first installed, Setup points this setting to the Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates subfolder.
To specify a new workgroup template location, follow these steps:
1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Click the File Locations tab.
3. Click Workgroup Templates, and then click Modify.
4. Enter the new path that you want Word to use for locating its shared
templates.
When Word is initially installed, this setting is left blank by Word Setup during a stand-alone setup. During a workstation setup, this setting is set to where the Word templates were installed on the network server during the administrative setup.
Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office for Windows share a common template path. The User Templates path is set to MSOffice\Templates (Microsoft Office 7.0) or Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates (Microsoft Office 97) and the Workgroup Templates path is left blank by both Office Setup and Word Setup in a stand-alone installation. In the case of a workstation installation, the User Templates path is set to the local user's MSOffice\Templates folder for Word 7.0 or Office 7.0 (and Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates for Word 97 or Office 97), and the Workgroup Templates path is set to the shared administrative installation templates directory on the network server.
Because Office and Word share a common template path, when you change the User Templates path or the Workgroup Templates path from Office or from Word, the change will be reflected in the other programs.
1. Double-click a blank area of the Microsoft Office Shortcut toolbar.
The Customize dialog box appears.
3. Select the item to change (for example, User Templates Location),
and click Modify.
5. Click OK, and then click OK again.
KBCategory: KBSubcategory: Additional query words: 7.0 word7 word95 winword word8 word97
Version : 7.0 7.0a 97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowtoLast Reviewed: February 5, 1998