Word templates not opening as new documents

Anonymous
2020-11-17T00:37:36+00:00

This happened after a recent Windows update.

I've seen this issue written about and have tried the suggested solutions without luck.  First tried quick repair and then full reinstall of office 365. Also set related registry entries to "new."

All templates are just opening as .dotm instead of .docm or .docx.  Any other troubleshooting steps available?

[Moved from  Word/Windows 10/Microsoft 365 Apps or Office 365 Business]

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-11-17T04:12:15+00:00

    Hi Nicholas,

    Sorry for the inconvenience caused by this issue.

    Regarding the issue, I would also like to confirm following information:

    1.Is the issue that you create a new document from template via File>New>select a template, when you try to save the document, the default file format is .dotm?

    2.What is the current version and channel of your Office? In Word, please click File>Account and then capture a full screenshot of Product Information.

    3.Seems the issue happens to all Word templates, could you share some screenshots about "All templates are just opening as .dotm instead of .docm or .docx".

    Thanks for your time and effort.

    Best Regards,

    Tina

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-17T05:08:04+00:00

    Hi and thanks for helping.  I have pre-existing templates .dotm.  I click the templates directly in Windows Explorer and they open as the template instead of a new document.  The normal right-click options for templates "open" are not there.

    Office 365 (16.0.13328.20350) reports as up to date.

    Not sure if this is what you wanted for templates.

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  3. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2020-11-17T08:24:26+00:00

    The default right click\double click option for a template is New

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  4. Charles Kenyon 171K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2020-11-17T17:59:58+00:00

    You likely can fix this with a quick repair of Office. My experience is that this resets the file type associations.

    Repair an Office application - Office Support

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-11-17T20:32:14+00:00

    Doug and Charles, please take a minute to read through my question.  Both of you suggested something that was clearly already done or noted.

    There is a clear difference with the template icons, so something is up.

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