Backing Up Building Blocks

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 29, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

The Building Blocks feature of Word is very powerful in concept; it allows you to create reusable document elements (similar to the concept of "boilerplate" text) that you can use over and over again. As you continually add Building Blocks to Word, you may wonder if there is a way to back them up so that you don't lose all your hard work.

Building Blocks are stored in templates, all of which contain the DOTX or DOTM filename extension. If you want to make sure that you back up all your Building Blocks, just make sure that you back up all your templates. A quick search in Windows (outside of Word) will help you discover where those templates are stored on your system.

You'll want to pay particular attention to a special template created by Word, called BUILDING BLOCKS.DOTX. This template is designated as Word's overall Building Block template. This template is stored in a special folder where Word may store other document-related Building Block templates. This folder is called (oddly enough) "Document Building Blocks" and can be located with a quick Windows search. Normally it is located here:

C:\Users\user name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Document Building Blocks

The user name portion of the path will vary by system and, possibly, by version of Windows. Once you locate the folder, make sure you copy anything in it to your backup media.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7872) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is three more than 7?

2023-12-29 14:50:52

Do you happen to know where the building blocks are stored, and/or what type of file extension they might be found in, for Outlook?

2020-12-14 08:30:40

David Glennie

Hi Allen, if you only knew how much I consult this blog for Word advice. Thank you.

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