changing .dot back to .doc

I can confirm the change occurred in Word 2002. I actually thought it was
earlier. I thought it was changed in Word 97, after the issue with trying to
convert .dot files back to .doc files after the Concept virus appeared, but
apparently not.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
I *think* it was new in Word 2003, but possibly 2002.

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
So you can! When did they sneak that change in?


Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:

This used to be true, and I thought it made sense, but apparently so
many people got in trouble that in Word 2003 I believe you *can* save
a template as a document. sigh


"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
It is
impossible to save a template as a document. It will always be a
template.

Doesn't time fly! I was so used to this not happening in Word 97 and 2000,
that I never bothered to check whether it had changed later, and it seemed
like only yesterday that it didn't do this

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Beth Melton wrote:
I can confirm the change occurred in Word 2002. I actually thought it
was earlier. I thought it was changed in Word 97, after the issue
with trying to convert .dot files back to .doc files after the
Concept virus appeared, but apparently not.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
I *think* it was new in Word 2003, but possibly 2002.

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
So you can! When did they sneak that change in?


Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:

This used to be true, and I thought it made sense, but apparently
so many people got in trouble that in Word 2003 I believe you
*can* save a template as a document. sigh


"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
It is
impossible to save a template as a document. It will always be a
template.

Sneaky little critters aren't they? ;-)

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
Doesn't time fly! I was so used to this not happening in Word 97 and
2000, that I never bothered to check whether it had changed later, and it
seemed like only yesterday that it didn't do this


Beth Melton wrote:
I can confirm the change occurred in Word 2002. I actually thought it
was earlier. I thought it was changed in Word 97, after the issue
with trying to convert .dot files back to .doc files after the
Concept virus appeared, but apparently not.

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
I *think* it was new in Word 2003, but possibly 2002.

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
So you can! When did they sneak that change in?


Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:

This used to be true, and I thought it made sense, but apparently
so many people got in trouble that in Word 2003 I believe you
*can* save a template as a document. sigh


"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
It is
impossible to save a template as a document. It will always be a
template.

I can simply rename a .doc as a .dot from Win Explorer, but could it cause
problems? Should I open .doc in Word and save as .dot?

"Beth Melton" wrote:

Sneaky little critters aren't they? ;-)

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
Doesn't time fly! I was so used to this not happening in Word 97 and
2000, that I never bothered to check whether it had changed later, and it
seemed like only yesterday that it didn't do this


Beth Melton wrote:
I can confirm the change occurred in Word 2002. I actually thought it
was earlier. I thought it was changed in Word 97, after the issue
with trying to convert .dot files back to .doc files after the
Concept virus appeared, but apparently not.

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
I *think* it was new in Word 2003, but possibly 2002.

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
So you can! When did they sneak that change in?


Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:

This used to be true, and I thought it made sense, but apparently
so many people got in trouble that in Word 2003 I believe you
*can* save a template as a document. sigh


"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
It is
impossible to save a template as a document. It will always be a
template.

Open and save it!

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



Bod wrote:
I can simply rename a .doc as a .dot from Win Explorer, but could it
cause problems? Should I open .doc in Word and save as .dot?

"Beth Melton" wrote:

Sneaky little critters aren't they? ;-)

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
Doesn't time fly! I was so used to this not happening in Word 97
and 2000, that I never bothered to check whether it had changed
later, and it seemed like only yesterday that it didn't do this


Beth Melton wrote:
I can confirm the change occurred in Word 2002. I actually thought
it was earlier. I thought it was changed in Word 97, after the
issue with trying to convert .dot files back to .doc files after
the Concept virus appeared, but apparently not.

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
I *think* it was new in Word 2003, but possibly 2002.

"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
So you can! When did they sneak that change in?


Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:

This used to be true, and I thought it made sense, but
apparently so many people got in trouble that in Word 2003 I
believe you *can* save a template as a document. sigh


"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
It is
impossible to save a template as a document. It will always be
a template.

Thanks, but why? What's the difference?

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

Open and save it!

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Bod wrote:
I can simply rename a .doc as a .dot from Win Explorer, but could it
cause problems? Should I open .doc in Word and save as .dot?

The internal structures of documents and templates are different. Renaming
does not change that structure.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Bod wrote:
Thanks, but why? What's the difference?

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

Open and save it!

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Bod wrote:
I can simply rename a .doc as a .dot from Win Explorer, but could it
cause problems? Should I open .doc in Word and save as .dot?

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

The internal structures of documents and templates are different. Renaming
does not change that structure.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Bod wrote:
Thanks, but why? What's the difference?

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

Open and save it!

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Bod wrote:
I can simply rename a .doc as a .dot from Win Explorer, but could it
cause problems? Should I open .doc in Word and save as .dot?

I have used templates (dot) files quite often in Word 2003 (have not migrated
to 2007 yet) but have found a couple of interesting things that might prove
useful.

1. If you save a "dot" file anywhere other than Word's template directory
it generally does not behave any differently than a document saved with the
"doc" extension. You can open it, edit it, overwrite it, rename it, etc.
2. You can create a template using any file containing doc extension simply
by changing the extension to dot and saving it. If you do not specify a path
it will be saved to the template directory.
3. A document with a dot extension will not behave like a template unless
they are saved in Word's template directory (i.e. it is not protected from
overwrite when it is saved anywhere else).
4. When you start a new document using a template from the templates
directory it will automatically be converted to a doc extension when you save
it (i.e. preventing overwrite).
5. You cannot revise a template simply by saving your revised template by
the same name. Word will not allow you to overwrite a template already in
the templates directory.
6. Any template file saved to a directory other than the template
directory when moved to the template directory (i.e. using Windows Explorer)
will behave like any other template in the diretory and will appear on the
templates list when you start a new document.
7. Editing an existing template file is easier if you move it from the
template diretory (i.e using Windows Explorer), change it's extension to doc,
edit it and then simply resave it with the dot extension (this also allows
you to save the template by the same name since it no longer exists in the
template directory)

Hope the above helps


"Larry F" wrote:



"Graham Mayor" wrote:

The internal structures of documents and templates are different. Renaming
does not change that structure.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Bod wrote:
Thanks, but why? What's the difference?

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

Open and save it!

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Bod wrote:
I can simply rename a .doc as a .dot from Win Explorer, but could it
cause problems? Should I open .doc in Word and save as .dot?

I'm curious about #5. I can certainly open templates (in the Templates
folder) for editing and then resave them. Presumably you are trying to start
from scratch and use Save As?

There are fundamental differences between templates and documents. You may
be satisfied with the results you get just by changing the file extension or
document type, but a template created as a document and then saved as a
template may not work the same as a template created from scratch since
there are some things that can be saved in templates that can't be saved in
documents (notably AutoText).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"Larry F" wrote in message
...
I have used templates (dot) files quite often in Word 2003 (have not
migrated
to 2007 yet) but have found a couple of interesting things that might
prove
useful.

1. If you save a "dot" file anywhere other than Word's template directory
it generally does not behave any differently than a document saved with
the
"doc" extension. You can open it, edit it, overwrite it, rename it, etc.
2. You can create a template using any file containing doc extension
simply
by changing the extension to dot and saving it. If you do not specify a
path
it will be saved to the template directory.
3. A document with a dot extension will not behave like a template unless
they are saved in Word's template directory (i.e. it is not protected from
overwrite when it is saved anywhere else).
4. When you start a new document using a template from the templates
directory it will automatically be converted to a doc extension when you
save
it (i.e. preventing overwrite).
5. You cannot revise a template simply by saving your revised template
by
the same name. Word will not allow you to overwrite a template already in
the templates directory.
6. Any template file saved to a directory other than the template
directory when moved to the template directory (i.e. using Windows
Explorer)
will behave like any other template in the diretory and will appear on the
templates list when you start a new document.
7. Editing an existing template file is easier if you move it from the
template diretory (i.e using Windows Explorer), change it's extension to
doc,
edit it and then simply resave it with the dot extension (this also allows
you to save the template by the same name since it no longer exists in the
template directory)

Hope the above helps


"Larry F" wrote:



"Graham Mayor" wrote:

The internal structures of documents and templates are different.
Renaming
does not change that structure.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




Bod wrote:
Thanks, but why? What's the difference?

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

Open and save it!

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Bod wrote:
I can simply rename a .doc as a .dot from Win Explorer, but could
it
cause problems? Should I open .doc in Word and save as .dot?