Sorry, but IMO, if you do not have a solid basic knowledge of how Word works, then what on earth are you doing working with macros and hundreds of files?

answer 1 - the only macros i have are in a custom toolbar, not sure what you mean when you ask if the files are in my normal.dot?? yes i would like all of the files combined into this template providing it doesnt mean rewriting ot copy them into this template (unless there is a quick way as i have hundreds of these) and they have all been made up on many different pcs
The above statement is so full of misconceptions, and misunderstandings that I am almost speechless.

1. You MUST learn to understand where VBA code is. The statement above clearly shows you have no idea where code is, or where it is run from.

"the only macros i have are in a custom toolbar"

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

Macros (procedures) are not in toolbars. The objects (icons, buttons, menu etc.) in toolbars are pointers to procedures. Procedures are in code modules.

2. Code modules can be in four places:

normal.dot
the attached template
a global template
the document itself

3. Recorded macros by default are written to normal.dot. This is a Microsoft decision. However, even Microsoft itself states that this is NOT a good idea. Normal.dot gets corrupted easily. Whenever possible, procedures should be written to a template file, but NOT the normal.dot template file.

4. Efficient and proper use of Word revolves around templates. Actually understanding this is crucial. From the quote above:

"yes i would like all of the files combined into this template providing it doesnt mean rewriting ot copy them into this template "

What do you mean "rewriting"? And you do not "copy" into a template. I have no idea what you mean by "combined". Again, you clearly do not understand the basic structure of Word.

ALL documents use a template. If one is not explicitly attached, then Word uses normal.dot. As normal.dot does, in fact, get corrupted easily, best-practice demands that you use an explicit template when creating documents.

Yes, you can certainly apply ("attach") a template to hundreds of document if you want. There is a method to do so.[vba]Sub AttachABunch()
Dim file
Dim FilePath As String
FilePath = "C:\whatever\"
file = Dir(FilePath & "*.doc")
Do While file <> ""
Documents.Open FileName:=FilePath & file
With ActiveDocument
.AttachedTemplate = "C:\Templates\Letter.dot"
.Save
.Close
End With
file = Dir
Loop
End Sub[/vba]This would open every .doc file in the c:\whatever folder and attach the template Letter.dot to each document.

Note that the template file (letter.dot) can be anywhere. It does not have to be the the Workgroup folder, or the userTemplate folder. It can be anywhere.

Once attached, ANY code in that template will be accessible to the document.

In terms of code accessibility, here is how it goes:

Code in normal.dot - can be executed in any document.

Code in a loaded global template - can be executed from any document.

Code in the attached template - can be executed from any document created by that template, or any document that has had the template attached to it.

Code in the document itself - can be executed only from that document.

Let's see if I can make this very clear.

Your question (if I understand this correctly) is this:

How do I have a bunch of existing documents to show a NEW toolbar?

There are a couple of answers, and which one is appropriate depends on EXACTLY the situation regarding those documents, and your network.

1. Make a template file and open all those files, and attach it.

2. Make a global template and then have each PC's normal.dot load it. You can also use Windows OS level scripting to do this.

3. Put the toolbar in each PC's normal.dot.

Look, I know it may seem like I am being hypercritical, but you have to do some work. I spend hours and hours of my own time helping people here and on other forums. The point is YOU have to do some work.

If you are going to try and do advanced work with Word, you MUST work at understanding Word. How can it be otherwise? Also remember that all of us, myself included, all started from scratch. We all started not knowing anything. We got to know things by hard persistent work.

And...it is not easy. The Word Object Model can be very very weird at times. The point is though is that no person can do serious advanced Word VBA without understanding Word.

And it is an on-going learning. It never stops. I am still learning, still finding stuff out that I had no clue about.

So relax, and think about what you are posting. Do as much research as possible. Use Help constantly. And please, really, think about what you are posting. Here is an example:
i have setup a custom toolbar which stays open as long as i have ticked it on the dropdown menu, but if i unclick it then open a new or existing file then it doesnt appear
Read that. Read it again.

WHAT "dropdown menu"? How did it get there? What is on that menu? "stays open"???? What does that mean? A toolbar is not "open". It is visible, or not visible. Is this dropdown menu on the View menu? Is your toolbar listed there? If you unclick it - thus making it not visible - why on earth would you expect any new document to have it visible?

It would be visible in any new document if it was properly in a global template, or normal.dot.

Which is why....learn about templates. THAT is where your code is.

Think. Good questions will never be ignored.