Bug with "Disable features introduced after"

[Mathieu Paquette]

Hi,

We have the following problem on all computers. The environnement is Win2k
SP3 with Office 2002 SP2, in an Active-Directory domain.

The users open a blank document, and check if the feature "disable features
introduced after Word 97" is disabled. It is. They type some text in the
document, save it, then BAM, the checkbox for "disable features introduced
after" is back.

We tried flushing the normal.dot, doesn't work. There are no macros that are
loading. We made some tests, and we can reproduce the problem like 95% of
the time.

Has anyone encountered such a problem and could give me a hand ? I've
checked on groups.google.com as I always do before posting here but couldn't
find anything...

If I am not in the right group, please tell me so that I can go ask my
question in the proper group. But i couldn't find a group with a more
"suited" name.

Thanks.

Mathieu Paquette

 

[David McBride]

Mathieu,

Take a look at this:

http://groups.google.com/[email protected]&rnum=4

You may need to unmangle the url, but this is a post of mine from some
months ago about just this issue. Try searching groups.google.com for
'DisableFeatures' if the url doesn't work. Nutshell: You're not
alone, it's a definite problem, and I for one haven't found a definite
way around it...

I assume you're working interactively with Word, i.e. no programming
involved. You might have luck avoiding the problem by setting and
unsetting other settings in the options dialog while you're verifying
that 'Disable Features' is unchecked just prior to File | Save. There
is some evidence that 'tickling' seemingly unrelated option properties
helps fix the bad behavior when done through automation or scripting.
That benefit might carry over to interactive use, though I haven't
tested that. If you have luck with this you might try a little VBA
scripting to automate what you're doing.

In any case, consider trying to do without Word 2000+ features while
using Word XP. Even if the above trick works, there's always the risk
that once in a while it won't, in which case things like nested tables
will get hopelessly fouled. Backup often so you have checkpoints to
go back to.

One more thing - give a loud yell to MS about this. They're aware of
it - perhaps with some more visibility on this *glaring* issue we can
finally get some relief...

Hope this helps,
David McBride

 

[Beth Melton]

Looks like it's publicly available
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=320951

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[David McBride]

The KB article helps explain the incredibly convoluted way it's
*supposed* to work, but still doesn't address the truly buggy part of
the issue...

What's really damaging here is that Word will flip the 'Disable
Features' checkbox on *during* the process of saving the document, and
indeed save it with features disabled. This means that even if you
remember to look at the setting each time you open or save a document,
your document can still be downgraded as it's being saved. There's no
place to hook into, either interactively or programmatically, where
you can ensure that Disable Features is unset for the File | Save, and
stays that way during and after.

There's nothing in the KB, and no logical or useful scenario I can
see, that explains why the Disable Features property should ever be
affected by a document save.

Truly Frustrated,
David McBride