Description of categories, locations, and registry keys for Word 2002 templates

This article describes the new categories of template files, the template locations, and the registry keys associated with templates in Microsoft Word 2002.

Template Categories

Templates fall into one of five categories. When you click the New command on the File menu, Word seeks the templates according to the following priority:

• User-customized templates: Newly created or modified templates are saved in a folder in your profile directory. The folders under your profile contain configuration preferences and options specific to you. Everything that needs to roam with you is stored in these directories as part of your profile.
• Custom workgroup templates: These are the same as user templates except that the location is usually network-based. A network administrator may set a network location as a source from which to provide common templates used throughout the workgroup or company. The workgroup location is usually a read-only share.
• Advertised and installed templates: Advertised templates are all templates that are included with Word 2002. All of these templates appear in the Templates dialog box (on the New Document task pane, click General Templates). Depending on the type of installation performed, not all of the templates have necessarily been installed on your hard disk. When you choose a template that is not installed, a dialog box appears and the program installs the template from its source (compact disc, network, and so on).
• Non-file-based templates: These templates do not physically exist on the hard disk but are used by Word to create documents. Word 2002 has the necessary information built in to create documents from these templates -- for example, new Web pages and new e-mail messages.
• Templates on the Web: These are templates stored either on the Microsoft Template Gallery Web site or in a Microsoft Network (MSN) personal Web folder. A new feature of Word is that it can connect to these Web sites from within the program and open new documents based on the templates available there. To gain access to templates on the Web, click Templates on my Web Sites or Templates on Microsoft.com in the New Document task pane.

Template Locations

The template locations for Microsoft Word depend on the operating system of the computer on which Word is installed and the type of template. The following list features the default template locations for the English (U.S.) version of Word.

• Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) without profiles enabled:
  User Templates: C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
  
  Installed Templates: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\1033
• Microsoft Windows 98 or Windows Me with profiles enabled, or Microsoft Windows NT 4.0:
  User Templates: C:\Windows\Profiles\user name\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
  
  Installed Templates: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\1033
• Microsoft Windows 2000:
  User Templates: C:\Documents and Settings\user name\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
  
  Installed Templates: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\1033

NOTE: The location of templates on your system may be different.

Registry Key Locations

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

The following registry keys indicate where your user-customized and workgroup templates locations are stored in the Windows registry:

User-customized templates: Workgroup templates: NOTE: These registry values do not appear unless you have changed your default template locations.