Lost MacWord 2011 Template Galleries

Hello,

I've noticed recently that I can't get my template galleries to show up in Word 2011 or Excel 2011. They used to show up, but I haven't wanted to use them for many months. I'm talking about the ones that come with the software, not the ones that can be downloaded from the web. I bought a new 27" iMac about four months ago that was preloaded with with the older operating system which I had to manually update to LION. Could the new operating system be the problem? If not, has anyone experienced this problem and figured out how to fix it? Thanks for the help!

First, this has been moved to the correct forum as it is not about running Windows.

As far as upgrading from Snow Leopard to Lion, that will not effect Microsoft Office 2011 as all the files and folders remain exactly where they were before.

The Template Gallery is derived from the following folder:

MacIntosh HD/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/

However, there are many subfolders located here which have the various supplied templates included. Trying to locate them is difficult at best. First thing I would do is check your user preferences to make sure you're allowing the template gallery to be loaded when you start Office 2011.

There's a small box located at the bottom of the Gallery dialog that states: "Don't show this when opening Word" Make sure you have not checked this box. If you did check that box at some time, go to the top menu in Word and select "File" "New from Template". When the dialog opens, remove the check.

Let us know.

Thanks, chscag. Unchecking the box was the first thing I did. I remember checking it quite awhile back to that the gallery would NOT come up each time I got into word. When I go into Word/Preferences/File Locations, the only path that comes up in under the heading "User Templates." The path shown is Macintosh HD/polymathtemplates/my templates. This is obviously very different from the path you show in your post. I don't remember every knowingly changing anything about where my templates were saved. There is a "Modify" option on this screen, so I guess I do have the ability to change the path. Any suggestions? Thanks!

The path you related to is for personal templates not the standard ones included that are part of the Office suite. The template gallery should normally show both types of templates: Personal and Included with Office.

I can't think of a reason why the Gallery is not showing up except that perhaps your "normal template" is corrupt. The normal template is what Word uses as blank work sheet template when Word starts up.

Let's try this.

First, unhide your user Library: Open the terminal application from Applications, Utilities, "terminal.app". Type the following and then press enter.

chflags nohidden ~/Library/

Make sure Office 2011 is not running nor are there any open documents from Word, PP, Excel, or Outlook.

Now use the Finder to navigate to the following file:

MacIntosh HD/Users/you/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/normal.dotm

Move the file "normal.dotm" to your desktop or to the Trash. Do not empty the trash!

Now start Office 2011 Word. A new normal template will be created. Let's see if that resolves getting the Gallery back.

Let us know.

Chscag, I followed all of your instructions, but still have the same problem. I go to a large university, so I get to download the Office 2011 free. So, to test this situation, I downloaded a new copy of Office 2011 onto her iMac 21". Her Work program worked perfect and had all the galleries I was looking for. So, I naively thought that I would delete my current Office 2011 software and download a new copy as well since something seems corrupted. Well, all went well until about halfway into into the process, I got a message that that the installation couldn't proceed until I turned off Microsoft "messenger" which even though I turned it off several times and then deleted, keeps "coming" back. In searching quickly on the web, I didn't see an easy process to delete the Office 2011 from the Mac. So, I've reloaded my old corrupt version for now because I've got to get a project done this weekend. Anymore quick suggestions that I might check? Thanks.

If the normal template is not corrupt, it's possible the Office data base is corrupt. In order to correct that, a reinstall is usually needed. However, Office 2011 is difficult to remove because of the many files and folders that are scattered about.

Follow Microsoft's instructions for uninstalling. Your documents and personal templates will not be effected. LINK

Make sure you have your serial number on hand.

Thanks again, Chscag. Do you know if there is a way to remove the Word software (and its directly related files) ONLY. I read how to install only selected OFFICE programs. My other programs are working fine and I need to get this up and running as soon as possible.

I don't know of a way to just uninstall Word. I've tried to selectively uninstall Word before myself and it doesn't work. I wound up having to remove all of Office 2011 before it uninstalled and I could install it again. You're correct in that you can selectively install Office apps, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work the other way.