"To one of your questions as to why I'm opening a template as a word doc - because that's what I need to do. I have protected form templates that need to remain intact. "

Huh? That does not make sense. I suspect you do not fully understand how templates are used. A template (.DOT) file can be cloned into a new document...and that new document can still be protected for forms.

There are very very few reasons for opening a template as document, and as far as I can see, what you are doing is NOT one of them.