Word templates not opening as new documents

Hmm... Yes now seeing this method allows documents to open as docx, which is not my intention. They use to open as macro enabled if the templates were macro enabled.  It also ends up taking more clicks than the "save as" method.  Much more as it turns out. I have a couple of folders in my template hierarchy and so I have to navigate every time.

The document icons in my templates folder are still not the correct icons even though that folder is in the templates path.  So still no ability to open template files directly.  Yuck

Yes this approach works!  It is not a quick as using my templates folder shortcut, but much better than my current "save as" method, that I also regularly damage dotms with.

Much appreciation!

Charles is  not mandating that the Workgroup Templates folder not be shared.  By going to File>Options>Advanced>General>File Locations, you can modify the location of the Workgroup Templates folder(s) so that one of them points to your "Practice Docs" folder.  If you do that, the contents of that folder will be displayed in the "classic" New dialog.

If the "Practice Docs" folder is shared, it would be best to set it as the Workgroup Templates folder.

Are these requirements all new?  Its worked fine as we currently have it for more than 10 years.

You are mandating that the templates folder NOT be shared?  Maybe this is an attack on advanced users who MS believes should pay for their business level services?

If not, how do you expect I might distribute our 20+ evolving templates if the containing folders cannot be shared?

Thank you for helping.  Our templates are stored in a Practice Docs folder on all machines.  It is configured for network sync.  Is it necessary to store templates in the path you specified?

For templates to work with the FileNew classic dialog, they must be stored in folders designated as either the User Templates  Folder or the Workgroup Templates Folder. It does not matter what name is given these folders, nor where they are stored but it does matter that they are so designated in the User's options.

See Templates in Microsoft Word and File New Variations in the Versions of Word. 

If you want them to show up in the Backstage view for File > New, they must be in a folder designated as either the Custom Office Templates folder or the Workgroup Templates folder. File New Variations in the Versions of Word. Again, the name is not important, what is necessary is the designation in the user options.

The user templates folder should NOT be a shared folder. My advice is to make a single folder designated as the User Templates folder and the Custom Office Templates folder. In my opinion, this simplifies things.

Yours could be in the Workgroup Templates folder or a subfolder and you can name it PracticeDocs if you want.

These folders likely should be listed as trusted locations. The User Templates folder must be a trusted location.