Why my template changes don't save when I close Microsoft Word?
If you are now a user of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, you will concur that the new Word Templates feature is probably one of the most visible improvements over version 10.0 as it has made the delivery of 'facing' documents a pleasant one.
However, the new feature has not come without misunderstandings on how it works. One such misunderstandings has to do with the way template documents are opened, changed, and saved. Many users have found out the hard way that there's a bit more to just hitting the save button in Microsoft Word. So, let's review the few critical steps of opening a Word Template and ensuring that all changes are properly saved in Microsoft Dynamics GP, in the process, I will explain what happens "under the hood".
1. In the following example, I have taken a new template created for Aaron Fitz Electrical (AARONFIT0001) based on the original SOP Blank Invoice Form and have opened it and added a logo to it.
Upon opening the template (by clicking the Modify button), Microsoft Word automatically creates an image of the template in the user's local temp folder.
In this scenario, and to simulate the subject of this post, we will proceed and save the template -- assuming the logo is all we wanted to add to the template. Microsoft Word will save the document as it would normally do with any other document. We then proceed to close Microsoft Word.
Upon revisiting the %temp% folder. The modified template is no longer available.
Hence, if you were to print the SOP Blank Invoice Form -- assigned to customer Aaron Fitz Electrical -- from within Microsoft Dynamics GP using the Template report, chances are the system would revert to the standard template as the changes would not be found.
In order to overcome this issue, here are the correct steps to have your templates available all the time:
1. Upon completing the modifications of the template in Microsoft Word, save your templates under your My Documents folder. If your templates are going to be used by all users in your environment, save the template to a network shared folder. In any case, use the Save As option in Microsoft Word to save your document.
NOTE: if you are also going to use logo images with your templates, be sure to save these also on a shared folder.
2. Upon saving the template, you will now use the Add button to re-add the template you have just previously saved. This will now ensure that all your changes are imported and stored in Microsoft SQL Server.
That's it for avoiding a major headache with the loss of a very customized Microsoft Word template.
Until next post!
MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.intellpartners.com/
However, the new feature has not come without misunderstandings on how it works. One such misunderstandings has to do with the way template documents are opened, changed, and saved. Many users have found out the hard way that there's a bit more to just hitting the save button in Microsoft Word. So, let's review the few critical steps of opening a Word Template and ensuring that all changes are properly saved in Microsoft Dynamics GP, in the process, I will explain what happens "under the hood".
1. In the following example, I have taken a new template created for Aaron Fitz Electrical (AARONFIT0001) based on the original SOP Blank Invoice Form and have opened it and added a logo to it.
 |
| SOP Blank Invoice Form Template - AARONFIT0001 |
Upon opening the template (by clicking the Modify button), Microsoft Word automatically creates an image of the template in the user's local temp folder.
 |
| Template image in %temp% folder |
In this scenario, and to simulate the subject of this post, we will proceed and save the template -- assuming the logo is all we wanted to add to the template. Microsoft Word will save the document as it would normally do with any other document. We then proceed to close Microsoft Word.
Upon revisiting the %temp% folder. The modified template is no longer available.
 |
| Template is no longer available after closing Microsoft Word |
Hence, if you were to print the SOP Blank Invoice Form -- assigned to customer Aaron Fitz Electrical -- from within Microsoft Dynamics GP using the Template report, chances are the system would revert to the standard template as the changes would not be found.
In order to overcome this issue, here are the correct steps to have your templates available all the time:
1. Upon completing the modifications of the template in Microsoft Word, save your templates under your My Documents folder. If your templates are going to be used by all users in your environment, save the template to a network shared folder. In any case, use the Save As option in Microsoft Word to save your document.
 |
| Save As to save template document |
NOTE: if you are also going to use logo images with your templates, be sure to save these also on a shared folder.
2. Upon saving the template, you will now use the Add button to re-add the template you have just previously saved. This will now ensure that all your changes are imported and stored in Microsoft SQL Server.
 |
| Add template |
That's it for avoiding a major headache with the loss of a very customized Microsoft Word template.
Until next post!
MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.intellpartners.com/
Comments
Thanks again for shedding some light on it.
Vaidy
"The template you selected cannot be added to this report"
It was added before. I made one minor formatting change, saved it off to another location, clicked the add template X and voila, error
"The template you selected cannot be added to this report"