Can't get Word preferences to save

[amanda]

I'm using MS Word 2004 for Mac on an Intel Macbook running Leopard (OS
10.5.1). I can't get Word to remember my user options or preferences
(not sure which is the right term). I turn off spelling and grammar
checking, for instance, and next time I launch the app they're turned
back on. I choose to view the reviewing toolbar and make it share the
same line as the formatting toolbar, but next time I launch it's
turned off.

In MS Word's Preferences > File Locations, the User Templates are
listed as being located in Macintosh HD: Applications: Microsoft
Office 2004: Templates. None of the other settings (User Options,
Tools, Startup, etc.) have any file location listed. Where should I
point them?

I tried closing Word, deleting the ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/
com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist file, then restarting Word, but that
didn't help -- any changes I made still didn't save.

I had a hard drive failure a couple weeks ago and installed a new hard
drive, reinstalled software, and then restored some of my backed up
software preference files, so I'm pretty sure that's the cause of this
trouble, by the way. I've also had lots of permissions issues since
then; I'll try repairing them yet again using Disk Utility, but I
don't think it'll help. Will post here if it does.

 

[amandafrench]

Nope, sure enough, repairing permissions didn't help. I've even
reinstalled MS Word (now I have to redo all the updates!!), and that
didn't help either, plus now I'm getting the error message "An
unexpected error message occurred when trying to load the Microsoft
Framework Library."

Argh.

I should also add that I did install Endnote's Cite While You Write
plugin in the startup folder, but removing it didn't help either.

Amanda

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

The framework message is due to an incomplete update or installation.
Search the forum, you'll find more.

Reinstalling just about NEVER helps, and for it to do anything, you have
to REMOVE the entire suite first and then reinstall. Otherwise you are
just making a mess. You may still need to do it, to fix the mess.

See the standard Word troubleshooting steps here:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/TroubleshootingIndex.html

 

[amandafrench]

Thanks. I removed Office using the Remove Office utility. The log told
me it couldn't remove my Libraryreferences files because I didn't
have access to them, so I repaired permissions, and for good measure
I went and manually changed the permissions on Library and Preferences
so that "everyone" could read and write. (This is my personal laptop
and I'm the only user.) Then I manually deleted the "Microsoft" and
"Microsoft User Data" folders and reinstalled Office. Now it's
working; it remembers my preferences and recent files.

Amanda

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Glad you sorted it, Amanda. Thanks for sharing what worked for you to
help others.

The incorrect permissions on Library would have been enough to cause the
original problem, of course--odd that repairing permissions didn't fix
it in the first go-round, but oh well. The mysteries of computers....

Daiya