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Opening .dotx files on OneDrive

Anonymous
2023-08-04T17:01:45+00:00

How can I get Word .dotx template files shared on OneDrive to open as a new document instead of in edit mode. This is the default behavior on my local computer but does not carry over to OneDrive.

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  1. Jay Freedman 207.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-08-04T21:23:29+00:00

    If the template is on your local drive and you double-click it in File Explorer, it will open desktop Word with a new document based on the template -- that's the default behavior on the desktop. You can't get Word Online to do that, because Microsoft hasn't programmed the web version to do that.

    The only other thing you can do is tell Microsoft what behavior you want in the web version. The article

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/misc/feedback-provide-microsoft?view=o365-worldwide

    explains how to do that, with a link to the feedback site.

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  2. Jay Freedman 207.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-08-04T17:58:10+00:00

    Word Online (the version that runs in a web browser) doesn't "do" making new documents from templates the way desktop Word does. The article

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-my-custom-templates-in-word-for-the-web-1a76e864-b5ae-4f14-b435-469cdfa2d695

    suggests saving the template as a document (*.docx) file, which you can open in Word Online and save with a different filename to create the new document.

    This suggestion is quite risky, because you can forget to save the "template" document with a different name before making changes in it. Worse, Word Online automatically saves those changes without asking, so your "template" no longer has the original contents.

    My suggestion would be to make a new document based on the template while using desktop Word, and save that document to your local OneDrive folder where it will be synchronized with OneDrive in the cloud. You can then use Word Online to edit the document, assuming you don't need any of the desktop features that Word Online doesn't have.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-08-04T21:42:04+00:00

    Thanks Jay! I'll follow up with feedback.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-08-04T21:10:45+00:00

    Thanks for you the reply. I'm not so sure the suggestion in the article is very helpful. I saved the tempalte .dotx file to a .docx file and uploaded on OneDrive, but I lose most functionality when I open it the browser version. I cannot access date picker and I cannot tab from through the fields. I have to open on desktop app. I wish it would just open a new document in the desktop app when you click a .dotx file.

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