Can't get toolbar changes to "stick"

[Irfon-Kim Ahmad]

Hi,

We're looking at upgrading all of our systems from Office 97 to the
current version of Office. We've got three users demoing the new
version to see how it handles our documents and so on. All three are
experiencing the same problem: They can't get their toolbar changes to
"stick". That is, if they add a button to the toolbar, for example, it
works as it should, but if they exit Word and re-launch it, the button
is no longer there.

We do a default install in every respect except that we redirect the
"Documents" folder and the "Workgroup Templates" folder at network
locations. The Documents folder is a personal folder assigned to them
and the Workgroup Templates is redirected at a shared folder with our
company templates in it.

I've discovered a few articles on support.microsoft.com that purport to
deal with this issue, including this one:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;291484

But none seems to work / address the problem in our case.

Any ideas?

 

[TF]

If you are using the option to show both Standard and Formatting Toolbars on
a single row, because there isn't room to fit both toolbars on one row
whilst displaying all the buttons, Word automatically 'hides' the buttons
least used. This is like the adaptive menus that only show the most recently
used commands until after a delay (2 seconds), the rest of the menu pops up.
Personally, I hate it and turn it off. I also never use over half the
standard buttons on the Standard and Formatting Toolbars either, so I create
my own two toolbars, one I keep at the top of the Window and the other I
keep at the bottom of the Window.

However, your problem may be different. Do any other settings that are
normally saved and stored in normal.dot 'stick'? For example, if they change
the default font, do they get the prompt to save changes to normal.dot when
the close Word? Does it stick?

If not, it may be because you have an incompatible add-in affecting Word:
Adobe Writer v7 is an example.



: Hi,
:
: We're looking at upgrading all of our systems from Office 97 to the
: current version of Office. We've got three users demoing the new
: version to see how it handles our documents and so on. All three are
: experiencing the same problem: They can't get their toolbar changes to
: "stick". That is, if they add a button to the toolbar, for example, it
: works as it should, but if they exit Word and re-launch it, the button
: is no longer there.
:
: We do a default install in every respect except that we redirect the
: "Documents" folder and the "Workgroup Templates" folder at network
: locations. The Documents folder is a personal folder assigned to them
: and the Workgroup Templates is redirected at a shared folder with our
: company templates in it.
:
: I've discovered a few articles on support.microsoft.com that purport to
: deal with this issue, including this one:
:
: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;291484
:
: But none seems to work / address the problem in our case.
:
: Any ideas?

 

[Irfon-Kim Ahmad]

If you are using the option to show both Standard and Formatting
Toolbars on a single row, because there isn't room to fit both
toolbars on one row whilst displaying all the buttons, Word
automatically 'hides' the buttons least used.

Good to bear in mind, but I don't think that this is what is happening.
In particular, the little dot on the right edge of the toolbar that
indicates hidden buttons doesn't appear and there doesn't seem to be any
way to "expand" the toolbar. (Also, the settings don't stick even if I
put each toolbar on its own line.)

However, your problem may be different. Do any other settings that
are normally saved and stored in normal.dot 'stick'? For example, if
they change the default font, do they get the prompt to save changes
to normal.dot when the close Word? Does it stick?

Nope. :/

If not, it may be because you have an incompatible add-in affecting
Word: Adobe Writer v7 is an example.

Hmm. All three computers do have Acrobat 7 Professional installed, with
the writer buttons / add-ins installed Is there any easy way to remove
them temporarily to try this theory out?

 

[TF]

Adobe!!!!!

Try the following fix:

--
There's a rough workaround: edit the Windows registry. You need to find the
key
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Word\Addins\PDFMaker.OfficeAddin]

and change the subkey called "LoadBehavior" from a value of 3 to 0

Terry

: TF <> wrote:
: > If you are using the option to show both Standard and Formatting
: > Toolbars on a single row, because there isn't room to fit both
: > toolbars on one row whilst displaying all the buttons, Word
: > automatically 'hides' the buttons least used.
:
: Good to bear in mind, but I don't think that this is what is happening.
: In particular, the little dot on the right edge of the toolbar that
: indicates hidden buttons doesn't appear and there doesn't seem to be any
: way to "expand" the toolbar. (Also, the settings don't stick even if I
: put each toolbar on its own line.)
:
: > However, your problem may be different. Do any other settings that
: > are normally saved and stored in normal.dot 'stick'? For example, if
: > they change the default font, do they get the prompt to save changes
: > to normal.dot when the close Word? Does it stick?
:
: Nope. :/
:
: > If not, it may be because you have an incompatible add-in affecting
: > Word: Adobe Writer v7 is an example.
:
: Hmm. All three computers do have Acrobat 7 Professional installed, with
: the writer buttons / add-ins installed Is there any easy way to remove
: them temporarily to try this theory out?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See the last section of
http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adobe_acrobat_toolbar.htm

 

[JM Sabell]

just create a new toolbar called "outwit BillG" or something similar
stick on it the buttons you want.
go into Options, and file locations. See where startup files are 'hidden' -
probably on local drive with some massive path name.
when you exit Word you will see flash by "saving Normal.dot"
search on your drive for this newly updated normal.dot file
then zip it up, and move the zip to somewhere oyu can get at on network.
then next time BillG shags tyour toolbars just lcose word, and extract the
correct nomral.dot file for hte zip.
it's tedious becuase if you then make more enhancements you need to reupdate
hte zip file, but i have succedeed ofr 6 years in outwitting bills' efforts
to bin my corrections ot his dopey default buttons.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

You don't understand. It is not Microsoft that is the problem here. It is
Adobe. The changes never get written to any normal.dot, so saving a copy of
normal.dot does not help. You can save the changes to a separate global
template.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[TF]

Read the rest of the thread and see what a stupid answer you have given.

Terry

: just create a new toolbar called "outwit BillG" or something similar
: stick on it the buttons you want.
: go into Options, and file locations. See where startup files are
'hidden' -
: probably on local drive with some massive path name.
: when you exit Word you will see flash by "saving Normal.dot"
: search on your drive for this newly updated normal.dot file
: then zip it up, and move the zip to somewhere oyu can get at on network.
: then next time BillG shags tyour toolbars just lcose word, and extract the
: correct nomral.dot file for hte zip.
: it's tedious becuase if you then make more enhancements you need to
reupdate
: hte zip file, but i have succedeed ofr 6 years in outwitting bills'
efforts
: to bin my corrections ot his dopey default buttons.
:
:
:
: --
: JM Sabell
:
:

 

[Irfon-Kim Ahmad]

Adobe!!!!!

Try the following fix:


There's a rough workaround: edit the Windows registry. You need to
find the key
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Word\Addins\PDFMaker.OfficeAddin]
and change the subkey called "LoadBehavior" from a value of 3 to 0

Unfortunately, that key doesn't exist on any of the afffected machines.


Also, we've now confirmed that it *also* doesn't want to save toolbar
changes on one of our Windows NT machines running Word 97 and without
Acrobat installed.

 

[Irfon-Kim Ahmad]

See the last section of
http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adobe_acrobat_toolbar.htm

Thanks for that. Unfortuantely, the key that you target doesn't exist
on our machines. Also, the problem seems to be occurring (I've just
checked it out further) on machines that don't have Acrobat installed.

On the upside, your tip about holding down Shift, clicking File and
selecting Save All *does* work, so I'm going to instruct my users to use
that as a workaround until I figure out something better.

Thanks!

 

[TF]

Are you sure about the version? The key is in all the other computers with
Acrobat 7 Pro.

Terry

: > See the last section of
: > http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adobe_acrobat_toolbar.htm
:
: Thanks for that. Unfortuantely, the key that you target doesn't exist
: on our machines. Also, the problem seems to be occurring (I've just
: checked it out further) on machines that don't have Acrobat installed.
:
: On the upside, your tip about holding down Shift, clicking File and
: selecting Save All *does* work, so I'm going to instruct my users to use
: that as a workaround until I figure out something better.
:
: Thanks!

 

[Irfon-Kim Ahmad]

Are you sure about the version? The key is in all the other computers
with Acrobat 7 Pro.

Yes, I'm sure of the version. (I have the box right next to me.) And
it baffles me too.

The workaround of holding shift and selecting "Save All" seems to be
working, in the meantime.

Ultimately, it doesn't appear to be an Acrobat issue though, or at
least, not purely an Acrobat issue. We've had at least one system now
exhibit it which does not have Acrobat installed.

 

[TF]

Try the Adobe Support and see if they have any new information on the
problem. Perhaps they think they have fixed the problem but really just made
it worse.

Terry


: TF <> wrote:
: > Are you sure about the version? The key is in all the other computers
: > with Acrobat 7 Pro.
:
: Yes, I'm sure of the version. (I have the box right next to me.) And
: it baffles me too.
:
: The workaround of holding shift and selecting "Save All" seems to be
: working, in the meantime.
:
: Ultimately, it doesn't appear to be an Acrobat issue though, or at
: least, not purely an Acrobat issue. We've had at least one system now
: exhibit it which does not have Acrobat installed.