How do you change the Default Paths for Excel and Word.

[2ITLTD]

I use a laptop to work from Home which has been setup for me by the office IT dept. Unfortunately it always tries to connect to a network drive that is locted in the office. this is annoying in both excel and word as I do not work on the office network when I am at home or on customer sites. So is there a way to change these default.

I have seen the thread - 'Changing the default Folder' in Excel but this does not help entirely.

I suspect the Office Server has a local profile for all users and resets the paths whenever I logon to the network.

Is there an easy way around this?

 

[CondorMan]

I don't know if it will work, but try Tools>Options>General (in Excel) Tools>Options>File Locations (in Word) to change the default file locations.

As a matter of interest, does anyone know why such a requirement (common to each of the MS Office elements) isn't performed by a standard series of manoeuvres, irrespective of whether you're working with Word, Excel, Access etc.? Similarly, why ever didn't MS make more keyboard shortcuts common (such as CTRL-space, CTRL-R etc.)?

 

[2ITLTD]

Thanks, that works fine on a PC that is not configured to work on an office LAN/VPN, the problem is that on my Home PC it works fine but as soon as I do the same on my Office Laptop (whether its connected to the LAN or not) it reverts back to the n/w settings. e.g. if it says K:\My Documents i can change it to say c:\temp but as soon as I save them and then re-enter its back to K:|My Documents.

 

[mintjulep]

Possibly an Auto_open macro in normal.dot is setting things each time you start word.

 

[PeterMoran]

Hi 2ITLTD,

I presume you mean the settings change next time you restart Word, not the next time you goto look for a file with Word still open. If you leave Word on when you close your laptop - let it go into hibernate mode rather than turning it off - then the settings will not change when you use it again as it restores the memory rather than re-starting the programs.

If you put a shotcut to your "c:\temp" in your "K:\My Documents" folder then you should be able to get back to your laptop data with one click when you are on the network.

As mintjulep suggests it may be an Auto_open macro - maybe you could approach the techos and ask them to change the macro so if K drive is not available the macro uses a folder on your laptop.

Good Luck!

Peter Moran

 

[tf1]

The only real solution is to have 2 profiles - one for on line working and one for standalone working that you select when you boot up. This is really quite important for Word because Word MUST have a default printer driver assigned and if the printer is a network printer, Word will play funny games with you.

The other alternative - a much better solution is to have remote home working set up. You need a Broadband connection and set up a secure VPN (virtual private network) between home and work. That way you get hte best of both worlds!


Regards: tf1