If
you want to change the template or application used when a user clicks
the New button in a document library, you can specify it in the
document library settings. You do so by switching to the Library ribbon
and clicking the Library Settings button.
At the top of the page that appears, under the General Settings section, click the Advanced Settings link.
On the page that appears,
you can either edit the template that is used by clicking the Edit
Template link on the right side or link to a Microsoft Office document
that you have uploaded to SharePoint (see Figure 1). You need to ensure that the link to the document that you entered works by clicking the Edit Template link after adding the link.
Note
The Template URL box is
disabled if there are multiple content types enabled for the document
library. If you want to change the template in that scenario, you have
to change it for each content type separately by clicking the content
type’s link in the library settings page and then clicking the Advanced
Settings link in that page.
You should upload to the Forms
folder that exists in any document library. That folder is hidden, and
users don’t see it in list views, which means they don’t see your
template as a file to be modified and managed. However, you can decide
to put the template in another location, not in the current document
library. Just remember that this location must be readable by all users
and not just you. Therefore, putting the document in another location
can be problematic from a security point of view because you must be
sure that all the users who are allowed to create documents in the
document library are also allowed to read from the location of the
template.
The file type you use as a
template determines what application is used when the user clicks the
New button. For example, if you choose a Microsoft Excel document as
the template, the Microsoft Excel application opens when the user
clicks the New button.
Note
Not all file types can be used
as templates. You can use only file types from applications that are
compatible with SharePoint, such as Microsoft Office applications.
If you want to add several
options for templates under the New button, you must do so by adding
multiple content types to the document library. See the next section
for details.
