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Subject:Re: Distributing DOT files via the intranet From:"Peter Ring, PRC" <prc -at- PRC -dot- DK> Date:Fri, 26 Feb 1999 14:55:53 +1
Jeroen Hendrix <jhe -at- polydoc -dot- com> wrote
> Every employee in the organisation should be able to have access to the
> latest versions of company templates. We do not want to distribute the
> files physically to everyone because of version control and possible
> (human) errors. A major problem is that not everyone in the organisation
> can connect to the same dedicated server, but everyone can connect to the
> Intranet. Therefore we want to distribute the Word 97 templates via this
> intranet. Users should be able to surf to a site, click the template of
> their choice, upon which Microsoft Word opens with this template. We found
> out that we have to specify the proper MIME type (dot) and Application
> Type (MSWord) on both the Client's browser and on the Server. When this is
> done, MSWord is started all right, but with the template itself, not wit a
> new document based on that template. Now how can we get Word to open a new
> document based on that template? Is this even possible?
That's how Word is programmed. But .dot files are normal .doc files saved as
.dot. The only difference is, that an e.g. "letter1.dot" file can be opened by
means of the "New" command as "Document#.doc" in order to avoid overwriting the
original file.
However, in your case overwriting the original file is no problem, because it
has been downloaded from the intranet (a local network using 100% Internet
protocols and software).
Simply rename the the .dot files (e.g. letter1.dot) on the intranet server to
.doc (e.g. letter1.doc) files. The only problem is, that the users forget to
rename (to e.g. "Letter to Ajax Corp 990228.doc") before saving, but that's
almost the same problem if the users forget to rename the "Document1.doc" file.
Greetings from Denmark
Peter Ring
PRC (Peter Ring Consultants)
- specialists in user friendly manuals.
prc -at- prc -dot- dk
- the "User Friendly Manuals" website with links, bibliography, list
of prof. associations, and tips for technical writers: http://www.prc.dk/user-friendly-manuals/
- text cleaning software, e.g. for reading difficult e-mails: http://www.prc.dk/software/
