Migrating Quick Parts to a new computer

[Jonny Neyland]

Hi,

The issue that I am having is that I have just gotten a new computer, and even though I copied my profile over, my Quick Parts are not showing up in Word.

Both the old and new computers have Office 2013. Both computers run Windows 7.

I have read that Quick Parts are saved by default in the building blocks.dotx file. I read that this folder can be found in a few places...

Drive:\Users\<username>\appdata\roaming\Microsoft\ documentbuildingblock\
Drive:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Microsoft\Document Building Blocks\1033\15

Drive:\program files\Microsoft office\office12\document parts\1033

I have copied all of those folders over to my new computer, and still no luck.

Am I doing something wrong here? any suggestions? thank you in advance!

[Charles Kenyon]

Building Blocks are stored in templates. The templates can be stored in the building blocks folder; they can be stored elsewhere. The default template for Word 2013 is named "Built-In Building Blocks.dotx."

Building Blocks Storage Location

I don't store any custom building blocks in the building blocks folder. Doing so is asking for trouble, as is storing macros in the normal template. I store them in Global Templates, that way I can also assign keyboard shortcuts or QAT icons to them.

[Charles Kenyon]

Also, see Word 2007 & Later Key Data File Locations on this forum.

[Charles Kenyon]

AutoText is saved, by default, in the Normal template. I'm not sure about the other Building Blocks. As I said earlier, I tend to store them elsewhere.

I also use Greg Maxey's free Building Blocks tools. They might help you.
Building Blocks & AutoText
They make moving, copying and organizing building blocks much easier.

[Jonny Neyland]

Thanks Charles.

What ended up solving the problem for me was to create a quick part, and then save my old building blocks file (the one from the roaming profile that I referenced above) over the new one that I had just created. Until I created a new building blocks file on the new machine, Word would not recognize the old one that I had already pasted in the correct folder. weird.

[Charles Kenyon]

In my experience, any holder of building blocks (i.e. template) place in either the building blocks folder or the Word Startup Folder will be recognized and used.

I had not tried copying the Building Blocks or Built In Building Blocks files where they had not been previously used, though. Again, I would recommend keeping your custom building blocks in a different template.