What the Microsoft forum suggested back in 2012 is that it breaks....
"The problem is that Word isn't setup to keep a document attached to a
template that isn't located on the local machine. When you use a .dot from
the Office.com site it downloads the template to your local hard drive and
then uses it to create the DOC. SharePoint isn't designed to work that
way. So although it will use the SharePoint .dot template to create the
new file, when you open it a second time it will default to the normal.dot
template since the one in SharePoint is no longer available. I've seen one
or two hacks that try to get around that problem, but I haven't seen one
that works consistently. Its just not the way SharePoint is designed to
work."
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/5b5a08ee-eb48-4187-8874-484f8ad5e614/macros-in-a-sharepoint-content-type-document-template-do-not-execute?forum=sharepointgeneralprevious
On 11 October 2017 at 10:41, Howard Silcock <howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I had a quick look at this, but don't have much time just now. I
discovered that I was incorrect in my comment that if you have a document
based on a template containing macros and save it as a .docx, then those
macros will stop working. It seems that the document links back to the
template and those macros do actually run - but that wouldn't work if the
SharePoint site is no longer accessible from where the document now is.
Will look again when I have more time.
Regards
Howard
On Tue, 10 Oct 2017 at 4:22 pm, Suzy Davis <suzy.davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Thanks Howard
That would be useful if it met our needs; I haven’t found the SharePoint
IT person yet – they could be on the other side of the globe – so might
take a while before I get to have that conversation.
Do you know where the attached template is stored, and mapped, in this
case?
Does it get saved to the Templates location or somewhere else?
This is the part that astounded me about this group working in the DOTM
file, is that it had no template support – no way to update styles if
required, etc. No way to attach a different template if you needed
alternative building blocks…
The startup macro is only one part of the equation; they will need access
to the attached template going forward to allow access to building blocks.
I’ve moved all the formatting macros into an addin pretending to be a
global addin (not stored in STARTUP) – so the only macros in the template
are the startup macros; which check for the Ribbon and load it.
They problem with putting RibbonX XML in a template rather than an addin,
is that it will error when the macros it requires aren’t present (with no
fix except to remove the Ribbon XML). Not a good look for customers who
might need to open the file as a docx..
If the Ribbon was created from within Word (ie not via XML) the behaviour
might be different, but won’t be sophisticated enough for what we need.
Although, I must admit I haven’t looked at that in depth.
Kind regards Suzy
*Suzy Davis *
*Microsoft Word Templates, Apps for Microsoft Office*
*& Documentation Projects *
*www.**appsforoffice <http://www.appsforoffice.com/>**.com*
(Melbourne) Australia
*Email* suzy.davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
*From:* Word-Pc List [mailto:WORD-PC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<WORD-PC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>] *On Behalf Of *Howard Silcock
*Sent:* Tuesday, 10 October 2017 1:37 PM
*To:* WORD-PC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* Re: FW: Authors using DOTM files instead of DOCX files (cross
posted to austechwriter & LinkedIn)
Hi Suzy
I have only just got around to reading your email, so I'm a bit behind in
the discussion.
I'm not sure if you know that SharePoint document libraries allow you to
load a Word template as a 'content type'. Then an author can create a new
document by selecting a drop-down that gives them a choice of content
types (ie templates), some of which may be for Word documents and others
for other things (eg Excel). When the author does this, things work
similarly to creating a document normally from a template. First, the
author is not opening the template or an existing document loaded to the
SharePoint site but creating a new document based on the template.
Secondly, if your template was a .DOTM containing macros, then the author
should be able to run the macros (assuming your environment allows it). And
if you have modified the Ribbon to contain controls that run macros, these
controls should work too.
So I think the problem you describe arises when people just load the
template as if it's just another document, which I suppose is a normal
enough thing to do if nobody's told them about content types.
I recently loaded a new Word template as a content type on a SharePoint
site at my work. It was a .DOTM and contained RibbonX code that allowed a
user to select a security classification for the document. I was doubtful
whether that would work, but it actually did! Once the author has selected
the classification they can then save the document as a .DOCX, though then
they can't, of course, modify the classification again.
I don't suppose this helps with the project you describe, as it sounds
like it would be too late to do anything about that, but it's something to
keep in mind.
Regards
Howard
On Mon, 9 Oct 2017 at 2:48 pm, Jacques Raubenheimer <
jrlistaddress@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Suzy
Alas, I have seen this too, but nowhere near the scale you have just
described--that must be some kind of record (except that ignorance has no
limits).
I know this sound arrogant of me, but I think it is simply a case of
people not knowing what they are actually doing (as opposed to what they
are supposed to be doing). So you have someone knowing something,
developing a solution (the template with ribbon-activated macros), but
there being no clear long term path of implementation, so that those using
the solution "do it wrong."
You are dead right in the approach you have recommended to them, so keep
going with that.
My experience, having presented many Word training courses over the last
decade, is that most Word users, even those who would call themselves
"experienced" Word users, don't know the difference between a template and
a document (heck, most people I came across didn't even know what Word
templates were).
Microsoft is partly to blame for this, with their (un-)helpful
dumbing-down of the way the interface works (I'm referring specifically to
Windows here, but choose your product) in the name of user-friendliness,
when they removed the explicit showing of file extensions in Windows
Explorer, so that the only differentiation is by file icon (most people
don't even notice the difference between the .do?x and .do?m icons).
So to answer your question. No, this is not unheard of. But yes, it is a
recipe for disaster (or at least a huge mess, which you have described).
Jacques Raubenheimer
---------------------------------------------
Want to learn more about Word?
Visit http://insight.trueinsight.za.com/categories/word/
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---------------------------------------------
On Sun, Oct 8, 2017 at 10:02 AM, Suzy Davis <suzy.davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi there
(apologies – long post)
The question: How common is the practice of large author teams to use
the template file, DOTM to create their documents – some of which are 800
pages long??
I’ve just deployed a new template brand refresh to a little over 22,000
authors in a global engineering and consulting company.
As corporations often do, they thought bringing the template builder in
literally 4 weeks before the brand launch would be enough time. And they
wanted a macro refresh as well!
An interesting month that I survived, and delivered on time (although we
had to cut a few corners); but there wasn’t any time for document analysis;
or the analysis of the way people need to work.
They accepted that I just needed to do the job in the way I could do it
and achieve the deadline.
One of the main things I saw when I arrived was that authors were using
DOTM files in documents, with an embedded custom Ribbon. I was notified
that these documents error when the documents are sent to customers or
external collaborators when the macros are taken out (many mail servers
won’t accept DOCM OR DOTM files). This means that the resulting DOCX with
the Ribbon XML still embedded (as an author won’t know how to take it out)
will error when that document is opened. They’ve just learn to live and
accept that.
The documents are deployed via SharePoint.
I don’t know much about SharePoint. When people open the DOTM in
SharePoint it opens the DOTM file on their PC and they happily continue
working in it. Even when they save as, they don’t notice that it’s a DOTM
file; and if they did and saved it as a DOCX, they would lose macros etc.
I took one look at that and said I’ll move you towards a Microsoft Best
Practice approach – which was to add a macro into the DOTM file, that when
saved to the PC, will save it to a template location, and force the start
of a new document, and load the ribbon from an external addin. This forces
people to work in the DOCX files not the DOTM files.
The new Ribbon (with macros) is loaded as a global addin (currently via a
SharePoint download and self install), and their new documents are all
attached to a template in a common location (not under the user profile –
yet) which holds the macros and building blocks.
I’d like to move them to a Word\Startup global addin location, and a
template deployment where IT push the templates out rather than people
needing to open from SharePoint (at least for the base corporate templates)
– but that will likely take a year of discussion with IT.
Is this a common practice – working in the DOTM??
First time I’ve encountered it, and I was shocked that someone would
consider that as an option, and can only imagine that they did so while
fairly inexperienced and needing to appease a demanding corporate
stakeholder under a tight timeframe.
In companies deploying templates via Intranets or SharePoint I’ve more
commonly seen DOCX files deployed as templates.
Because of the way they’ve been working they are used to the Ribbon only
being present when they have the document (DOTM) open, and otherwise it’s
not there.
With my method there is some confusion because people are expecting the
Ribbon to work no matter what document is open – but Ribbons only work in
when the building blocks, or styles are present in the current document.
To me it’s the same as trying to use your Bank app on your phone when the
phone is out of range. You get a message that that button won’t work in
this document, and move on.
From my point of view this is a maintenance nightmare. If they need new
building blocks or macros, or ribbon alternations we just update the
templates, or the ribbon file, and tell people to download the updated
template or ribbon.
They would have no way to deploy these updates, except by telling people
to copy their document into the new template. Just what someone needs in
an 800 page document on a time crunch. Seems bizarre to me, but maybe I’ve
been working the way I’ve been working (and avoiding corporates) for too
long!
Would love to hear your thoughts…
Kind regards Suzy
*Suzy Davis *
*Microsoft Word Templates*
*APPS for MICROSOFT OFFICE*
*& Documentation Projects*
*www.appsforoffice.com <http://www.appsforoffice.com/>*
*www.appsforinteriordesigners.com
<http://www.appsforinteriordesigners.com/>*
*Email* suzy.davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Skype *suzy.davis
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