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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

53 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2021-04-22T05:15:54+00:00

    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.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2021-04-22T06:03:33+00:00

    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!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2021-04-24T04:21:48+00:00

    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

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2021-04-24T06:10:38+00:00

    By default, all new documents will be saved in docx format.   However if they are opened on a machine on which the template is located, by means of a reference that is automatically made to that template, all of the features of the template will be available for use with that document.

    If previously documents were saved as docm format, you must have had that format set under File>Options>Save>Save files in this format.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Charles Kenyon 171K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2021-04-24T21:39:49+00:00

    Doug is mistaken in that I am strongly suggesting that the User Templates folder not be shared, but not  that no templates folder be shared.

    I recommend that the Workgroup Templates be shared on a network drive but downloaded locally and used from there. The network login can do updates. This makes updating easier than fully sharing the folder and makes it easier for people to work remotely.

    The User Templates folder should not be shared because that is the container for the Normal template, which should not be shared.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments