document_open macros when opened via intranet (wd2000)

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Okay, I have a template with document_new() and document_open() macros in it, distributed to various users. (They pop up dialog boxes for various doc info, and force a couple of the ‘view’ options in case users work with field shading turned off…)
Then I made various generic documents available on the company intranet. Although the auto macros fire OK when you open these docs if they’re on hard- or network drives, they don’t fire when you open the docs straight from the web. The macros aren’t disabled – you can still run them from the buttons I stuck on the custom toolbar – they just don’t run automatically.
I presume this is some sort of browser behaviour? Is there anything I can do about it?

dtw

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Correct diagnosis; here’s the confirmation and a possible cure: WD2000: AutoOpen Macro Fails to Run Opening Document in Browser (Q220532). However, in view of other weirdness caused by opening docs in a browser window, I’m not sure this procedure makes the most sense.

You can use VBScript to open the documents in a new instance of Word. See the following posts for more ideas along those lines:

Post #137929 on launching an Excel .xls file from the web

Post #130411 on creating a Word document from a .dot file on the web

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Thanks Jefferson:
I’ll study the threads about vbscript solutions when I have time & opportunity to really take them in (!) but the method from the KB article seems to do the trick so I might go with that, at least as an interim measure.
(Of course, ‘other weirdness’ includes that the users might get frustrated by the lack of their familiar Word editing toolbars etc.: it’ll at least prompt ’em to save the document locally and get out of the browser. hmmm…)

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I don’t suppose there’s a similar fix for W97 users, is there? I had a quick look on the MSKB but I don’t think my search keywords worked …

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Similar to… Microsoft’s workaround? I don’t really understand exactly how IE merges applications into the browser, and whether your browser only runs the version of Office you have on your PC or runs some kind of viewer/ActiveX control, or what. In other words, I guess, try it with Word 97 and if it doesn’t work, then you can fall back on the scripting option.

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No, similar to the ‘browse in same window’ bit being turned off, as per your first M$KB article. Using Word 97 and IE5.5 there’s no option called that that I can see?

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Those instructions are for Windows 98. In Windows 2000, the File Types tab has changed and the option is under Advanced. Not sure about Windows 95. What version is the problem machine?

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Win NT4!

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