How to redirect Clip Organizer file paths for a roaming profile in Office 2003 (834603)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office 2003, All Editions
Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry

SUMMARY

Clip Organizer in Microsoft Office 2003 creates catalog files and extracts downloaded clipart files in the Clip Organizer folder. When you use a roaming profile, you can redirect Clip Organizer to create its catalog files and to extract downloaded clipart files to different locations. To do this, install Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and create two new registry subkeys.

INTRODUCTION

This article describes how to change the location where Clip Organizer in Microsoft Office 2003 creates its catalog files, and where it extracts downloaded clipart files when you use a roaming profile.

MORE INFORMATION

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

By default, Clip Organizer places files in the following folders.
File typeFolder
Catalog files (*.mgc)C:\Documents and Settings\user name\Application Data\Microsoft\Clip Organizer
Downloaded clipartC:\Documents and Settings\user name\My Documents\My Pictures\Microsoft Clip Organizer
To redirect Clip Organizer to create its catalog files and to extract the downloaded clipart files in a different location when you use a roaming profile, you must install Office 2003 SP1 and then create two new registry subkeys.

This problem was first fixed in a hotfix that is now contained in a service pack. If you installed the latest Microsoft Office 2003 service pack, you do not have to install the hotfix.

Service pack information

This problem is corrected in Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 1.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Office 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

870924 How to obtain the latest service pack for Office 2003



The following registry subkeys are the two new registry subkeys that you must create:

SubkeyDescription
CatalogLocationThe location where Clip Organizer will create its catalog files.
ClipExtractLocationThe location where Clip Organizer will extract the clipart files that are downloaded.
Note You can enter these registry subkeys in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive of the registry for the current user only, or in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive for all users on that computer. You can also include these settings in the policies that you set for your users.

After you install Office 2003 SP1, use both of the following methods:
  • Redirect the path for the Clip Organizer catalog files (.mgc files) for the current user. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Quit all the programs that are running, including Clip Organizer.
    2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
    3. Locate and then click the following registry key:

      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\Common\Clip Organizer

    4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click String Value.
    5. Type CatalogLocation, and then press ENTER.
    6. Right-click CatalogLocation, and then click Modify.
    7. In the Value data box, type the path where you want the Clip Organizer catalog files to be located, and then click OK.
    8. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.
  • Redirect the path where Clip Organizer will extract clipart files that you downloaded for the current user. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Quit all the programs that are running, including Clip Organizer.
    2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
    3. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\Common\Clip Organizer

    4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click String Value
    5. Type ClipExtractLocation, and then press ENTER.
    6. Right-click ClipExtractLocation, and then click Modify.
    7. In the Value data box, type the path where you want to store extracted clipart files, and then click OK.
    8. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.

Additional information

  • Clip Organizer will look for the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\Common\Clip Organizer registry subkey first in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive. Clip Organizer will only go on to look for the subkey and its settings in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive if it does not find the values in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive. Therefore, if you want Clip Organizer to use the values from the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive, make sure that there is no HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\Common\Clip Organizer registry subkey for any one of the users on the computer that is in question.
  • The registry values can be either strings (value type REG_SZ) or expandable strings (value type REG_EXPAND_SZ). To enter expandable string values manually, you must use Regedt32 instead of Regedit.
  • Clip Organizer catalog files are not intended for use in a multi-user scenario. Every user should have the CatalogLocation registry subkey point to a user-specific path. When two or more users try to open the same catalog, Clip Organizer may stop responding (hang) or crash.
  • The ClipExtractLocation registry setting must also be user-specific. When the ClipExtractLocation registry setting for two users points to the same path, users receive an error message that is similar to the following error message when they extract files:
    Clip Organizer may not complete the operation.Unspecified error. Error code 0x80004005
  • The ClipExtractLocation registry subkey does not accept a path of the type \\servername\sharename but only a subfolder of the share or additional subfolder levels--for example, \\servername\sharename\foldername. If you set the ClipExtractLocation registry subkey to a path of the type \\servername\sharename, Clip Organizer displays an error message that is similar to the following:
    Clip Organizer may not complete the operation.Unspecified error. Error code 0x80004005
  • When the final subfolder or the subkey in one of the paths is missing, Clip Organizer will create it. However, Clip Organizer will not create more than one subfolder. When more than one level of subfolders is missing at the end of the path, Clip Organizer displays an error message that is similar to the following:
    Clip Organizer may not complete the operation.Unspecified error. Error code 0x80004005
    After you receive this error message, Clip Organizer may stop responding (hang).
  • When one of the registry settings specifies a path that is not valid, Clip Organizer uses the default location.
  • When the registry value for a Clip Organizer path contains characters that are not valid, Clip Organizer will display an error message that is similar to the following:
    Clip Organizer may not complete the operation.Unspecified error. Error code 0x80004005

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
This problem was first corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 1.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:1/12/2006
Keywords:kbOffice2003sp1fix kbQFE kbbug kbfix KB834603 kbAudITPRO kbAudEndUser
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