{"id":171,"date":"2010-07-29T18:55:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-29T18:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/turtlellc.com\/index.php\/the-perfect-sharepoint-document-template\/"},"modified":"2010-07-29T18:55:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-29T18:55:00","slug":"the-perfect-sharepoint-document-template","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtle.works\/knowledge\/the-perfect-sharepoint-document-template\/","title":{"rendered":"The Perfect SharePoint Document Template"},"content":{"rendered":"

SharePoint is a good Document Management System<\/span> until you need to embed properties within a document. Once properties are embedded they won’t update until you print, you manually update the fields or you add a macro to update them every time the document is opened. <\/span><\/p>\n

SharePoint as a Document Management System also falls down when you want to update the template used by documents and have that update affect all existing documents.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Perfect Document Template<\/span><\/p>\n

The perfect template will have a macro that updates embedded SharePoint properties whenever a document is opened. And the template will allow me to change the header and footer for all the documents whenever I want. To do this, I need a template that I can swap out whenever I want.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of the default behaviour of SharePoint and Word, the template is downloaded once when you open a document. The template is never pulled again from SharePoint. See this <\/span>reference<\/a>. This means any updates you make to the template do not pass down to you.<\/span><\/p>\n

The article refered to from Microsoft above discusses building an XML Expansion Pack, which is overkill for what I need. And in fact doesn’t work with MOSS only WSS.<\/span><\/p>\n

The simpler solution is to build 2 templates: a driver template and an actual template.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Driver Template<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the template that is bound to the Content Type and is the one that gets downloaded and never updated. What this template does is binds the actual template you want to associate with the actual document.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Actual Template<\/span><\/p>\n

This template contains code to dynamically build the header and footer and update all the embedded properties.<\/span><\/p>\n

To Build This Solution<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Define your Document Library<\/li>\n
  2. Define your Content Type<\/li>\n
  3. Create a Driver Template in the Forms directory of your Document Library<\/li>\n
  4. Create an Actual Template in the Forms directory as well<\/li>\n
  5. Bind the Driver Template to the Content Type<\/li>\n
  6. Test<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I won’t bother showing you how to create a Document Library or defining a Content Type, but I will show you steps 3 and 4.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Create a Driver Template<\/span><\/p>\n

    Open MS Word.<\/span>
    Alt + F8 will take you to macros<\/span>
    Create a macro called UpdateTemplate<\/span>
    Once you are in Visual Basic, paste this code in the code window:<\/span><\/p>\n

    Private Sub Document_New()<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘temporarily unlink this file from the template<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate = “”<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘and update<\/span>
    UpdateTemplate<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Sub UpdateTemplate()<\/span><\/p>\n

    Dim strTemplatePath As String<\/span>
    Dim doc As Document<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘ Get the path of the template file.<\/span>
    strTemplatePath = “http:\/\/sharepoint-test\/Docs\/MyLibrary\/Forms\/ActualTemplate.dotm”<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘ Open the document template and save it to the local machine<\/span>
    Set doc = Application.Documents.Open(strTemplatePath, Visible:=False)<\/span>
    doc.SaveAs Environ(“Temp”) & “ActualTemplate.dotm”<\/span>
    doc.Close<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘ Add the template as an Add-in<\/span>
    Application.AddIns.Add Environ(“Temp”) & “ActualTemplate.dotm”<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘ Run the macro in the ActualTemplate template<\/span>
    Application.Run “UpdateThisDocument”<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘ Rest of the lines do not execute.<\/span>
    Application.AddIns.Unload True<\/span>
    On Error Resume Next ‘In case another document is using the template<\/span>
    Kill Environ(“Temp”) & “ActualTemplate.dotm”<\/span><\/p>\n

    ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate = strTemplatePath<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Private Sub Document_Open()<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘do not do anything in the case where the solution author opens the template directly<\/span>
    If (InStr(1, ActiveDocument.FullName, “.dotm”, vbTextCompare) = 0) Then<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘temporarily unlink this file from the template<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate = “”<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘update template<\/span>
    UpdateTemplate<\/span><\/p>\n

    End If<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Close the VB environment and save your template.<\/span><\/p>\n

    NOTE: Make sure to save it as a .dotm (macro enabled template)<\/span><\/p>\n

    Create an Actual Template<\/p>\n

    <\/span>Open MS Word.<\/span>
    Alt + F8 will take you to macros<\/span>
    Create a macro called UpdateThisDocument<\/span>
    Once you are in Visual Basic, paste this code in the code window:<\/span><\/p>\n

    Sub Document_New()<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Sub Document_Open()<\/span><\/p>\n

    UpdateThisDocument<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Public Sub UpdateThisDocument()<\/span><\/p>\n

    Application.ScreenUpdating = False<\/span><\/p>\n

    Margins<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘Header<\/span>
    ClearHeaders<\/span>
    AddHeader<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘Footer<\/span>
    ClearFooters<\/span>
    AddFooter<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘Update Fields<\/span>
    UpdateFields<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘Display Document Normally<\/span>
    If ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.View.SplitSpecial = wdPaneNone Then<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdPrintView<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekMainDocument<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdPrintView<\/span>
    Else<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.View.Type = wdPrintView<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.View.SeekView = wdSeekMainDocument<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.View.Type = wdPrintView<\/span>
    End If<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Private Sub Margins()<\/span><\/p>\n

    With ActiveDocument.Styles(wdStyleNormal).Font<\/span>
    If .NameFarEast = .NameAscii Then<\/span>
    .NameAscii = “”<\/span>
    End If<\/span>
    .NameFarEast = “”<\/span>
    End With<\/span>
    With ActiveDocument.PageSetup<\/span>
    .LineNumbering.Active = False<\/span>
    .TopMargin = InchesToPoints(0.5)<\/span>
    .BottomMargin = InchesToPoints(0.7)<\/span>
    .LeftMargin = InchesToPoints(0.5)<\/span>
    .RightMargin = InchesToPoints(0.5)<\/span>
    .Gutter = InchesToPoints(0)<\/span>
    .HeaderDistance = InchesToPoints(0.4)<\/span>
    .FooterDistance = InchesToPoints(0.5)<\/span>
    .PageWidth = InchesToPoints(8.5)<\/span>
    .PageHeight = InchesToPoints(11)<\/span>
    .SectionStart = wdSectionNewPage<\/span>
    .OddAndEvenPagesHeaderFooter = False<\/span>
    .DifferentFirstPageHeaderFooter = False<\/span>
    .VerticalAlignment = wdAlignVerticalTop<\/span>
    .SuppressEndnotes = False<\/span>
    .MirrorMargins = False<\/span>
    .TwoPagesOnOne = False<\/span>
    .BookFoldPrinting = False<\/span>
    .BookFoldRevPrinting = False<\/span>
    .BookFoldPrintingSheets = 1<\/span>
    .GutterPos = wdGutterPosLeft<\/span>
    End With<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Private Sub ClearHeaders()<\/span>
    Dim hdr As HeaderFooter<\/span><\/p>\n

    For Each hdr In ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Headers<\/span>
    hdr.Range.Text = vbNullString<\/span>
    Next hdr<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Private Sub AddHeader()<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘<\/span>
    ‘TODO: Add your header code here<\/span>
    ‘<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Private Sub ClearFooters()<\/span>
    Dim hdr As HeaderFooter<\/span><\/p>\n

    For Each hdr In ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Footers<\/span>
    hdr.Range.Text = vbNullString<\/span>
    Next hdr<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Private Sub AddFooter()<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘<\/span>
    ‘TODO: Add your footer code here<\/span>
    ‘<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Private Sub UpdateFields()<\/span><\/p>\n

    With Options<\/span>
    .UpdateFieldsAtPrint = True<\/span>
    .UpdateLinksAtPrint = True<\/span>
    End With<\/span><\/p>\n

    If ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.View.SplitSpecial <> wdPaneNone Then<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.Panes(2).Close<\/span>
    End If<\/span><\/p>\n

    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.View = wdNormalView<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘Application.ScreenUpdating = False<\/span><\/p>\n

    If ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdNormalView Or ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdOutlineView Then<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdPrintView<\/span>
    End If<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘Footer<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekPrimaryFooter<\/span>
    Selection.WholeStory<\/span>
    Selection.Fields.Update<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘Main Document<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekMainDocument<\/span>
    Selection.WholeStory<\/span>
    Selection.Fields.Update<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘Header<\/span>
    ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekCurrentPageHeader<\/span>
    Selection.WholeStory<\/span>
    Selection.Fields.Update<\/span><\/p>\n

    End Sub<\/span><\/p>\n

    Close the VB environment and again save your template as a .dotm file.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Bind the Driver Template to the Content Type<\/span><\/p>\n

    Go to your Document Library<\/span>
    Settings > Document Library Settings<\/span>
    Under Content Types, click on your Content Type<\/span>
    Click Advanced Settings<\/span>
    Enter the URL for the DriverTemplate.dotm (http:\/\/sharepoint-test\/Docs\/MyLibrary\/Forms\/DriverTemplate.dotm)<\/span>
    Click OK<\/span><\/p>\n

    Test<\/p>\n

    <\/span>In the Document Library, click New and select your Content Type.
    At this point your macro code in ActualTemplate.dotm should have fired. Any header or footer creation should have occurred.<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    SharePoint is a good Document Management System until you need to embed properties within a document. Once properties are embedded they won’t update until you print, you manually update the fields or you add a macro to update them every time the document is opened. SharePoint as a Document Management System also falls down when … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “The Perfect SharePoint Document Template”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,39,41,20,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-document-library","category-document-management","category-moss","category-sharepoint","category-template"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtle.works\/knowledge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtle.works\/knowledge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtle.works\/knowledge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtle.works\/knowledge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtle.works\/knowledge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtle.works\/knowledge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtle.works\/knowledge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtle.works\/knowledge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtle.works\/knowledge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}