No normal.dot file on disk

S

Sierras

Hello

I had a problem with my normal.dot file. Whenever I opened Word, I
got a message that it crashed and wanted to send an error report and
had to open in safe mode or something like that. I followed the
suggestions in this forum and renamed my normal.dot file to normal.old
That fixed the problem. But Word was supposed to re-create another
normal.dot file when I opened and closed it - but it didn't do that. I
do not have a normal.dot file in my computer even after pressing Shift
File-Save ALL to bypass Acrobate 7.0.5
Anyone have any other suggestions??
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

It may be that you're just not seeing it. In Windows XP, the folder in which
Normal.dot is stored is a hidden one; unless you have your folder view
options set to display hidden and system files and folders, you will not see
it.
 
S

Sierras

Thanks but I do have the option set to view hidden system files and
folders. I had already found the normal.dot file and renamed it.
Strange thing is that Word opens and seems to work fine. Just can't
figure out how it can do that without the normal.dot file.
 
G

Graham Mayor

If Normal.dot is not present Word will create a new one. If it is not saving
that new one, something is inhibiting it - usually some add-in or other. The
prime candidate is Acrobat 7 (see
http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adobe_acrobat_toolbar.htm ) but there are
others. See http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm followed
by http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

In recent versions of Word, is it not true that Word doesn't create
Normal.dot until you customize something?
 
B

Beth Melton

I've heard this too but I can't seem to reproduce it. I've tried
recreating Normal.dot on several computers with various versions of
Word and each time after starting Word, upon closing I'm asked to save
Normal.dot. I'm certain I didn't modify it nor do I have any add-ins
that modify Normal.dot.

One thought I had was it may happen on installations in which nothing
had ever been modified. But that doesn't seem to be the case either as
I've tried reproducing this on freshly imaged workstations. Normal.dot
is present before starting Word for the first time and it gets
recreated after renaming it.

Yet as Sierras noted, Normal.dot isn't present. My only other thought
is it's specific to the edition of Office that is installed but that
doesn't really make sense either...

Sierras, what version of Office are you using? Did Word come installed
as part of Works Suite??

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

That's why I was confused. I thought I had read it both ways (Terry saying
it wasn't saved and you saying it was, perhaps).
 
G

Graham Mayor

Just a thought here. This morning Word was working fine here as usual and
then throwing caution to the wind I installed Microsoft Spyware Beta, and
whether it was coincidence or not, Word thereafter lost the ability to save
normal.dot and threw errors when I ran any macros.

It had only removed one suspicious file, but restoring that didn't help.

I ended up uninstalling the Beta and rolling Windows back to the time it had
been installed and now
Word works properly again :(

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
 
S

Sierras

It is part of Office XP 2002
And it is still working fine with no normal.dot in the system. This
stated happening after trying Acrobat 7. I had version 5 with no problems
previously.
I had read that Actobat 7 maybe causing this, but even after updating to
7.0.5 and using the save all feature, Word still does not create a
normal.dot file.

By the way, I still have the old normal.dot file renamed to normal.old and
moved it to a folder in another drive (I hate just deleting things). I
might try to put it back to see if it makes a difference.
 
S

Sierras

Well I was just about to start testing a few things with moving files
and renaming the normal.old file back to normal.dot.
But I decided to check to make sure that the normal.dot file was still
missing. Low and behold - it's back!!
I did nothing to try and get it back. At least nothing more than just
use word normally. So I have no idea what I did it to get it back.
The only thing I could think of is that I disabled MS Antispy beta and
a few other apps for a while while I did some video stuff. But I
didn't use word so it may just be a coincidence.

Anyway, thanks for your help.
Cheers....
 
C

Charles Kenyon

MS AntiSpy has been noted to cause problems with saving normal.dot.
--
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


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