I customized my toolbars, now Word crashes when I close a document

[Tigger's Mom]

Hi,

I'm grateful for any help with this problem. I'm working on a Mac
PowerBook, OS X version 10.4.10. I'm using MS Word from MS Office 2004 for
Mac, version 11.3.8.

I spent quite some time customizing my toolbars and now Word crashes every
time I close a document. I created new toolbars rather than revise existing
toolbars.

What is causing this problem? Can I fix it without having to go back to the
default toolbars and eliminating my newly customized toolbars?

Thank you for your help!

 

[John McGhie]

Word is crashing because one of the files it is trying to save is corrupt.

There are potentially three files involved with any document: the document
itself, its attached template, and the Normal template.

Since you did not specify another template, I am going to assume that there
is no "Attached" template, meaning it's either the document itself or it's
the Normal template. Since you say it happens with "any" document, I am
going to assume it's the template.

1) Open Word (just with the default blank document is fine...)

2) File>Save As, and change the Format to Document Template. Use a file
name like Temp.dot

3) Format>Style and click the Organiser button

4) In Organiser, click the Toolbars tab at the top.

A two-pane window appears, with the new template you are making on the left,
and Normal template on the right (usually: check the file names up the top)

5) The toolbars YOU have made will appear on the Normal side.

6) Select each and click the COPY button to copy them into the NEW
template.

7) SAVE the new template, THEN close it.

Word will probably crash.

8) With Word quit (or crashed!) find and delete your Normal template.

9) Open Word again. It will create a new blank Normal template.

10) Quit Word again (to force it to save the new Normal)

11) Re-start Word, open your Temp.dot template, and go back into Organiser

12) Copy your customised toolbars from Temp.dot back into Normal template.

What has probably happened is that in customising your new toolbars, you
have inadvertently made a conflicting change to one of the standard
toolbars. When Word attempts to save the Normal template, it is unable to
resolve the conflict and crashes.

It could equally be that your Normal template has become corrupt, which may
have nothing to do with your toolbars.

Either way, you now have a new Normal template, and the problem should have
gone away. If it comes back, then you have to suspect that one of the new
toolbars is corrupt.

Repeat the exercise, this time copying only ONE toolbar. If the problem is
fixed now, the corruption is in the "other" toolbar. If not, guess what...

Those of us who do a lot of customisation tend to keep a pristine blank
default Normal template preserved under a different name, so we can just
copy and re-name it every time we break Word's default Normal (which may not
be all that rare until you learn what things NOT to try ....)

We also tend to keep frequent backups: especially, back up your template
immediately BEFORE you try the latest "great idea". Then when it all goes
bang in a disgusting cloud of black smoke, you can smile and quickly copy
the backup back into place and carry on as if you meant to do that before
anyone notices ...

Hope this helps


On 4/11/07 5:46 PM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Tigger's Mom" <Tigger's
(e-mail address removed)> wrote:

Hi,

I'm grateful for any help with this problem. I'm working on a Mac
PowerBook, OS X version 10.4.10. I'm using MS Word from MS Office 2004 for
Mac, version 11.3.8.

I spent quite some time customizing my toolbars and now Word crashes every
time I close a document. I created new toolbars rather than revise existing
toolbars.

What is causing this problem? Can I fix it without having to go back to the
default toolbars and eliminating my newly customized toolbars?

Thank you for your help!

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Clive Huggan]

Just to add to what John said: if you'd like to find out about the best way
to modify toolbars with minimum potential for disaster, see "Why is it best
not to alter the default toolbars?" on page 45 -- then read further -- in
some notes on the way I use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your
Will", which are available as a free download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html).

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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[Tigger''s Mom]

Hi John,

Thank you so much for your instructions. I wish I had been able to get to
working on this fix sooner.

I tried several times, but I ran into a problem at step 12: When I open the
new template document (xxx.dot) and go into the organizer, I am not seeing
the names of the toolbars I created in either of the windows. I exited the
organizer and went back to the xxx.dot document, clicked on Customize -->
Toolbars, and my personal toolbars were missing from the list.

I quit out of word, and put the original Normal template back into the
Home-->Documents-->Microsoft User Data folder (where I initially found it)
and my personal toolbars came back, but the crashing still occurred (probably
because word was again running on the corrupted Normal template).

I tried the procedure through step 12 two more times, once with the new
xxx.dot document saved in the "my templates" folder and a second time with it
saved in the Microsoft User Data folder. The results were the same as my
first try, none of my customized toolbar names showed up in the Organizer
windows.

What am I missing? Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[John McGhie]

Which "Tab" do you have clicked at the top of the Organiser?

You have to click the "Toolbars" tab to see the toolbars.

Normal is a "special case". It must be in the Microsoft User Data folder to
work. Anywhere else ‹ well, you "can", but let's not complicate things.

Once you open the New Normal template and have the Organiser on your screen,
you must click the "Close document" button on one window. Then it will go
blank and turn into an "Open document" button. You use that to browse to
the OLD normal template, and open that on one side of the Organiser.

Then you will see your toolbars in the old Normal. COPY them to the new
Normal, save both and close.

Hope this helps

On 9/11/07 4:06 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Tigger''s Mom"

Hi John,

Thank you so much for your instructions. I wish I had been able to get to
working on this fix sooner.

I tried several times, but I ran into a problem at step 12: When I open the
new template document (xxx.dot) and go into the organizer, I am not seeing
the names of the toolbars I created in either of the windows. I exited the
organizer and went back to the xxx.dot document, clicked on Customize -->
Toolbars, and my personal toolbars were missing from the list.

I quit out of word, and put the original Normal template back into the
Home-->Documents-->Microsoft User Data folder (where I initially found it)
and my personal toolbars came back, but the crashing still occurred
(probably
because word was again running on the corrupted Normal template).

I tried the procedure through step 12 two more times, once with the new
xxx.dot document saved in the "my templates" folder and a second time with
it
saved in the Microsoft User Data folder. The results were the same as my
first try, none of my customized toolbar names showed up in the Organizer
windows.

What am I missing? Any ideas?

Thanks!

Word is crashing because one of the files it is trying to save is corrupt.

There are potentially three files involved with any document: the document
itself, its attached template, and the Normal template.

Since you did not specify another template, I am going to assume that there
is no "Attached" template, meaning it's either the document itself or it's
the Normal template. Since you say it happens with "any" document, I am
going to assume it's the template.

1) Open Word (just with the default blank document is fine...)

2) File>Save As, and change the Format to Document Template. Use a file
name like Temp.dot

3) Format>Style and click the Organiser button

4) In Organiser, click the Toolbars tab at the top.

A two-pane window appears, with the new template you are making on the left,
and Normal template on the right (usually: check the file names up the top)

5) The toolbars YOU have made will appear on the Normal side.

6) Select each and click the COPY button to copy them into the NEW
template.

7) SAVE the new template, THEN close it.

Word will probably crash.

8) With Word quit (or crashed!) find and delete your Normal template.

9) Open Word again. It will create a new blank Normal template.

10) Quit Word again (to force it to save the new Normal)

11) Re-start Word, open your Temp.dot template, and go back into Organiser

12) Copy your customised toolbars from Temp.dot back into Normal template.

What has probably happened is that in customising your new toolbars, you
have inadvertently made a conflicting change to one of the standard
toolbars. When Word attempts to save the Normal template, it is unable to
resolve the conflict and crashes.

It could equally be that your Normal template has become corrupt, which may
have nothing to do with your toolbars.

Either way, you now have a new Normal template, and the problem should have
gone away. If it comes back, then you have to suspect that one of the new
toolbars is corrupt.

Repeat the exercise, this time copying only ONE toolbar. If the problem is
fixed now, the corruption is in the "other" toolbar. If not, guess what...

Those of us who do a lot of customisation tend to keep a pristine blank
default Normal template preserved under a different name, so we can just
copy and re-name it every time we break Word's default Normal (which may not
be all that rare until you learn what things NOT to try ....)

We also tend to keep frequent backups: especially, back up your template
immediately BEFORE you try the latest "great idea". Then when it all goes
bang in a disgusting cloud of black smoke, you can smile and quickly copy
the backup back into place and carry on as if you meant to do that before
anyone notices ...

Hope this helps


On 4/11/07 5:46 PM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Tigger's Mom" <Tigger's
(e-mail address removed)> wrote:

Hi,

I'm grateful for any help with this problem. I'm working on a Mac
PowerBook, OS X version 10.4.10. I'm using MS Word from MS Office 2004 for
Mac, version 11.3.8.

I spent quite some time customizing my toolbars and now Word crashes every
time I close a document. I created new toolbars rather than revise existing
toolbars.

What is causing this problem? Can I fix it without having to go back to the
default toolbars and eliminating my newly customized toolbars?

Thank you for your help!

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]