Macros (Word 2000)

Topic

New Reply

A law office I do contract work for is switching to Word 2000 from Word Perfect. They use quite a number of macros for many of their forms. I want to create new macros in Word and be able to have them accessed from the server so that they are all able to use one set of macros. Can this be done? Or do I have to create the macros at each user’s station? I can’t seem to find out how to change the location of the Word macros. Any suggestions?

Reply | Quote

Replies

From Memory all you have to do is create the Macros in one document on your server, then use the Macro Project Items in organizer to copy them into the normal.dot for each user or document that the user is using

Reply | Quote

How do I save the macros on the server? I couldn’t find anywhere that would let me change where macros are saved by default.

Reply | Quote

The macros should be stored in a template located in the Workgroup Directory (a read-only LAN directory). When a document has that template attached, the macros will be available.

If you want the macros available irrespective of what template is attached, you either need to store the macros in Normal.dot which should be on C: drive for each user or in a StartUp directory so it is loaded as an add-in.

You will have to do some research to learn how templates and add-ins play together. This link at MVPS might help.

Reply | Quote

[indent]

---

If you want the macros available irrespective of what template is attached, you either need to store the macros in Normal.dot which should be on C: drive for each user

---

[/indent] Don’t put stuff in the Normal.dot. It corrupts far to often, and then you get tasked with always rebuilding it, which is a royal pain in the neck!
[indent]

---

StartUp directory so it is loaded as an add-in

---

[/indent] This is a much better idea. I think, and I’m not 100% sure if this will work but, you can put a SHORTCUT in the startup directory that points to the file on the network, so that everyone is using the same copy and you only need to make changes in one spot.

Otherwise, if you ever make any changes to the macros, you will need to goto each workstaion and update the file with the latest version.

If I get a change I will check at work tomorrow and see if you can put a shortcut to a file in the startup directory and have it load when you start Word. It works with shortcuts to local templates, so it should work with networked templates.

Reply | Quote

It’s best to distribute Firm macros in a global template that Word loads at start-up. If you have a lot of notebook users, it’s best if this template is local rather than on the network, although you can use the network logon script to keep it up to date if you end up making numerous changes. You also can install the “status checking” functionality into ANOTHER global template; I think Geoff or Kevin has described something like that on this board.

So first, create a new template. Then add it to your list of add-ins. The as you create macros, save them in the template rather than in Normal.dot. Keep plenty of backups, as crashes and corruptions are inevitable in any large development project.

And good luck…macros in Word are quite different from WordPerfect, at least before WordPerfect became a VBA host. You have a lot of resources here if you run into difficulties.

Afterthought: Macros that are truly specific to one type of document should be saved right in the template for that document. You might find, however, after a while, that there are so many commonalities across all these different procedures that it is easier to centralize them.

Reply | Quote