what is the difference between a form & template

[junedonofrio]

i am just learning to make forms, but i cant figure out the difference between a form & template ? can i just make a form & save as a word doc. or must it be initially saved as a template. but then when i go to retrive the form/template it is not in the "my documents" area, its in the template area which is much harder to get to. i hope this makes sense ??

thanks,
June

 

[Dreamboat]

A form is a type of document, which can be a document OR a template.

To properly use a template, either create a shortcut to it and double-click it, OR just hit File-New and double-click it. You can store a template anywhere you like. To CHANGE a template---like edit the actual template itself, then you can right-click it and hit OPEN (the default action on a DOT file is to *create a new document* from it, while the default action on a DOC is to open it, see?).

I always save my forms as templates so there's no need to *clear* the form to use it again. But if you use it often, you can record a macro that hits File-new and double-clicks your template for you (then put a button on your toolbar), or like I said above, put a shortcut to it somewhere. To record a macro:

http://www.theofficeexperts.com/officevba.htm#WordVBA

Anyway, I think you've got your answer?

Anne Troy
Killer Coder Live Chat!

http://www.vbaexpress.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2121

 

[fumei]

As much as I HUGELY respect Anne, I personally am finding that I am using templates less and less. The main reason is that templates have to be in a location Word knows about.

It is true that this can be anywhere, but if it is not in the "normal" location then you have to explicitly tell Word where to find it. To use File | New, you must put that template file in the location Word checks to look for them.

As the default location for User Templates is under c:\documents and setting\username, this means in an office of 50 people, the template file is (hopefully), at best in 50 locations. This location has to be explained tp users.

So I am more and more creating documents, not templates, that have an AutoNew macro that immediately creates a copy of the document. The original is closed. This occurs invisibly. All functionality (including all subsequent macros and code)is retained in the new document. The original is never changed. Plus the original (which is archived as Read-Only) can be opened anywhere as it is a .DOC file, not a .DOT.

A form is a different beast. A form ususally implies some sort of interface with the user. It implies that variable data or information is chosen, and/or manually entered by the user. How that gets on screen is not relevant to it being sourced from a template, or sourced from "mother document".

Oh, and one of the reason I am using .doc to distribute and use forms, is that I still have not be able to get all users to understand that a .DOT template needs to be located and then called (by File|New of whatever). I tell them what to do, but they often open the template file itself. Which can mess things up.

Global templates are another thing again. These are files that are ususlly loaded on start up. I rarely keep macros within normal.dot (the basic, required template Word uses to run). I keep them separate in a global template that loads on startup. My macros are available, and if something happens that needs a reinstall of Word (it happens) I can do an install, with a new normal.dot and it has minimal affect on me. This also lessen the chance that normal.dot will get corrupted.

Regarding Anne's comment on using templates rather than document as you do not need to "clear" the form:

1. a document that copies itself immediately does not have this problem, as it is essentially, like a template, a new document and all formfields are clear.
2. There is a simple way to clear forms.

Gerry

 

[Dreamboat]

Points well taken, Gerry.

Anne Troy
Killer Coder Live Chat!

http://www.vbaexpress.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2121

 

[junedonofrio]

thanks everyone for the info, can you tell me how to do "AutoNew macro that immediately creates a copy of the document", sorry i am very new to this, so i dont know how to make macros, if you could explain in simple terms that would be helpful

thanks,
June