My Word Settings Have Changed - HELP!

[Lauren]

I am running Office X on an iBook. My laptop is configured with three
log-ins - mine, the administrator, and a third that we use
occasionally.

Last week I noticed that certain menu items have moved themselves -
for example, the "Data Merge Manager" option has moved from under the
"Tools" menu to the "File" menu. The "New Document" choice under the
"File" menu has disappeared completely. Also, the CMD keys have
changed - for example, when I hit CMD T it opens the style sheet
(which should open with CMD SHIFT T).

I have tried to use the "customize" function and reset my menus to
where they were before. Everytime I quit and reenter Word, the menus
are messed up again.

When I log in under the Administrator log-in, the menus are fine -
just as they are supposed to be.

I tried to reinstall Word, but when I tried to do so, a message came
up and told me that Word was already installed and it was not
necessary to install it.

HELP! Thanks!

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Lauren,

Please always state your full OS and Office versions, including updates! Is
your Office fully updated? If not, you need to update through to the 10.1.5
updater. Then repair disk permissions:

For OS 10.2.x or 10.3:
Go to Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities. Open up Disk Utility. Select
your hard disk, then click the First Aid tab. Click the button to "Repair
Disk Permissions".

For OS 10.1.5:
Download the Repair Privileges utility, free from Apple, and run it:
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106900>

If the problem persists, try testing your Normal template and your
preferences as follows:

1) Quit Word and navigate to your Normal template which should be in
/Applications/Microsoft Office X/Templates/. Rename Normal to something else
(like OldNormal), then relaunch Word. If this fixes the problem but you
have customizations, etc, in OldNormal that you want to maintain, you can
use Organizer to transfer those from OldNormal to the newly-created Normal
template. Then you can trash the old renamed file. To learn how to use
Organizer, see here (use IE not Safari to view this site):
<http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/WordMac/MacWordNormalTemplate.htm>

If this doesn't fix the problem, quit Word again, trash the new Normal and
rename OldNormal back to Normal.

2) To test your Preference files, quit *all* Office Applications.
Navigate to your ~/library/preferences/Microsoft folder. Rename the
Microsoft Component Preferences, Word Settings (10), and Microsoft Office
Settings (10) files. When you restart Word, these files will be recreated.
If all is well, you can trash the old files. You will have to reset some
Preferences and AutoCorrect settings.

If this doesn't help, you can trash the new files and rename the old ones
back.

If all else fails, you can try a removal/reinstallation of Office. (It does
no good to reinstall Office/Word over a previous installation; you need to
remove the old installation first.)

The Remove Office tool is located in the Value Pack folder on the Office X
CD. Install it and run it. Now reinstall Office X using the installer on
the CD or do a Drag & Drop to the Applications folder. Also don't forget to
install any Value Pack items you need. When you've finished, you'll need to
download (<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/download/>) and install the Office X
10.1.2, 10.1.4 and 10.1.5 updaters.

For the most trouble-free installation, run Disk Utility First Aid to repair
permissions before each updater install and when you've completed them all.
To repair permissions go to Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities; open up
Disk Utility; select your hard disk and click the First Aid tab and then the
button to "Repair Disk Permissions".

Before uninstalling Office, you might want to back up various files. See
here for backup suggestions: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/backup.html>.

Hope something here helps.

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/WordMac/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>

 

[Lauren]

Thank you, Beth.

Lauren

Hi Lauren,

Please always state your full OS and Office versions, including updates! Is
your Office fully updated? If not, you need to update through to the 10.1.5
updater. Then repair disk permissions:

For OS 10.2.x or 10.3:
Go to Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities. Open up Disk Utility. Select
your hard disk, then click the First Aid tab. Click the button to "Repair
Disk Permissions".

For OS 10.1.5:
Download the Repair Privileges utility, free from Apple, and run it:
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106900>

If the problem persists, try testing your Normal template and your
preferences as follows:

1) Quit Word and navigate to your Normal template which should be in
/Applications/Microsoft Office X/Templates/. Rename Normal to something else
(like OldNormal), then relaunch Word. If this fixes the problem but you
have customizations, etc, in OldNormal that you want to maintain, you can
use Organizer to transfer those from OldNormal to the newly-created Normal
template. Then you can trash the old renamed file. To learn how to use
Organizer, see here (use IE not Safari to view this site):
<http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/WordMac/MacWordNormalTemplate.htm>

If this doesn't fix the problem, quit Word again, trash the new Normal and
rename OldNormal back to Normal.

2) To test your Preference files, quit *all* Office Applications.
Navigate to your ~/library/preferences/Microsoft folder. Rename the
Microsoft Component Preferences, Word Settings (10), and Microsoft Office
Settings (10) files. When you restart Word, these files will be recreated.
If all is well, you can trash the old files. You will have to reset some
Preferences and AutoCorrect settings.

If this doesn't help, you can trash the new files and rename the old ones
back.

If all else fails, you can try a removal/reinstallation of Office. (It does
no good to reinstall Office/Word over a previous installation; you need to
remove the old installation first.)

The Remove Office tool is located in the Value Pack folder on the Office X
CD. Install it and run it. Now reinstall Office X using the installer on
the CD or do a Drag & Drop to the Applications folder. Also don't forget to
install any Value Pack items you need. When you've finished, you'll need to
download (<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/download/>) and install the Office X
10.1.2, 10.1.4 and 10.1.5 updaters.

For the most trouble-free installation, run Disk Utility First Aid to repair
permissions before each updater install and when you've completed them all.
To repair permissions go to Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities; open up
Disk Utility; select your hard disk and click the First Aid tab and then the
button to "Repair Disk Permissions".

Before uninstalling Office, you might want to back up various files. See
here for backup suggestions: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/backup.html>.

Hope something here helps.

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/WordMac/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>