Set Microsoft Word template to always save documents based on it to a certain location

Question

Some of my professors demand very specific formats for papers typed up for their courses. I've created word templates (.dotx files) for these, so I don't have to set up the formatting each time I go to write something.

I already have a template for each of my classes, and have my files organized such that each class has its own directory. I would like to be able to specify a default save location for each template. I know how to set the general default save location for all documents, but I want to change it just for a specific template. Even if there were a way to have it save files generated by the template into the folder the template file resides in, that would be nice. Anybody have any ideas?

Answer 1

One solution is to use a macro-enabled template (dotm) with a VBA macro to replace SaveAs.

An example macro is:

Public Sub FileSaveAs()
    Dim dlg As Dialog
    Dim strSaveFolder
    strSaveFolder = Application.Options.DefaultFilePath(wdDocumentsPath)
    Select Case ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate.Name
        Case "Woodworking.dot"
            Application.Options.DefaultFilePath(wdDocumentsPath) = "C:\Woodworking"
        Case "Travel.dot"
            Application.Options.DefaultFilePath(wdDocumentsPath) = "C:\Travel"
    End Select
    Set dlg = Dialogs(wdDialogFileSaveAs)
    dlg.Show
    Application.Options.DefaultFilePath(wdDocumentsPath) = strSaveFolder
End Sub

You will still need to attach this macro to Ctrl-S.

If you use a separate template document per user, the above "Select Case" can be simplified to a simple assign in each of the templates.

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