How do Word 2010 normal.dotm templates work?

[John Gray]

I find that I have two normal.dotm templates on my C: drive (32-bit Windows and Office):

a) in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates

b) in C:\Users\<myname>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates

Am I right in thinking that if there is a normal.dotm template in AppData, then it will be used,
otherwise the one in Program Files will be used instead?

Is there any reason to have a normal.dotm in Program Files if there will always be one in the user's AppData?

Conversely, if a single normal.dotm is to be imposed across all users of that PC, could one delete any one found in each user's AppData path, and simply insert it in Program Files?

Thanks!

[HansV]

Word looks first in your user templates location (by default C:\Users\<myname>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates).
If Normal.dotm is not found there, Word looks in the program location (by default C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates, or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Templates for 32-bit Office on 64-bit Windows).
If it isn't found there either, Word looks in the workgroup templates location, if it exists (by default, no path is specified).

So if you want all users of a PC to use the same Normal.dotm, you could place it in the program location and delete the versions in the user templates locations. Alternatively, point the user templates location of all users to the program location (or any other "central" folder); this could be enforced by a policy.

If you want all users on various PCs on a network to use the same Normal.dotm, you could place it in a network folder and point the user templates location to that folder. Again, a policy could be used to enforce this.

[John Gray]

Thanks, Hans - it was as I expected and hoped!

[Jay Freedman]

On a single-user computer such as a home PC, it doesn't make any difference where the Normal template is stored.

I don't like to contradict you, Hans, but sharing one Normal.dotm file among multiple users -- especially on multiple computers in a network -- really should be avoided. It's an unsupported configuration and, as Shauna Kelly wrote, "... you are explicitly choosing to reduce their productivity." Each user's changes to styles, shortcut keys, macros, etc. will overwrite the previous ones until no one has any idea what's going on.
You cannot share the Normal.dot file among multiple users in Word
Set up Word so it works effectively for your team

[HansV]

I actually agree with you, Jay.

[John Gray]

In practice, these users are very inexperienced and often elderly, and the thought of making any "changes to styles, shortcut keys, macros, etc." would fill them with either bafflement or complete horror - probably both!

Since these PCs are in a workgroup, the single normal.dotm on a PC would be 'shared' between eight user accounts, only two or three of which would actually ever be logged on to.

If there's any problem, I would copy normal.dotm to each user's AppData path and remove normal.dotm from the Program Files path...

[Jay Freedman]

John, the thought of being "informal IT" to a group of inexperienced users of any age fills me with complete horror -- and being IT for my wife's computer sometimes baffles me, and she's an intelligent and experienced user. Kudos to you!