You’ve probably developed a routine for regularly
backing up your documents and other files. (If you haven’t, you
should!) Without a reliable backup, data you have created or purchased
can disappear in an instant due to hardware failure, a power surge,
theft, fire, or any of countless other calamities. A good backup also
provides a source for moving information to a new computer or
replicating it on your other computers.
Documents and other data
usually get top mindshare when you establish backup procedures. But
aside from Office documents, consider the other Office-related settings stored on a computer, which include:
Ribbon customizations
Quick Access Toolbar customizations
Themes
Templates
E-mail signatures
E-mail account profiles
Add-ins
Default file locations for templates
Default file format
Display preferences (rulers, scroll bars, and so on)
AutoCorrect lists
Custom dictionaries
Building blocks
Window positions
This is only a partial
list of the settings that Office 2010 relies on and maintains. Although
most of these settings can be re-created without too much difficulty,
doing so is time consuming. It would be better to have the ability to
save these settings and restore them when needed. Unfortunately, the
settings are scattered about: some are stored in the Windows registry
and many are stored in files (in a variety of formats) in various
folders. Therefore, backing up the numerous settings manually is close
to impossible.
Office 2003 included a Save
My Settings wizard for the purpose of managing these settings, but
Office 2010 includes nothing comparable. Windows Easy Transfer, which
is a tool included with Windows 7 for moving documents and settings
from one computer to another, can back up and restore Office settings.
However, at the time of this book’s publication, it supports only
Office 2007 and earlier versions; by the time you read this it might
support Office 2010. Still, Windows Easy Transfer is a rather clumsy
tool for just saving and restoring Office settings.
The best option we’ve found is a program called Office Settings Backup Wizard 2010, from Computer Network Consultants (settingsbackup.com). Settings Backup Wizard, shown in Figure 1,
provides comprehensive settings backup, and it can be configured to
save settings automatically at scheduled times. Although the program is
not free, it can be a real timesaver.
