Can’t save Dot as a Doc (97 SR1)

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I have an NT user who cannot save a DOT file as a Doc, the options box is greyed out. Reinstalled office, deleted her profile. Other users have no problem….I repermissioned the folder etc…… never seen this before. Anyone seen this or know of a fix? Thanks

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A template cannot be saved as a document.
If the .dot file is really a template, then you cannot save it as a document.
The options are disabled because they are not allowed in this case.

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Solution: Create a new .doc based on the .dot file (e.g., by double-clicking it in Windows Explorer) and save the new document.

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Hi Jefferson,

Simpler to copy & rename (with .doc extension) via Windows Explorer. No need to open in Word & save.

Cheers

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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But then when you open the .doc file, and you go to save_as – you are again faced with a greyed out box and only the template option.
This is a common problem where I work.
Always, always, always create a new document based on the template. To rename the .dot as a .doc will come back to haunt you in the future in the form of associated templates and styles and macros and……
Alan
Cheshire
UK

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But then when you open the .doc file, and you go to save_as – you are again faced with a greyed out box and only the template option.

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I’ve never seen that behaviour. In my experience the only difference between a .dot and a .doc is the extension – Word simply interprets one as a template and the other as a document.
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Always, always, always create a new document based on the template. To rename the .dot as a .doc will come back to haunt you in the future in the form of associated templates and styles and macros and……

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Hard not to create a document that isn’t based on a template – normal.dot at the very minimum. Even if you delete this file, Word re-creates one based on MS’s defaults next time you start Word. And yes, I use templates with carefully crafted styles quite extensively.

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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HI Macropod:
There are some other differences, although after Word 97 they are closer together than before. Word 97 is the first version where a document can contain macros, shortcut key assignments, & toolbars. However, a document still can’t contain AutoText. And you can save a document as a template directly, but not vice versa. I believe there are other differences, but I confess that I’ve never read enough about the architecture to know.
Cheers,

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Thanks Phil,

I’ve never made much use of Autotext, so maybe that’s why I haven’t encountered any problems converting .dot files to .doc by simply copying & re-naming. Any idea what happens to autotext via this process?

Cheers

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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Hi macropod:
Actually, copying a renaming a template to a .doc extension doesn’t change it to a document. It is still a template. The only thing that changes is that the default action for “.doc” is OPEN & the default action for “.dot” is NEW (& possibly some other actions; you can see those under an Explorer window View/FolderOptions/File Types tab & scroll to the registered file type). So the AutoText that’s in a template stays with the template when the extension is changed.
Cheers,

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