Word 2010 and Template Locations

For those of you still using Word 2010, if you want to save a document as a template to the default Office Templates folder do the following:

In the Save As dialog box:

 - scroll up to the top of the folder list

 - click the arrow to the left of Microsoft Word

 - click Templates.

 - change the Save As Type to Word Template

 - click Save.

Hope that helps.

Having spent more than an hour on this issue, including reading all of the posts on this thread, I feel the need to share my understanding and experience.

• Word 2010 behaves differently from previous versions of word. Change happens; I have no issue with this.
• Word 2010 behaves differently from other Office 2010 products. I do not think this is ideal, but since I have not found any opportunity for using templates shared across Office products, I'm not troubled by this.
• Word 2010's default templates folder, buried in a subdirectory of a hidden folder that many Windows users are blissfully unaware of, is not easily found; thankfully, forums like this exist. As long as Word handles all templates behind the scenes, the obscurity of this location should not be a problem.
• There are two circumstances in which the default templates folder comes into play: when creating a new document or template based on an existing user template, and when saving a new or changed template file (.dotx or, I presume,.dot).
• The user can, with some effort, change the default folder. As long as the default location works in both isolated and networked settings, I would hope this is unnecessary.
• My experience is that, when templates exist in the default (Microsoft-designated) default templates folder, those templates are presented to me, as expected, when File / New / My templates menu path is chosen. All good.
• However, my experience is that, when using Save As for a new or changed template file (.dotx), Word behaves as it would for a normal document file: it offers the folder from which the file was originally opened, or if a new file, the default document save folder. It does not offer to save template files in any manner differently from document files. This is my issue.

My irritation stems from Word's (2010, at least) inconsistency between where it finds templates (File / New / My templates) and where it stores them (File / Save as). Users don't have to know about the obscure location of the default templates folder when creating documents; great. However, they do need to know about it, and navigate to it, when creating or modifying templates; not great.

This is not only inconvenient when trying to save a template (easier for the user if the correct default folder is presented), but it is annoying and frustrating. The user must learn the location of this folder by either plumbing the depths of the Options menu, or by searching online. This is even more vexing because the desired folder is hidden; having learned the supposed location of the folder to which the user must manually navigate, the hidden parent folder is not visible, creating doubt about the actual folder location.

My idea of a perfect solution is for Word's Save As dialog to present the default template folder, whether hidden or not in Windows Explorer options, when the user attempts to save a template file (.dotx or .dot extension). If, during the Save As operation, the user changes the file type to a template type, Word should switch from whatever it had open (either the original file's location or the default Save location) to the default template folder.

It makes sense to me that the software store templates in the same location that it looks for them.

Apparently someone was listening. Word 2013 again moved the templates location, but it allows designation of a default storage location for templates different from the document location. I believe that by default it stores them where it looks for them.

File New Variations in the Versions of Word

Having spent more than an hour on this issue, including reading all of the posts on this thread, I feel the need to share my understanding and experience.

• Word 2010 behaves differently from previous versions of word. Change happens; I have no issue with this.
• Word 2010 behaves differently from other Office 2010 products. I do not think this is ideal, but since I have not found any opportunity for using templates shared across Office products, I'm not troubled by this.
• Word 2010's default templates folder, buried in a subdirectory of a hidden folder that many Windows users are blissfully unaware of, is not easily found; thankfully, forums like this exist. As long as Word handles all templates behind the scenes, the obscurity of this location should not be a problem.
• There are two circumstances in which the default templates folder comes into play: when creating a new document or template based on an existing user template, and when saving a new or changed template file (.dotx or, I presume,.dot).
• The user can, with some effort, change the default folder. As long as the default location works in both isolated and networked settings, I would hope this is unnecessary.
• My experience is that, when templates exist in the default (Microsoft-designated) default templates folder, those templates are presented to me, as expected, when File / New / My templates menu path is chosen. All good.
• However, my experience is that, when using Save As for a new or changed template file (.dotx), Word behaves as it would for a normal document file: it offers the folder from which the file was originally opened, or if a new file, the default document save folder. It does not offer to save template files in any manner differently from document files. This is my issue.

My irritation stems from Word's (2010, at least) inconsistency between where it finds templates (File / New / My templates) and where it stores them (File / Save as). Users don't have to know about the obscure location of the default templates folder when creating documents; great. However, they do need to know about it, and navigate to it, when creating or modifying templates; not great.

This is not only inconvenient when trying to save a template (easier for the user if the correct default folder is presented), but it is annoying and frustrating. The user must learn the location of this folder by either plumbing the depths of the Options menu, or by searching online. This is even more vexing because the desired folder is hidden; having learned the supposed location of the folder to which the user must manually navigate, the hidden parent folder is not visible, creating doubt about the actual folder location.

My idea of a perfect solution is for Word's Save As dialog to present the default template folder, whether hidden or not in Windows Explorer options, when the user attempts to save a template file (.dotx or .dot extension). If, during the Save As operation, the user changes the file type to a template type, Word should switch from whatever it had open (either the original file's location or the default Save location) to the default template folder.

It makes sense to me that the software store templates in the same location that it looks for them.