Word 2007 Track Changes, Track formatting registry key?

[diana]

Does anyone know of a related registry key for this Word setting Track changes, Track formatting.
We need this setting off.
There appears to be no related GPO/ OPA setting .

Which is the reason why a registry key is required.

see screen capture

any ideas?

many thanks

diana

[HansV]

As far as I can tell, this is a document-level (or rather document window-level) setting, not an application-level setting. The VBA to turn Formatting off is

ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.View.ShowFormatChanges = msoFalse

[diana]

many thanks Hans

dd

[diana]

hi ive picked up this issue again...

your right Hans its document specific and here are my findings...

its been mentioned the setting can be set and turned off in the template normal.dotm.
C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\normal.dotm
However that works and is only applicable if your creating new documents based on normal.dotm

If I update normal.dotm turn off the setting and save the template.
If i create a new doc from normal.dotm the setting is still turned on.

if I update both templates with seting off -
C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\
normal.dotm
NormalEmail.dotm

if i create a new doc from normal.dotm then the setting is turned off.

Being a law firm we have many word templates. The settting has to be set in each template.
I open a template, turn off the setting and saved the template.
I create a new document based on the template with the setting off, the result is the document contains the correct setting turned off.

If I open a document created and saved some time ago, the setting is turned on.

I was thinking the best method to address is:
- update all company templates with the setting turned off
- update normal.dotm & normalEmail.dotm templates with setting turned off, and
- on document open - add code to accomodate for existing documents
ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.View.ShowFormatChanges = msoFalse

is the best way to resolve?
any ideas?

many thanks

diana

[HansV]

That's probably the best solution. Alternatively you could update all documents by opening them, turning off Formatting, and then closing and saving them, but
a) that would be a lot of work, and
b) it would change the last modified date of all those documents. which may not de desirable.

If you put the code to turn off Formatting in a macro named AutoOpen, you only need to store it in Normal.dotm - AutoOpen is run for *every* document, whether it's based on Normal.dotm or not. The Document_Open event procedure would have to be stored in each and every template.

[diana]

thanks Hans

yes that works.

Further consideration and tasks are required from a systems administrator’s point of view.

Have a standard normal.dotm template deployed to the users profile
C:\Documents and Settings\<UserProfile>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\Normal.dotm

If for whatever reason the normal.dotm is deleted eg Profile deleted, Word crash, other the normal.dotm will need to be re-deployed.

If the normal.dotm isn’t deployed to the local pc, the same problem will occur with Track Changes Formatting setting turned on. Helpdesk calls will be raised with Word tracking formatting.

For the standard normal.dotm to be implemented to the local pcs:
1. On login script deploy normal.dotm from a central network location
2. Reset Windows profile (full re-profile) script run – to deploy the normal.dotm to the local pc
3. Other…

a fix will be implemented :P

[diana]

update...

Ive discovered when you open word turn the setting off, close word and reopen. The setting is reset and turned back on again.

Ive checked and this isnt forced by GPO policy.
In WordXP you could have this setting turned off. goto menu Tools, Options, tab Track Changes, Formatting: drop downlist = (none)
In Word 2007 it appears to be forced on.

Another solution was update normal.dotm with your solution of AutoOpen. And deploy this standard normal.dotm

The issue is users will have their customised normal.dotm so deploying the updated normal.dotm will overwrite their changes, and they will be annoyed.

I was thinking is it possible...

on Word startup - write to the normal.dotm procedure.

when Word opens it needs to access normal.dotm so will this be an issue?
the code will obviously have to check if the module already exists

will this be the best solution?
how can i achieve this?

thanks

diana

[HansV]

I don't think you can write to Normal.dotm during startup. I'd either tell the users how to change their Normal.dotm or let it be.

[diana]

thanks Hans. I was on holidays and have returned...

One suggestion was on the login script, write to the normal.dotm. This involves opening up word to write to the normal.dotm.

I thought this maybe a risk, if anything should go wrong with this process eg word doesnt close properly, or crashes, when users open the Word session other issues will appear.

Thanks again Hans

diana