Normal.dot for all users on the machine

[stompin]

OK I know where the normal.dot file should be per user profile, but where can I put it when I want the template to be the default for all profiles. I need to make sure Word opens with a specific normal.dot template for all users of the machine.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[TonyJollans]

Hi stompin,

Every user has their own normal.dot - that's the way Word works - and it is, by default, the home of much of a user's personalisation.

I hate the attempts made by technical 'support' departments in many companies to impose a way of working - they are almost always misguided and only partially effective. It is possible to do many things but that doesn't mean that they are desirable. What are you really trying to achieve? Why do you *need* to make Word open with a particular normal.dot?

Enjoy,
Tony

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We want to help you; help us to do it by reading this: Before you ask a question.
Excel VBA Training and more Help at VBAExpress[

 

[stompin]

I agree with your comments - normal.dot is in effect the scratch pad for users' docs. However, the boss wants everyone to use a default normal.dot and he wants it copied to each machine so all users open with the same normal.dot. I know where to it goes per username but need to know where to place it so all users default to the same normal.dot. I will then write a script to copy the normal.dot file to that location on startup. I know your gonna say that is what other templates are for but hey, he's the boss, I have told him it's not a good idea but he wants it done so it shall be..!!

stompin

 

[TonyJollans]

Hi stompin,

Shame your boss can't leave the technical aspects to the technical people, eh? Neither you nor your boss nor anyone else can force me by any technical means to use a particular normal.dot - I can't speak for your users.

I don't entirely follow what you're saying. Each user has their own normal.dot. They cannot (or certainly should not) share them - that is a recipe for disaster. It goes in the user templates or workgroup templates location specified under Tools > Options > File Locations (which individual users can change - and is held in the registry).

I don't know how you plan to run a script on Word startup. It would have to be something which ran before Word itself started so I think you would need to change shortcuts and file associations to trigger your script before starting Word. It would be possible (via code in normal) to do something when Word shuts down to fire a script and overwrite normal at that point.

One thing I know next to nothing about is Policies - there may be some way of doing what you want that way but I don't know what it might be. Other than that, all I can really say is good luck!

Enjoy,
Tony

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We want to help you; help us to do it by reading this: Before you ask a question.
Excel VBA Training and more Help at VBAExpress[

 

[fumei]

I totally agree with Tony, forcing a common normal.dot is a bad idea.

I would also like to re-enforce Tony's question as to what is the intent here.

If your boss want all users to have a common, say list of AutopText entries, the same list of AutoCorrect, the same base document with oh I don;t know, corporate logo in the header, the same footers for documents...this all can be done without messing around with normal.dot.

Normal.dot is a empty shell for storing USER preferences. It should not be used for anything else. In fact using it to store AutoText, or AutoCorrect, or macros - even for a user - is not a good idea. Normal.dot gets corrupted easily.

Tell you boss to tell you what he really wants. Come back here with that. We can help do it. Unless of course he really is way out in left field.

There is most likely a way to achieve the intent of what he wants without messing with normal.dot.

Gerry

 

[schtek]

hi .. to add a little bit more to these comments above, which might help then might not.. i'm about to deploy a whole group of xp machines in a school, they will be loaded with word & excel, i find that once a child has altered a normal.dot template it used to affect all users on the machine and when you are in a situation of getting children to follow a main display and they dont have the same display that is projected to a white board you can have a loss of teaching time.. i realise that this is different in the commercial world.. so the way i get around this subject of having a normal.dot that looks the same for each is to use GPO's to give everyone the same template. there is this facilicty in 2003 server to punch out to all... first set up a machine with world/excel settings as required.. copy the normal.dot file then rename it to global.dot and through GPO set the path for the file to be found for everyone to use!!

"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."

 

[stompin]

OK here's what the boss wants.. simple really, he just wants everybody to kick off with the same template with the same font!. Thats it! - I have only been at this company for 3 mths and picking up the pieces is difficult. The software, including office, has been deployed via CDROM and not via GP which limits my ability to control this package centrally (unless you guys no otherwise - schtek?). If I could control office via GPO I would be a happy chappy. I am used to deploying office from the server and using ork. Plus some machines came with office oem so thats another kick in the teeth. As for scripting a template - nothing special, just a line or two on the drive mappings script to copy normal.dot to each machine but I need to copy to a location that will be applied to all users not just each user profile. Once this has been done once to each machine I can then remove the lines from the script. So I really need advice on which dir I can copy the template. Once this is down I don't care if each user changes their template and I have informed the powerrs that be that this is very easy to do and very likely to happen - he's happy with that which begs the question.... whats the point?!!

Schtek - can I use a GPO to sort this problem on machines loaded via CDROM & OEM copies?

stompin

 

[schtek]

yes!!

when you deploy your office package get the old copy removed there is a tick in the box for that to happen make sure you have your template set insure ure licences are matching for the software u are using!!!
these are good link for u it has templates and instructions

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011513711033.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011402401033.aspx

"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."

 

[stompin]

Oh, I thought as each machine has either an OEM copy or a deployment via the CDROM I would have to load loads of GPO's because each copy of Office had it's own license and not a network license. Can I deploy office to all my machines via one GP and provide each machine with it's own license number?

Will check it then

 

[stompin]

Just looked but the problem I see is I need to uninstall say Office XP and then install Office XP from the server via GP. How do I uninstall and then reinstall the same package?

 

[schtek]

look on cd for msi file also notes on switches

Setup Command-line Options and Property

When you run Setup you can use command-line options to change some of the parameters that Setup uses to install the application, such as display settings and default values for Setup properties.

Setup and Windows Installer use properties to control the applications installation process. The default values for Setup properties are defined in the Windows Installer package (MSI file). You can specify new property values on the command line or in the Setup settings file (Setup.ini).

Note In most cases, command-line options override duplicate customizations in the Setup settings file (Setup.ini) or in a transform (MST file). Command-line options and properties are not supported by all MSI files.



/a

/f

/i

/j

/l

/noreboot

/p

/q

/settings

/x

property=value

/?




/a [msifile]

Create an administrative installation point for the specified package (MSI file). The package must be in the same folder as Setup.exe, and both must be at the root of the administrative installation point.

Examples:

/a My.msi

/a "subfolder1\My.msi"

/f[options][msifile]

Force repair of an application associated with the specified package (MSI file). The package must be in the same folder as Setup.exe, and both must be at the root of the administrative installation point. Alternatively, you can specify the product code for the package the product code can be copied from the [Product] section of the Setup settings file.

Note You must specify the same package that was used to install the application originally.

Valid values for <i>options</i> include the following

a Force reinstallation of all files regardless of checksum or version.
c Reinstall file if missing or corrupt.
d Reinstall file if missing or a different version is present.
e Reinstall file if missing or an equal or older version is present.
m Rewrite all required HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry entries.
o Reinstall file if missing or an older version is present.
p Reinstall file only if missing.
s Reinstall all shortcuts and overwrite existing shortcuts.
u Rewrite all required HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry entries.
v Retrieve the package from the original source and recache it on the local computer.


hope this helps


"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."