I agree with the previous poster in all particulars. When a Word document opens, it will search for its template in at least three locations.
Which template is attached if there are multiple templates with the same name
I use a macro to attach my documents to my normal template when they are created from custom templates.
Code:
Sub AttachNormalTemplate() ' attaches Normal template
' Written by Charles Kyle Kenyon on December 1, 2011
'
Dim sTemplatesPath As String
Let sTemplatesPath = Application.Options.DefaultFilePath(wdUserTemplatesPath)
With ActiveDocument
Let .UpdateStylesOnOpen = False
Let .AttachedTemplate = sTemplatesPath & "\Normal.dotm"
End With
End Sub
It has worked in every ribbon version of Word to date. I had an earlier version that attached to Normal.dot instead.