Workgroup Templates and global/add-in template

[Leanne]

I've got quite a few templates - each with our office address information in them (about 25 offices). I have a master file with all addresses in it and each address is saved as an Autotext. Pre-Word 2007, when I'd have a change to an address, I'd make the change to the master file then copy the Autotext through the organizer. This worked slick and didn't encounter any problems. Now, with Word 2007, I must save each office Autotext into either the building blocks template or normal template. I end up having to insert the address into the template, select/save as Autotext in that particular template, save, and continue on to the next template.

Also, some of the templates have a Autotext list, where hovering the mouse over it or right-clicking it will have the list of addresses to choose from. Pre-Word 2007 the list was based on the style used - worked perfectly. Now, it doesn't seem to be style based. If I delete/change an address, right-clicking shows the entire list of building blocks or whatever it may feel like showing. This is very frustrating and I then have to insert each address into the template, select and resave as an Autotext entry, delete the address, save the template, and continue on to the next.

Could there possibly be an easier way in 2007 to do this? I'm wondering if it's possible to remove each of the office addresses from each template then have each of those templates look at my master office address list file. The templates are saved on and accessed from each office server. I'd prefer to have the master office address file saved in the same location so I don't think a global template/add-in would work.

To use each of the templates, when doing File>New, a userbox opens with prompts for the user to enter information into. The first box is a combo box that asks which office and then populates based on what office was selected. Can I set the combo box up to look at another template for the information? I've been trying to figure this out for the last couple of days and it's just not working.

Thanks, Leanne

[HansV]

Welcome to Eileen's Lounge!

Unfortunately, Microsoft has all but killed AutoText by moving it to the bloated and mostly useless Building Blocks gallery.

To get something usable, you have to customize the ribbon. Greg Maxey has created an add-in for this. See the description at Build and Employ Custom Building Blocks Gallery.

In the end, this should be more flexible than editing in the interface.

[Leanne]

Thanks Hans. I've been struggling with the Autotext problems since switching to 2007 a couple of years ago. At that time, I think I looked into Greg's add-ins but just couldn't get a grasp of it and therefore couldn't get it to work. I was hoping it would be fixed in 2010 but that's not the case either : (

Are you saying there wouldn't be a way to get the address from a second template? If not, I'll relook at Greg's information and see if it makes more sense.

BTW, glad I found you guys again.

Thanks, Leanne

[HansV]

If you want to be able to work with lists in other files, you will probably be forced to either create a custom toolbar with dropdown lists in code (the custom toolbar will be displayed in the Add-Ins tab of the ribbon), or learn how to write code to customize the ribbon yourself (RibbonX).