MS Word 2003 - Default File Save name?

[Eric G]

MS Word 2003 SP1 & XPP SP2



Hello,

When saving a new document in Word, Word used to suggest the first couple of
words in the document as a file name. Now Word has started to suggest
"1.doc" as my new file name, irrespective of what the documents first couple
of words are.

On removing (actually temporarily renaming) the "normal.dot" and restarting
Word, a new "normal.dot" is created and Word once again uses the first
couple of words as the name of the new file to be saved.

My problem is that I have so many setting, macros and other information
stored in my old "normal.dot", that I would like to keep this old version
(that was newly created when I started with the 2003 version of Word). But
this with suggesting "1.dot" for every new file name is rather annoying.

My questions:

What have I done to Word, that makes it change its behavior?

How, and where, can I reset or change this annoying behavior?

Grateful for any suggestions.

Regards,

Eric G
Stockholm, Sweden

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Eric,

The "first few words" suggestion is actually Word's second choice, used only
if the Title field of the File > Properties dialog is empty. In your case, I
suspect that the Title field of your Normal.dot contains the character "1",
this is being propagated into each new document, and it's being used to
suggest the file name.

To fix this, open Normal.dot itself -- use File > Open, set the file type
dropdown to "Word Template", navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\<your
login name>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates, and select Normal.dot. Go
to File > Properties and clear the Title box. Save and close the template.

As for how the "1" got there, this is probably a variation of the problem
described at http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/BlankDocNotBlank.htm --
although we still don't really know why that happens.

 

[Eric G]

Hello Jay,

How right you were - right there in the Normal.dot, Properties, under the
Summary tab, in the Title field sits a lonly "1". As how it got there, I
can't explain either. And I, who thought I kept the normal.dot nice and
tidy, with regular backups and everything, I didn't even notice it.

Well, you solved my problem - thank you very much for your help, it's much
appreciated.

Best regards,


Eric G
Stockholm, Sweden.



| Hi Eric,
|
| The "first few words" suggestion is actually Word's second choice, used
only
| if the Title field of the File > Properties dialog is empty. In your case,
I
| suspect that the Title field of your Normal.dot contains the character
"1",
| this is being propagated into each new document, and it's being used to
| suggest the file name.
|
| To fix this, open Normal.dot itself -- use File > Open, set the file type
| dropdown to "Word Template", navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\<your
| login name>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates, and select Normal.dot.
Go
| to File > Properties and clear the Title box. Save and close the template.
|
| As for how the "1" got there, this is probably a variation of the problem
| described at http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/BlankDocNotBlank.htm --
| although we still don't really know why that happens.
|
| --
| Regards,
| Jay Freedman
| Microsoft Word MVP
|
| Eric G wrote:
| > MS Word 2003 SP1 & XPP SP2
| >
| >
| >
| > Hello,
| >
| > When saving a new document in Word, Word used to suggest the first
| > couple of words in the document as a file name. Now Word has started
| > to suggest "1.doc" as my new file name, irrespective of what the
| > documents first couple of words are.
| >
| > On removing (actually temporarily renaming) the "normal.dot" and
| > restarting Word, a new "normal.dot" is created and Word once again
| > uses the first couple of words as the name of the new file to be
| > saved.
| >
| > My problem is that I have so many setting, macros and other
| > information stored in my old "normal.dot", that I would like to keep
| > this old version (that was newly created when I started with the 2003
| > version of Word). But this with suggesting "1.dot" for every new file
| > name is rather annoying.
| >
| > My questions:
| >
| > What have I done to Word, that makes it change its behavior?
| >
| > How, and where, can I reset or change this annoying behavior?
| >
| > Grateful for any suggestions.
| >
| > Regards,
| >
| > Eric G
| > Stockholm, Sweden
|
|

 

[Jay Freedman]

Great, thanks for the confirmation.