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Normal.dot versus blank document template



 
 
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  #11  
Old March 15th, 2006, 08:43 AM posted to microsoft.public.word.formatting.longdocs
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Default Normal.dot versus blank document template

Hi Jacqueline:

No, I don't think you have misunderstood. This is a vexed question, and
posed with the exact constraints you have, I struggle to find a clear choice
in advising you.

The benefit of using Normal for this purpose a
* It gives you only one file to maintain
* Word starts faster and performs better because it has only one file to
load and hold in memory
* VBA is massively simpler to write because Normal does not suffer from the
context-switching that other files do. Normal is *always* in scope.
* Toolbars and other customisations are *always* available to *all*
documents. Again, because Normal never goes out of scope.

The drawbacks include:
* You blow away the user's customisations every time you update.
* You can't have things "disappear" when the user doesn't need/can't
use/shouldn't use them.
* The user is also writing to your file, regularly and frequently. That
will lead to conflicts and corruptions.
* The brighter and more valuable the user, the more likely they are to be
offended by this behaviour. They will then either fight you, or leave.

The IT department is a "service and support" department. It is there to
"serve" and "support" the users. It should NOT be attempting to "control"
the users (OK, you have to make some exceptions for security, but this is
not one of them :-)) If the users start to "fight" you, IT department will
rapidly lose the battle -- there are more of them than there are IT staff --
collectively, they're smarter and quicker :-)

I suggest that with a very little effort, we could be a lot "nicer" about
this. For example, we could add one line of code to your distribution
script that checks the file last saved date on the user's copy. Replace
their file only if the new one is more recent.

You could put a run-once macro in your Normal.dot that pops up a dialog when
the user starts Word: "Your Normal template has been replaced. Your old
version has been re-named as "Normal.old". If you had customised settings,
please copy them from the old version to the new version. Click here to see
how to do this."

You could be even nicer, and make your run-once macro actually perform the
merge for them :-)

As to the discussion between "Normal" and "Blank Document", I wonder if
there is some confusion the not in your mind, but in the minds of your
instructors.

In Word 2002 and later, a "Blank Document" icon appeared on the toolbar.
This button does NOT necessarily create documents from Normal.dot. There
are specific circumstances under which Normal.dot may not exist in these
applications. If it doesn't, the blank document is produced directly from
Word's hard-coded defaults. That may be what they were referring to.

Hope this helps

On 15/3/06 1:27 AM, in article
, "Jacqueline"
wrote:

Previous firms I've worked with worked with two templates (blank and
normal) and during a VBA training course yesterday the trainer
recommended this. I then looked at previous posts on here and found
suggestions for both methods. Perhaps as you say I have misunderstood
these posts and the blank document template has contained 'add-ins' or
similar.


--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

  #12  
Old March 15th, 2006, 02:35 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.formatting.longdocs
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Default Normal.dot versus blank document template

A well written summary.

In Word 2002 and later, a "Blank Document" icon appeared on the toolbar.
This button does NOT necessarily create documents from Normal.dot. There
are specific circumstances under which Normal.dot may not exist in these
applications. If it doesn't, the blank document is produced directly from
Word's hard-coded defaults. That may be what they were referring to.


New icon in 2002? Which toolbar?

I was under the impression that, no matter what, a Normal.dot always
existed - at least in memory. Under what circumstances is this not the case?

--
Enjoy,
Tony


  #13  
Old March 16th, 2006, 11:21 AM posted to microsoft.public.word.formatting.longdocs
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Default Normal.dot versus blank document template

Hi Tony:

It's on the Standard toolbar, I think. It's labelled "Blank Document"
instead of "New Document", from memory.

Yes, the Normal Template data structure always exists in memory. What I
meant was that the "file" Normal.dot does not always exist. I must admit
that I have never seen a case where it actually didn't. But that's because
in Australia, chances are the first thing we do is change the default
spelling languages from English US, and that would automatically populate
the Normal Template structure with a user specification, which will force
creation of a file.

Cheers


On 16/3/06 12:35 AM, in article , "Tony
Jollans" My Forename at My Surname dot com wrote:

A well written summary.

In Word 2002 and later, a "Blank Document" icon appeared on the toolbar.
This button does NOT necessarily create documents from Normal.dot. There
are specific circumstances under which Normal.dot may not exist in these
applications. If it doesn't, the blank document is produced directly from
Word's hard-coded defaults. That may be what they were referring to.


New icon in 2002? Which toolbar?

I was under the impression that, no matter what, a Normal.dot always
existed - at least in memory. Under what circumstances is this not the case?

--
Enjoy,
Tony



--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

  #14  
Old March 16th, 2006, 02:18 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.formatting.longdocs
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Posts: n/a
Default Normal.dot versus blank document template

Hi John, Tony

I've seen at least one live case where no normal.dot existed, and I learned
about it the hard way: my VBA code went looking for Normal.dot, failed to
find it and crashed. So I don't just assume that it exists any more.

FWIW, when Normal.dot does not exist, Application.NormalTemplate.FullName
will still produce a very convincing string that consists of the
UserTemplates folder & "\Normal.dot". But there may be no such file.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word


"John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]" wrote in
message ...
Hi Tony:

It's on the Standard toolbar, I think. It's labelled "Blank Document"
instead of "New Document", from memory.

Yes, the Normal Template data structure always exists in memory. What I
meant was that the "file" Normal.dot does not always exist. I must admit
that I have never seen a case where it actually didn't. But that's
because
in Australia, chances are the first thing we do is change the default
spelling languages from English US, and that would automatically populate
the Normal Template structure with a user specification, which will force
creation of a file.

Cheers


On 16/3/06 12:35 AM, in article ,
"Tony
Jollans" My Forename at My Surname dot com wrote:

A well written summary.

In Word 2002 and later, a "Blank Document" icon appeared on the toolbar.
This button does NOT necessarily create documents from Normal.dot.
There
are specific circumstances under which Normal.dot may not exist in these
applications. If it doesn't, the blank document is produced directly
from
Word's hard-coded defaults. That may be what they were referring to.


New icon in 2002? Which toolbar?

I was under the impression that, no matter what, a Normal.dot always
existed - at least in memory. Under what circumstances is this not the
case?

--
Enjoy,
Tony



--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410



  #15  
Old March 16th, 2006, 03:47 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.formatting.longdocs
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Posts: n/a
Default Normal.dot versus blank document template

Thanks John and Shauna,

You're really just confirming what I thought to be the case having maybe
said it in a different way to start with.

If Normal.dot does not exist in either place Word expects to find it, a new
one will be created (from built-in defaults) in the same way that a new
blank document is created if Word is started without one. If any changes are
made to this normal.dot it will be saved (or the user will be prompted to
save it) - again just like a new blank document. The new normal.dot does not
exist in the OS's file system (neither does the new blank document) but
while Word is open the source of normal.dot is not relevant.

It is a tad confusing that it claims to have a path and about the only way I
know to identify the situation is that the "Last Saved Time" property will
give an error if it has never been saved.


In my Word 2000 I have an icon on the standard toolbar tagged "New Blank
Document"
In my Word 2003 I have an icon on the standard toolbar tagged "New Blank
Document"
I'm not aware of any differences between the two in terms of what they do.

--
Enjoy,
Tony

"Shauna Kelly" wrote in message
...
Hi John, Tony

I've seen at least one live case where no normal.dot existed, and I

learned
about it the hard way: my VBA code went looking for Normal.dot, failed to
find it and crashed. So I don't just assume that it exists any more.

FWIW, when Normal.dot does not exist, Application.NormalTemplate.FullName
will still produce a very convincing string that consists of the
UserTemplates folder & "\Normal.dot". But there may be no such file.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word


"John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]" wrote in
message ...
Hi Tony:

It's on the Standard toolbar, I think. It's labelled "Blank Document"
instead of "New Document", from memory.

Yes, the Normal Template data structure always exists in memory. What I
meant was that the "file" Normal.dot does not always exist. I must

admit
that I have never seen a case where it actually didn't. But that's
because
in Australia, chances are the first thing we do is change the default
spelling languages from English US, and that would automatically

populate
the Normal Template structure with a user specification, which will

force
creation of a file.

Cheers


On 16/3/06 12:35 AM, in article ,
"Tony
Jollans" My Forename at My Surname dot com wrote:

A well written summary.

In Word 2002 and later, a "Blank Document" icon appeared on the

toolbar.
This button does NOT necessarily create documents from Normal.dot.
There
are specific circumstances under which Normal.dot may not exist in

these
applications. If it doesn't, the blank document is produced directly
from
Word's hard-coded defaults. That may be what they were referring to.

New icon in 2002? Which toolbar?

I was under the impression that, no matter what, a Normal.dot always
existed - at least in memory. Under what circumstances is this not the
case?

--
Enjoy,
Tony



--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not

email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410





 




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