How do you create a new Word document from a Word template (.dot) baggage file?

[singfenchen]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum. I'm working on a Robohelp 8 project and my organisation has a large number of MS Word document templates (.dot) in disparate locations. I've created a single topic with a view to having a clickable hyperlink for each template to create a new Word document based on a template.

The problem I'm having is that when I click the hyperlink in the topic preview - it opens the actual template baggage file in Word. I want to avoid a user doing this thinking they've created a new document and then clicking save in Word and mistakenly updating the .dot baggage file.

Is there a way to hyperlink to a .dot (or another type of template, for example, .xlt) in a topic and have that create a new instance of that document type? I'm open to the possibility that baggage files may not be the way to go, but I would prefer to avoid having to link to a location on the corporate intranet - as we have remote teams and performance is an issue. Therefore, I'd prefer to bundle any external file into the project itself, and thereby make it accessible from an HTML Help output format.

Thanks in advance,

Sing

[Peter Grainge]

Have you tested this with some colleagues to see what happens when they click one of the links when they open the topic that you have on the server?

Generate a small project that does what you propose with just a few templates and get someone else to use it the w ay you plan.

Let us know how it goes.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

Follow me @petergrainge

[singfenchen]

Hi Peter

Thank you for the initial response.

Unfortunately it has not worked. I generated the WebHelp format and transferred to a secure location on the intranet. Then from a colleague's machine - accessed the Help and attempted to create a new instance of one of the templates by clicking on one of the hyperlinks.

It launched the template (.dot) file in Word and when you select File > Save As in Word, the 'Save As' dialog window displays the location of the template baggage file. I verified the problem by making a few changes to the 'template' and saving and then attempted to create a new doc from the template via the Help again - and the modified template was displayed in Word.

It's a real head-scratcher! I don't think I'm trying to do something that unusual - or maybe I am!

Thanks,

Sing

[Willam_van_Weelden]

Hi,

Normally, when you directly open a template (either by clicking or by using a link), Word doesn't open the template itself, but creates a new document based on that template. Clicking the save button will open the Save As dialog.

As for the save directory, as far as I know, that's a Word setting. See http://wordprocessing.about.com/cs/quicktips/qt/Filelocation.htm

Greet,

Willam

[singfenchen]

Hi William

Thanks for the response.

Don't know if it is related to some set-up in Word, but it doesn't work this way for me.

If I open a .dot directly, a new document instance is created (titled 'Document1') based on the template I opened. When I click 'Save', the 'Save As' dialog pops up. All this is how I have always understood Word to function.

If I create a hyperlink to a .dot in another Word document and click on that hyperlink, I don't get a new documnet instance based on the template that is hyperlinked. It actually opens up the .dot file. And when I click 'Save', the 'Save As' dialog does not appear - the .dot is saved to the location that it was hyperlinked from. This is the problem I'm experiencing my Robohelp project. A hyperlink seems to link to the template itself and doesn't create a new doc based on it.

Regards,

Sing

[Nick27]

Thats a cool idea.....but, it seems its not something that can be done, due to browser and word restrictions rather than robohelp else.

Your browser is going to download the .dotx file, and open that rather than allowing the new-file-based-on-template macro thing to run.

Only work around I could suggest would be to use the template to create a blank .doc or .docx and link to that rather than the template.

some info I found...

http://getsatisfaction.com/pbworks/topics/link_to_word_template

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Microsoft-Word-1058/2008/7/template-link-webpage.htm

good luck.