OFF: Files in Templates Folder Behave as Templates

• Microsoft Office 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Office for Windows 95, version 7.0
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
• Microsoft PowerPoint 97 for Windows
• Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows 95, version 7.0
• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

Office 97

When you a save file from one of the Office 97 programs listed at the beginning of this article to the Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates, the file behaves as a template regardless of its file type.

When you click New on the File menu, or click New Office Document on either the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar or the Windows Start menu, any file you choose from the New Office Document dialog box is opened as a copy of the file.

Office 7.0

When you a save file from one of the Office 7.0 programs listed at the beginning of this article to the Msoffice\Templates folder (where Msoffice is the folder in which you installed Microsoft Office), the file behaves as a template regardless of its file type.

When you click New on the File menu, click New Office Document on the Windows Start menu, or click "Start a New Document" on the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar, any file you choose from the dialog box is opened as a copy of the file.

NOTE: In PowerPoint 7.0 and PowerPoint 97, the behavior does not occur when you click New on the File menu. When you click New on the File menu in PowerPoint, only files that you saved as templates are displayed in the New Presentation dialog box.

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Office.

MORE INFORMATION

It is possible to open a file that you previously saved in the Templates folder without making a copy of the file. To do this, click Open on the File menu in any of the Office programs, locate the Templates folder, click the document, and then click Open.

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q129279
   TITLE     : XL7: Open Command Without SHIFT Opens Template for Editing

   ARTICLE-ID: Q133137
   TITLE     : XL: How to Open a Copy of a Template in Microsoft
               Excel 7.0

   ARTICLE-ID: Q136484
   TITLE     : WC1228: An Overview of New Components and Features