Microsoft Word Template mystery

Question

Microsoft Word Template mystery

Computer: Mac mini (2013) with Mojave.

I have MS Word (v. 16.54) and have created and saved a considerable number of user templates. They are normally stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/My Templates. On opening Word just now I discovered what purported to be one of my templates, but was not such at all.

In the process of locating it and removing it, I to my horror accidentally removed all the templates to Trash and emptied. Trash. The mystery is that when I open Word again they are still all shown — and all work! But ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/My Templates is completely empty.

My templates are. obviously still retained somewhere on my hard disk. I am afraid, though, that in due coutse they will disappear altogether. Is there any way I can relocate them and restore them to ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/My Templates where they belong?

Thank you in anticipation of advice.

.

Mac mini, macOS 10.14

Posted on May 5, 2022 10:21 AM

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Answer 1

May 5, 2022 12:22 PM in response to BDAqua

Thank you, both! In fact, after a great deal of research on my Mac and online I have discovered that the Word templates are now stored in a different place: UBF8T346G9.Office/UserContent/Templates. I found my way to that folder, and there they my templates indeed are. Since. it turns out that that is precisely where they should be, I am keeping my fingers crossed and assume that they will stay there and will not disappear in time.

I had thought of tjf's suggested procedure myself earlier on, but realized that it would take even longer than he had implied,, or possibly be impossible, because each template would have to be renamed to be saved — and renaming would require modification in the template itself, because the saved names are the templates themselves.

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Answer 2

tjk

Level 9

51,192 points

May 5, 2022 11:00 AM in response to Michael Graubart

Hi,

You may want to open a template and re-save it, then see if it's saved to My Templates. If so, repeat the process with each template. It may be tedious, but if they're important to you it should be worth the time.

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