Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 25, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021
When Gay creates a Building Block and then tries to save it, the default location is for it to be saved in Building Blocks.dotx. Gay would like the default location to be Normal.dotm and wonders if there is a way to permanently specify the change.
As far as we can determine, there is no way to permanently specify a default location for your Building Blocks. Word always assumes that the default is in the Building Blocks.dotx template, as Gay notes. You can, however, modify the location each time you go to save a Building Block.
That being said, there is good reason to allow Word to save your Building Blocks in the default template that it proposes. Traditionally, the Normal template has been a source of potential problems as more and more info gets stuffed into the file. When the Building Blocks are moved to a separate template, this frees up space in the Normal template and means that there is less chance of corrupting the file over time.
The other thing to remember is that Building Blocks tend to be highly customized to the needs of an individual user. By putting them in their own template, that makes it easier to standardize the Normal template across multiple users in a company without disturbing the individualized Building Blocks used by employees.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7977) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.
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