We have chosen to use Microsoft Sharepoint as our document management system. Using a document library to version control our MS Office document templates is easy enough. However, I cannot find a way to get MS Office 2007 to create new documents using the templates recorded in Sharepoint. I can point Word to look at a standard network drive using: Office Button > Word Options > Advanced > File Locations... However, I cannot use an http(s) address for the 'Workgroup templates' path. I have tried to map a network address to the Sharepoint library, which works fine from Windows Explorer, but Word will not allow me to use this drive either (I assume because the underlying address is still an Internet address. In my opinion, it is neither logical, nor efficient, nor sensible for Word users to have to use IE to create new documents, just because the templates are under configuration management in Sharepoint. It would be greatly appreciated if someone could tell me how to achieve this.

You can't really point a local copy of Word at the templates in SharePoint. They aren't guaranteed to be the same thing. SharePoint Word templates can be either DOC or DOT files, but local Word templates must be .DOT files and they must be stored locally. The use of the term template to describe both is a poor choice in my opinion because it leads people to assume as you do that they are the same thing. They aren't and aren't used the same way either. The bottom line is that there is no way to do what you are trying to do. If you want people to use the templates stored in SharePoint then they must use SharePoint to create the new documents. Whether that is logical, efficient, or sensible is open for debate. But it is the way its designed and can't be changed.Paul Stork SharePoint Server MVP

Thank you for the clear and accurate, if disappointing, answer Paul. Local files are necessarily uncontrolled, which appears to contradict the purpose of having CM. Maybe some kind of Virtual Device Driver, to provide a local drive mapping to connect to the remote Sharepoint host, may be in order. I'm pretty sure ClearCase provides such a thing...Michael Randle Technical Sales Manager Absolute Software Ltd Tel: 08450 944 744 Mobile: 07805 081 085 Web: www.absolute-software.co.uk

Thank you for the clear and accurate, if disappointing, answer Paul. Local files are necessarily uncontrolled, which appears to contradict the purpose of having CM. Maybe some kind of Virtual Device Driver, to provide a local drive mapping to connect to the remote Sharepoint host, may be in order. I'm pretty sure ClearCase provides such a thing...Michael Randle Technical Sales Manager Absolute Software Ltd Tel: 08450 944 744 Mobile: 07805 081 085 Web: www.absolute-software.co.uk

You can try that. But remember there is no guarantee that Library templates will be .DOT files. The default ones that ship with SharePoint are .DOC. Either one will work in SharePoint, but I don't think the .DOC files will work in WORD directly.Paul Stork SharePoint Server MVP

You can try that. But remember there is no guarantee that Library templates will be .DOT files. The default ones that ship with SharePoint are .DOC. Either one will work in SharePoint, but I don't think the .DOC files will work in WORD directly.Paul Stork SharePoint Server MVP

Hi Paul, everyone, I have a different but similar (!) question. I want all my users to use the latest version of Word templates to fill-in standard request documents. I store my .dot files on a SharePoint site where everyone can click and open them. And this is the problem, the template itself opens instead of opening a new empty document. There is this article (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278627/en-us) to solve the problem at the web browser level, hyperlinking to .lnk linking to .dot, but I cannot do this in SharePoint... Any idea ? Thanks in advance Fred

Hi Paul, everyone, I have a different but similar (!) question. I want all my users to use the latest version of Word templates to fill-in standard request documents. I store my .dot files on a SharePoint site where everyone can click and open them. And this is the problem, the template itself opens instead of opening a new empty document. There is this article (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278627/en-us) to solve the problem at the web browser level, hyperlinking to .lnk linking to .dot, but I cannot do this in SharePoint... Any idea ? Thanks in advance Fred

If you add the .dot files as templates associated with content types in a document library then when users create a new document using the NEW button in the library it will download and use the new .dot file to create a .doc. However, as pointed out above it won't keep the .dot in SharePoint associated with the new .doc file, it will just base the new file off it. In general that's usually enough.Paul Stork SharePoint Server MVP Chief SharePoint Architect: Sharesquared Blog: http://dontpapanic.com/blog Twitter: Follow @pstork Please remember to mark your question as "answered" if this solves your problem.

If you add the .dot files as templates associated with content types in a document library then when users create a new document using the NEW button in the library it will download and use the new .dot file to create a .doc. However, as pointed out above it won't keep the .dot in SharePoint associated with the new .doc file, it will just base the new file off it. In general that's usually enough.Paul Stork SharePoint Server MVP Chief SharePoint Architect: Sharesquared Blog: http://dontpapanic.com/blog Twitter: Follow @pstork Please remember to mark your question as "answered" if this solves your problem.

Paul, Do you have a recommendation if we should use DOT, DOC (or even DOTM, DOTX, DOCX, etc.) in SharePoint? I seem to have all of the above in our library holding templates (which we connect to the "New" button to point to the file in a Content Type library).--rms www.rmschneider.com

Paul, Do you have a recommendation if we should use DOT, DOC (or even DOTM, DOTX, DOCX, etc.) in SharePoint? I seem to have all of the above in our library holding templates (which we connect to the "New" button to point to the file in a Content Type library).--rms www.rmschneider.com

Given the way that SharePoint makes use of them it doesn't really matter whether you use DOC, DOCX, DOT or DOTX files as templates in SharePoint. Of course the use of DOT or DOTX makes it easier to distribute them locally as Word Templates for when users don't use the New button. But there is no process for that to be done by SharePoint. The templates would need to be downloaded and installed manually. DOTM isn't a particularly good choice since the macros stored in it will only be available when the new document is first created.Paul Stork SharePoint Server MVP Chief SharePoint Architect: Sharesquared Blog: http://dontpapanic.com/blog Twitter: Follow @pstork Please remember to mark your question as "answered" if this solves your problem.

Given the way that SharePoint makes use of them it doesn't really matter whether you use DOC, DOCX, DOT or DOTX files as templates in SharePoint. Of course the use of DOT or DOTX makes it easier to distribute them locally as Word Templates for when users don't use the New button. But there is no process for that to be done by SharePoint. The templates would need to be downloaded and installed manually. DOTM isn't a particularly good choice since the macros stored in it will only be available when the new document is first created.Paul Stork SharePoint Server MVP Chief SharePoint Architect: Sharesquared Blog: http://dontpapanic.com/blog Twitter: Follow @pstork Please remember to mark your question as "answered" if this solves your problem.

Thanks for all the replies. As far as I can gather, they all seem to indicate that SharePoint is not the right tool for my application. I was rather hoping that Micrsoft would have provided a more seamless integration between their Office and Enterprise tools. As a Quality Manager, I want to be able to update the templates used by the company emlpoyees and roll them out without directly affecting the employees who use them. When creating a document, people will open MS Word and use File -> New. It is illogical and inefficient to ask them to create all new documents by opening their browser, logging in to SharePoint, navigating to the appropriate Templates folder and creating their new documents from there, without being able preview and verify that they're using the appropriate template. The alternative (to get everyone to make local copies of the Templates) immediately ensures that the document management system is broken as all new documents will be created from uncontrolled copies of the templates. Neither scenario is good business practice. My conclusion is that we should look into an alternative Document Management System, maybe something as simple as setting up access permissions on a shared drive. Thanks again.Michael Randle Technical Sales Manager Absolute Software Ltd Tel: 08450 944 744 Mobile: 07805 081 085 Web: www.absolute-software.co.uk

Thanks for all the replies. As far as I can gather, they all seem to indicate that SharePoint is not the right tool for my application. I was rather hoping that Micrsoft would have provided a more seamless integration between their Office and Enterprise tools. As a Quality Manager, I want to be able to update the templates used by the company emlpoyees and roll them out without directly affecting the employees who use them. When creating a document, people will open MS Word and use File -> New. It is illogical and inefficient to ask them to create all new documents by opening their browser, logging in to SharePoint, navigating to the appropriate Templates folder and creating their new documents from there, without being able preview and verify that they're using the appropriate template. The alternative (to get everyone to make local copies of the Templates) immediately ensures that the document management system is broken as all new documents will be created from uncontrolled copies of the templates. Neither scenario is good business practice. My conclusion is that we should look into an alternative Document Management System, maybe something as simple as setting up access permissions on a shared drive. Thanks again.Michael Randle Technical Sales Manager Absolute Software Ltd Tel: 08450 944 744 Mobile: 07805 081 085 Web: www.absolute-software.co.uk

I don't think you are going to find what you are looking for. I'm not aware of any ECM that provides the kind of functionality you want when the user starts inside Word. And since Word requires that all templates be stored locally I don't see how setting up access permissions on a shared drive will help either.Paul Stork SharePoint Server MVP Chief SharePoint Architect: Sharesquared Blog: http://dontpapanic.com/blog Twitter: Follow @pstork Please remember to mark your question as "answered" if this solves your problem.

I don't think you are going to find what you are looking for. I'm not aware of any ECM that provides the kind of functionality you want when the user starts inside Word. And since Word requires that all templates be stored locally I don't see how setting up access permissions on a shared drive will help either.Paul Stork SharePoint Server MVP Chief SharePoint Architect: Sharesquared Blog: http://dontpapanic.com/blog Twitter: Follow @pstork Please remember to mark your question as "answered" if this solves your problem.

I have struggled with this problem my self and as I see it you have two options 1. The old way: store your templates on a shared drive and set the word path for workgroup templates to that place. 2. Store your templates (of course, dotx or dotm files) in a sharepoint library (write-protected). Map that address, make a local folder, set the path for workgroup templates to that local folder. Synchronize the local folder with the mapped networkfolder. It's a "home made" work around that seems to work. It gives you the version control in sharepoint and makes the templates reachable from word. /P Tamme

I have struggled with this problem my self and as I see it you have two options 1. The old way: store your templates on a shared drive and set the word path for workgroup templates to that place. 2. Store your templates (of course, dotx or dotm files) in a sharepoint library (write-protected). Map that address, make a local folder, set the path for workgroup templates to that local folder. Synchronize the local folder with the mapped networkfolder. It's a "home made" work around that seems to work. It gives you the version control in sharepoint and makes the templates reachable from word. /P Tamme

I ended up changing the registry using vbs... HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software|Microsoft\Office\12.0Common\General SharedTemplates Set it to a SharePoint address for Doc Library.

I ended up changing the registry using vbs... HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software|Microsoft\Office\12.0Common\General SharedTemplates Set it to a SharePoint address for Doc Library.

I've made this change, but then in Word 2010 I did not see any reference to this "folder" in the File/New when creating a new document. any other ideas.--rms www.rmschneider.com