Word not ignoring unavailable .dot template in .doc

[Peterson]

Four users are collaborating on an old .doc file, created with a long-lost template, with Automatically update document styles ticked. (Yes, I know this isn't ideal; I can't control their use of the file.) All users are on enterprise Office, current build; all Win10.

Three users can open/work in the file without issue: Word ignores the link to the non-existent template and doesn't try to update the styles; the formatting is preserved.



But Word throws an error for the fourth user: "Sorry, we couldn't find <the long-lost template>. Is it possible it was removed, renamed or deleted?" After OK is clicked, Word attaches the Normal template, updates the styles, wrecks the formatting.

When I and a colleague open the file, we also have no issues with it -- Word is ignoring the non-existent template/auto-update.

I've looked through all of the settings in Options and can't see anything that might affect whether or not Word "phones home" for the template, and I'm coming up short on web searching.

Any idea what's going on?

[Charles Kenyon]

Short term, turn off that setting! They obviously do not need it in this file.
What happens when I send my document to someone else? Will Word mess up my formatting?
Do this with one of the copies where the problem does not arise and distribute.

It is possible that the three who have no problems do have the template.

[Peterson]

Yep, we've turned off auto-update.

The users are all sharing the same file, passing it around to work on their respective sections or review other's work.

The template and its path don't exist: it was created in 2008, on a local drive, by an employee who left the org in 2010.

I'm familiar with the auto-update feature and the trouble it can cause. We're trying to understand why, for one user, Word is having issues with linking to the ghost template and replacing it with Normal when numerous others, working in the same file, are not.

As I write this, it occurs to me that maybe it's related to where she is saving the file??

[macropod]

Counter-intuitively, the behaviour your fourth member is experiencing may be due to the way their network and internet connections are set up, rather than being anything to do with Word, per se.

The simplest solution for all users might be to:
1. make a copy of the document;
2. delete all content from the copy;
3. uncheck the 'Automatically update document styles' option;
4. save the copy as a template using the same name and location as the original template. If the server name has changed, you'll need to update the template path to take account of that; and
5. ensure all users' systems have access to the network folder where template is located or, if it's saved locally, that they save a copy to the relevant local folder.

Aside from anything else, that should also make opening the documents somewhat faster than it is now. That's because, when a Word template is missing, Windows will try to locate the missing template multiple times. That process may cause a Word document to take longer than usual to open.

If a user is opening the file from a completely different location (e.g. at home instead of at work), simply disconnecting from the internet while opening the file can improve performance.