A disposable Normal w/ macros in Add-In?

[Ed]

I've been "upgraded" again! Now we've got some add-ins and other
things that cause my Normal.dot (in Word 2003) to always save when I
close Word. I can't turn these off.

I did some reading through the newsgroup and found several posts that
said this behavior could hasten the inevitable Normal corruption. One
person (I'm fairly sure it was an MVP, but I can't find the post
again!) said they moved all their macros to an Add-In and left Normal
blank, so it could be disposed of as needed.

Is this a venture for the novice? Or to be done only by the fairly
expert person? Is this the recommended best practice? Or is there
really nothing to worry about?

Ed

 

[Graham Mayor]

I seem to recall that this prompt always occurs whenever the clocks change.
Allow normal.dot to save.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Jonathan West]

I've been "upgraded" again! Now we've got some add-ins and other
things that cause my Normal.dot (in Word 2003) to always save when I
close Word. I can't turn these off.

I did some reading through the newsgroup and found several posts that
said this behavior could hasten the inevitable Normal corruption. One
person (I'm fairly sure it was an MVP, but I can't find the post
again!) said they moved all their macros to an Add-In and left Normal
blank, so it could be disposed of as needed.

When I distribute macros to one of my customers, I always see to it that I
leave normal.dot alone entirely unless the customer specifically requests
otherwise.

Macros in an add-in loaded in the Startup folder will be just as available
to the user as macros in normal.dot.

Is this a venture for the novice? Or to be done only by the fairly
expert person? Is this the recommended best practice? Or is there
really nothing to worry about?

1. Create a new template. Save it somewhere
2. With the template still open, go to Tools, Templates and Add-ins.
3. On the dialog that appears, click the Organizer button
4. On the Organizer dialog, click the Macro Project Items tab.
5. Select all the modules listed in Normal.dot on one side of the dialog and
then click Copy to copy them into the new template.
6. Save the new template
7. Close Word.
8. Move the new template into Word's startup folder (you can check where
this is by going to Tools, Options, File Locations before you close Word.)
9. Rename normal.dot to something else.
10. Start Word, and check that your macros are still available in the Tools,
macro dialog.

Your macros are now loaded in your add-in, and you have a factory-fresh
normal.dot as well.

You may also find these articles useful.

Distributing macros to other users
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/DistributeMacros.htm

What do Templates and Add-ins store?
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/WhatTemplatesStore.htm


--
Regards
Jonathan West - Word MVP
www.intelligentdocuments.co.uk
Please reply to the newsgroup
Keep your VBA code safe, sign the ClassicVB petition www.classicvb.org

 

[Ed]

"Whenever the clocks change"?? What is changing the clocks??!

Whatever it is, it's something on the new system. I know they've got
an add-in that creates a new toolbar and menu every time Word is
opened. I'm not looking to disable anything or work around it - I
just want to protect 50+ macro modules!

Ed

 

[Ed]

Thank you, Jonathan. I appreciate the advice.

I assume that, when changing everything into an add-in, I'm going to
lose the connection between any keyboard shortcuts and toolbar buttons
in my interface, yes? Is there an easy way to make a global change?
Or do I just have to fix them all one by one?

Ed

 

[Jonathan West]

Thank you, Jonathan. I appreciate the advice.

I assume that, when changing everything into an add-in, I'm going to
lose the connection between any keyboard shortcuts and toolbar buttons
in my interface, yes? Is there an easy way to make a global change?
Or do I just have to fix them all one by one?

If you have a custom toolbar, it can be copied across using the organizer in
just the same way as the macro items.

If you open up the old normal.dot, you can print out a list of the key
assignments. Press Ctrl-P, then in the print dialog, set "Print what" to
"Key assignments".

Then at least you have a printed list from which to work when setting the
key assignments in your new add-in.

Again, I generally recommend not hiding extra buttons in amongst the normal
toolbars, simply because it is hard to remember where they all are and to
copy or modify them.


--
Regards
Jonathan West - Word MVP
www.intelligentdocuments.co.uk
Please reply to the newsgroup
Keep your VBA code safe, sign the ClassicVB petition www.classicvb.org

 

[Ed]

Many thanks again. Because I _do_ have custom buttons in amongst my
regular toolbars (well, why *not* stick a custom print button up there
next to the other one? probably for occasions just like this!), I
think the first thing I need to do is create a new custom toolbar and
move all my custom buttons into it. Then I can copy that across, and
at least have everything in one place and easier to handle.

Cheers!
Ed