Tag Archives: normal.dotx

How to save Word template, getting around the “same name” issue!

This solution is easy. Forget any sites or solutions that told you run some something in the “VBA editor” and blah, blah, blah.

So, you opened a template you’ve created previously, and tweaked it. Now you just want to save the updated template as a template, in the special folder where they go, and under the same name as before. But … you’re getting blocked by a dreaded dialogue box that says, “Word cannot give a document the same name as an open document.” Argh!

I ran into this using MS Word on Mac OS X (in multiple versions of the operating system and through multiple updates of Word from Microsoft). However, it seems that Windows users also have the same issue. Word just won’t let you save it as a template. What to do?

Try this quick and easy solution: Save as the .DOTX only after first saving as a .DOT. It’s that easy!

  1. Click File > Save.
  2. Under “Format” choose “.DOT” (Word 97 – 2004 Template). (Notice that we are not doing .DOTX yet.)
  3. Repeat above steps, but this time choose .DOTX. Viola!

This will essentially give you two of the same template, but that does not hurt. In fact, one could serve as a backup, just in case.

Sound off in the comments and let me know whether this helps or not.