Applying a custom template to an existing document

I have a Word document that is generated by MacroMedia's RoboHelp product. I want to open the document in Word 2003 and apply a custom template. I have tried attaching the template to the document but the formatting is not updated. A message in the Page Layout thread suggested opening a new document using the custom template and then inserting the file into the new document. When I attempt to open a new document using the custom template, it opens the dot file. How do I do this? Win XP Pro, Office 2003 Pro

You want to create a new document, not open.
File New Templates on my computer

Or double-click on the template from Windows.

For more on the different kinds of templates and locations of templates
folders see http://addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm.

--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

"Cycling Dude" wrote in message
...
I have a Word document that is generated by MacroMedia's RoboHelp product.
I want to open the document in Word 2003 and apply a custom template. I have
tried attaching the template to the document but the formatting is not
updated. A message in the Page Layout thread suggested opening a new
document using the custom template and then inserting the file into the new
document. When I attempt to open a new document using the custom template,
it opens the dot file. How do I do this? Win XP Pro, Office 2003 Pro

I guess I don't know what you mean. Here's what I did - Open Word, Select New/Document, Attach the custom template to the document, Insert the existing document into the new document using Insert/File. The custom template is not being used, it is still using Normal.dot.

Use File | New to create a new document based on the template in the first
place, instead of attaching it after creation. If you have the template in
the correct location, it will show up in the File | New dialog. Look in
Tools | Options, User Locations to check the correct location.

DM

"Cycling Dude" wrote:

I guess I don't know what you mean. Here's what I did - Open Word, Select
New/Document, Attach the custom template to the document, Insert the existing
document into the new document using Insert/File. The custom template is not
being used, it is still using Normal.dot.

From Windows double click on your custom template. This should generate a
new document based on that template. Copy the contents from your old
document into the new template. Please review the material in the article I
provided. I expect it will answer your questions.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

"Cycling Dude" wrote in message
...
I guess I don't know what you mean. Here's what I did - Open Word, Select
New/Document, Attach the custom template to the document, Insert the
existing document into the new document using Insert/File. The custom
template is not being used, it is still using Normal.dot.