Suzanne
Mon Jun 14 22:25:40 CDT 2004
Stanley, I'm sure you were trying to be helpful, but it would have been much
more effective to point Dianah to
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/BlankDocNotBlank.htm instead of quoting
the text of it here (without attribution). Not only is the article easier to
read (and complete with screen shots), but doing this would have (a) allowed
you to post a 1KB message instead of a 38KB one and (b) avoided the
appearance of plagiarism (note that the article you quoted is protected by
copyright).
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site:
http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
"Stanley S. Glazer" <libstan@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:ODBU5anUEHA.2672@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Dianah:
> Here's some info on the Normal Template. I suggest you follow the
> instructions to delete your Normal.dot and Word will create a new clean
one.
> Good luck. Stan
>
> Why it?s happening
>
> All documents in Word are based on templates. A template is a
> special kind of Word file with the .dot file extension (instead of .doc,
> which is used for documents). The template can contain text (such as a
> letterhead), special styles (such as those that might be suitable for an
> academic paper or a newsletter), and custom toolbars, macros, and shortcut
> key assignments that make it easier to prepare a certain kind of document.
> (See also What do Templates and Add-ins store?)
>
> The blank document that you start with when you open Word
> (?Document1?) and all documents that you create by pressing the New button
> on the Standard toolbar or choosing ?Blank Document? in the File New
dialog
> are based on the Normal.dot template, which is the ?global? template that
> also (by default) stores most of your customizations, such as changes to
> styles or toolbars.
>
> If you change a style in Normal.dot (for example, if you
change
> the default font, which means that you actually change the font of the
> Normal style) or if you change the default margins or page size, that
change
> affects every blank document you create from then on. Needless to say, if
> you save text in Normal.dot, that text will appear in every blank document
> you create.
>
> It is a mystery how users manage to save text in Normal.dot,
but
> if your ?blank? documents suddenly start opening with the text of an old
> document in them, this is what you have done! There are basically two ways
> to solve this problem.
>
> The simplest fix: cleaning up Normal.dot
> In order to delete the extraneous text from Normal.dot, you
must
> first locate the Normal.dot file and open it. There are two main ways to
do
> this.
>
> Method 1
> In Windows Explorer, press Ctrl+F, and search for Normal.dot.
Or
> select Start | Find | Files or folders, and search for Normal.dot. In
> Windows XP, the folder that contains Normal.dot is a "hidden" folder. In
> order to find Normal.dot, you will therefore need to go to Tools | Folder
> Options, select the View tab, and check the radio button for "Show hidden
> files and folders."
>
> Depending on your Windows Explorer settings, the search
results
> may not display the ?.dot? extension as shown in the screen capture below,
> but may only display the Word ?Normal?. Either way, once you have found
it,
> don?t double-click on the file; this will just create a new document based
> on it. Instead, open it by right-clicking on the file and choosing Open.
>
>
>
> Note that is actually much better ? for all sorts of reasons,
> one being that it makes it easier to find the files you want, another
being
> that it makes you less prone to virus attack ? to set up Windows Explorer
so
> that it does display all file extensions. If you have already done so, the
> Windows Find dialog will display ?Normal.dot? in the search results rather
> than ?Normal? as shown above. Unfortunately, by default, file extensions
are
> hidden. To change this, select Tools + Folder Options (or depending on
your
> Windows version, View + Folder Options, or View + Options); select the
> ?View? tab, and de-select ?Hide file extensions for known file types?.
>
> Method 2
> Alternatively:
>
> 1.
> Select Tools | Options; and on the File Locations tab,
> double-click on ?User Templates? (or single-click on ?User Templates? and
> choose ?Modify?).
>
>
> If you are using Word 2000 or earlier versions,
this
> dialog displays the path in which your custom templates are stored (where
it
> says ?Folder Name?). Press Ctrl + C to copy the path, and close the
dialog.
>
>
> If you are using Word 2002, finding the path has
been
> made unnecessarily difficult, because the ?Folder name? box in the ?Modify
> location? dialog shows a blank. One way to get the complete path is to
click
> the down arrow on the ?Look in? box, which will display the folder tree.
You
> can then copy down the path by hand and type it into the "File name" box
in
> the File Open dialog. An easier way to get the path is to select
Properties
> on the Tools menu in that dialog. Drag across the path shown on the
General
> tab and press Ctrl+C to copy it. You can then paste it into the File Open
> dialog.
>
>
> 2.
> Select File | Open (or press Ctrl+O); and in the Open
> dialog:
>
>
> If you are using Word 2000 or earlier versions,
press
> Ctrl+V to paste the path you copied earlier, then press Return. This takes
> you straight to the right folder.
>
>
> If you are using Word 2002, browse to the folder
you
> noted down previously.
>
>
> 3.
> Where it says ?Files of Type,? you may need to select
> ?Document Templates (*.dot)? in order to see Normal.dot
>
> 4.
> Open the file called Normal.dot (depending on how you've
> configured Windows Explorer, it may just display as ?Normal?, without
> showing the extension).
>
>
>
>
> Once you have opened Normal.dot, delete the text in it, save
the
> file and close. The next time you press New you should get a Blank
Document.
>
> Creating a new Normal.dot from scratch
> If you think you may not be able to return Normal.dot to its
> original state ? that is, if you think in addition to extraneous text
there
> may be modifications of margins or styles and you?re not sure how to put
> these back the way they were ? you may want to start over with a new
> Normal.dot just the way it came out of the box. Especially if you have not
> been using Word very long or haven?t customized it much, this may be the
> preferable alternative.
>
> If Word does not find the Normal.dot template at startup, it
> will create a new one. You could assure this by deleting Normal.dot, but
it
> is usually better just to rename it. Close Word and, in Windows Explorer
> (using Find or Search if necessary), find Normal.dot and rename it. (You
can
> call it anything you want, but Normal.old and Oldnormal.dot are frequently
> suggested.) Then restart Word. It will create a new Normal.dot and your
> Document1 and subsequent Blank Documents will be blank again.
>
> Salvaging your customizations
> Before you decide to rename Normal.dot, you should be aware of
> what you may be losing by doing this. All templates can store a variety of
> customizations, and if you haven?t explicitly chosen to store them
> elsewhere, those customizations will be stored in Normal.dot. For a
complete
> rundown on these, see What Do Templates and Add-ins store? Even if you
haven
> ?t heavily customized Word, you may have added some toolbar buttons or
> created AutoText. In addition to toolbar customizations and AutoText
> entries, templates store macros, keyboard shortcuts, styles, and custom
> toolbars. Some of these can be copied from one template to another; some
can
> ?t.
>
> What you can salvage easily
> If you look at the Organizer (accessible through Tools |
> Templates and Add-ins or Format | Style), you will see that it has four
> tabs: Styles, Toolbars, AutoText, and Macro Project Items. As you might
> deduce, using the Organizer, you can transfer styles, custom toolbars,
> AutoText entries, and macros from your renamed (old) Normal.dot file to
the
> fresh new one.
>
> What you can salvage, but not so easily
>
>
> 1.
> Note that ?custom toolbars? are different from toolbar
> customizations. If you?ve created a new toolbar from scratch and put your
> custom buttons on it, you can copy that using the Organizer. But if you?ve
> just added more buttons to the built-in toolbars, you?ll have to
temporarily
> copy those buttons onto a new custom toolbar before you can use the
> Organizer to copy that to the new template. (The same applies to the
> right-click shortcut menus).
>
> 2.
> You can't use the Organizer to copy keyboard
> customizations, but you can copy most keyboard customisations between
> templates using Chris Woodman's Shortcut Organizer.
>
> 3.
> (This one is for advanced users only.) You can't copy
> macros that are stored in your ThisDocument module, or in any class module
> (including UserForm modules), using the Organizer; but you can go into the
> VB Editor (press Alt+F11), and using the Project Explorer, either export
and
> then import the modules (select the module and right-click); or copy and
> paste the code between templates.
>
>
> A trial run
> Only you can decide whether you have too much to lose by
> renaming Normal.dot and starting over. But you can get a preview of what
> Word will be like with a new Normal.dot by starting Word in a special way.
> In Word 2002 you can access what is called Word Safe Mode by holding down
> the Ctrl key while you start Word. In previous versions, the same thing is
> accomplished by using a ?startup switch.? You can read more about startup
> switches in the Help topic ?Control what happens when you start Word.? To
> start Word without any templates, add-ins, or user settings (and with the
> default Normal.dot), you use the /a switch. Here?s how:
>
> 1.
> On the Windows Start menu, click Run.
>
> 2.
> Type ?Winword.exe /a? (without the quotes) and press
> Return. Note the space before the forward slash.
>
> Alternatively, you can enter the full path to Word (or
> click Browse to locate it), although it shouldn't be necessary to enter
the
> full path unless you are running multiple versions of Word. If you do
enter
> the full path, then you do need to include quotes around the path, for
> example:
> "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe"
/a
>
>
> Help us solve a mystery
> How does it happen that people who have never heard of
> Normal.dot and don?t know how to find it, open it, or edit it somehow
manage
> to save a document in or as Normal.dot? It seems very unlikely. Is this a
> bug, or is there some rational explanation? One MVP has theorized that
> perhaps Word 2000/2002 users are accidentally selecting Normal.dot from
the
> History list in the File Open dialog, but many users who have this problem
> are using Word 97, which doesn?t have the History. If you have had this
> experience (and you probably have, or you wouldn?t be reading this
article)
> and have any ideas about how it could have happened, we?d like to hear
from
> you. Please pass your theories on to our Webmaster.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Dianah" <flickers@shaw.ca> wrote in message
> news:em82c5cUEHA.3664@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > Everytime I open word then close it, I'm prompted to save changes made
to
> > normal.dot. What's with that.
> >
> > I've accepted that if I make changes to normal.dot it will prompt to
save.
> > Now, I don't even have to open a document and I'm being prompted to save
> > changes. I've answered yes and no. When I later reopen Word and close
it
> > again (with a previous yes or no (to saving changes to normal.dot), I'm
> > being told that there are again - changes to normal.dot. What is it
> that's
> > changing normal.dot everytime I open Word.
> >
> >
>
>
>