Global template does not load at Startup - Word 2011

Question

I have a global template (add-in), developed for Word 2010, that I've recently moved over to the Mac (Word 2011). The problem I'm having is that, on some systems, the add-in does not load at Startup. It is in the Startup/Word folder that the Mac uses, and I've confirmed that its path matches the value of Application.Options.DefaultFilePath(wdStartupPath). I've also added this folder as the Startup folder via Preferences/File Locations, since it is generally not preset. Despite all this, users still need to go to Add-Ins and Templates and click the check box next to the add-in name at the start of every Word session.

I don't have a huge amount of advanced Mac experience. The one thing I've found is different between my system (where the add-in loads on Startup) and the systems where it doesn't, is that my system requires my password for pretty much every file management operation (delete, move, copy, etc.). It's a hassle, but maybe it indicates some permissions setting that the other users lack? I have no idea. Does that sound plausible? I haven't been able to find any documentation that a Startup add-in requires any particular permissions settings, so I'm wary of messing around with it too much.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Bumping this up in the hopes that someone can help. 

Answer 2

Permissions on a Mac are handled by the Disk Utility.app located in the Applications/Utilities directory. Use it to Repair Permissions on the Macintosh HD drive.

Regarding the global add-in not loading, how exactly are you starting it with an AutoNew or AutoOpen routine?

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Kind Regards, Rich ... http://greatcirclelearning.com

Answer 3

Thanks for the reply. I will look into the Disk Utility app.

I'm starting the add-in simply by putting it in the Startup folder, and I have a "setup" file that sets it to be enabled. However, this doesn't seem to actually work across sessions. After searching high and low for an in-addin solution, I found a note on this page: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/gg597509.aspx that seems to indicate that this sometimes just doesn't work on the Mac, and that the only solution is to add an AutoExec to the Normal template.

This is a pretty awful solution, since the last thing I want it to ask a bunch of folks to make changes to their Normal template in order to run the add-in...but it seems to be the only thing that always works.

So, unless someone has better news, I guess that's that for this issue. Thanks again for responding.