Normal.dot Help? Fatally Corrupted; No Fix. Please Assist.

[atm0073]

Hello all; I am new to these forums.

For the last three weeks, I have had major issues with Microsoft Word.
One day, it just stopped starting, and it took me a while to find out
that the issue was with the Normal.dot template. The problem is, the
issue was not solved at all by deleting Normal.dot.

So, I tried all the other common remedies for this issue -
changing/deleting the Word registry files and folders, uninstalling and
reinstalling the program, et cetera. In addition, I've even tried
installing Office 2007, restoring my computer to an earlier date, and
another of other miscellaneous things. None of my attempts were to any
avail. So, after scouring the 'net for the last three weeks and finding
nothing, I am very desperate now, so I have decided to visit some forums
to seek some extra assistance.

If anybody knows of any possible or definite way I can resolve my issue
(besides, ideally, restoring my computer to its factory settings), I
would appreciate it greatly.

 

[AYJ]

Hi
Deleting normal.dot won't help. Go to normal dot DON'T OPEN IT right click
it and change the name to normal dot old(or something like that) and then try
and open word. See if that helps.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

normal.dot is the old default template from Word2003. Word2007 uses
normal.dotx (or, if there are any macros in it, normal.dotm). That's
what you should be renaming.

(If you have customizations in your old normal.dot that you want
carried over into Word2007, you should put your old normal.dot in your
Word Startup folder, and Word2007 will read the old customizations.)

 

[atm0073]

Renaming Normal.dot does not help either; I've tried this many times
All it does is create a new Normal.dot file that is also corrupt fo
some reason

 

[Graham Mayor]

The normal template for Word 2007 is normal.dotm which by default will be in
the User Templates folder which can be located by typing
%appdata%\Microsoft\Templates
in the address window of your browser.
Delete or rename that file.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Graham Mayor]

The normal template is normal.dotm (not dotx) -
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100307561033.aspx

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Peter T. Daniels]

normal.dotx doesn't turn into normal.dotm until you've installed a
macro (any macro) into it. Some ex-MVPs who post here may not believe
it, but it's quite possible to use Word successfully for years without
ever installing a macro.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Unless you mistyped this message, look closely at what Graham (and I)
have been telling you: the template to rename is not normal.dot, but
normal.dotX (or normal.dotM if you've installed a macro).

 

[Graham Mayor]

The default normal template - normal.dotm for Word 2007 - is hard coded into
the application and will not be corrupt when it is recreated. If it becomes
corrupt then something is corrupting it - see
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm
Do you have add-ins specific to Word 2003? Remove them or update them -
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm
If you have a file called normal.dot, then remove it to a safe location out
of reach of Word 2007's startup procedure.
--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Graham Mayor]

Of course it is possible to use Word without macros - but the fact remains
that the normal template is normal.dotm.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Peter T. Daniels]

If OP happens never to have installed a macro, then OP will not find a
normal.dotm template no matter how hard they look.

 

[Cheryl Flanders]

Beginning with Word 2002, you had to make a valid change to the
normal.dot before the file would appear in a search. Valid changes
are not limited to macros. You can change any of the defaults, i.e.,
change the default font, add an AutoText entry or formatted
AutoCorrect entry, or modify a style. I have done an extensive search
and cannot locate a Microsoft article that states this is also true
for Word 2007 but I suspect it is with a new installation and no prior
versions on the machine. Can anyone confirm this?

Cheryl

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I can't confirm that, but I can confirm that you will have Normal.dotm (not
Normal.dotx) regardless of whether or not it contains macros. It is
"macro-enabled" so that it *can* contain macros.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Beginning with Word 2002, you had to make a valid change to the
normal.dot before the file would appear in a search. Valid changes
are not limited to macros. You can change any of the defaults, i.e.,
change the default font, add an AutoText entry or formatted
AutoCorrect entry, or modify a style. I have done an extensive search
and cannot locate a Microsoft article that states this is also true
for Word 2007 but I suspect it is with a new installation and no prior
versions on the machine. Can anyone confirm this?

Cheryl

 

[Twayne]

Renaming Normal.dot does not help either; I've tried this many times.
All it does is create a new Normal.dot file that is also corrupt for
some reason.

Are you changing the right normal.dotx? There may be multiples of the
file spread around on the disk, especially if you've done upgrades. Do
a search for ALL copies of the file anywhere on the disk.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

I had occasion to look at my templates once in a while before I
installed Graham's point-of-last edit macro set, and I didn't have a
normal.dotm. I had added some keyboard shortcuts to normal.dotx by
then, and changed my Normal style from Ca-whatever to Gentium and then
to TNR.

 

[atm0073]

I apologize for not making my situation entirely clear in my initia
post, but I will now:

I am aware of the names of the document templates for Word 2003 an
2007. Currently, I have both versions of Word operational on m
computer (Word 2003 is installed normally, and Word 2007 is a packe
executable file that uses its own resources and does not need to b
installed). I have tried the same method for both programs
renaming/deleting .dot and .dotm files for BOTH programs, and I stil
arrive at the SAME problem. I had in mind that using a differen
version of Word (initially had 2003, but tried 2007 to check) would no
yield the same result, but for some reason, it did. So now I am reall
curious as to what the problem is.

So please, I know you all believe that the normal templates are th
issue behind my problem, but I can almost guarantee that I have don
almost everything possible to try and fix issues directly relating t
the templates, and nothing has worked.

Please now advise me based on the new information I have given you all

 

[atm0073]

Anyone? I'm kind of desperate here

 

[Tony Jollans]

This seems like there has been a lot of discussion that has ignored the
issue - but it is not easy to divine the issue.

You said, originally, that "Word stopped starting"; perhaps you could expand
on that - do you mean that when you tried to start Word - either directly
(from the Start Menu, say) or by double clicking a document - that nothing
happened?

You said you tried, amongst other things, to install Office 2007 - only
later did you confirm that the original problem was with Word 2003.

Finally you said you had found out that the issue was with the Normal
Template. How did you find this out? And why do you persist in that belief
as you seem to be saying that the evidence is suggesting that it is not the
problem?

So, what are your symptoms? Can you start Word at all? Can you not even
start it in Safe Mode? Or what, exactly?

 

[atm0073]

This seems like there has been a lot of discussion that has ignored the
issue - but it is not easy to divine the issue.

You said, originally, that "Word stopped starting"; perhaps you could
expand
on that - do you mean that when you tried to start Word - either
directly
(from the Start Menu, say) or by double clicking a document - that
nothing
happened?
WHEN I EXECUTE THE WINWORD.EXE PROCESS (I.E. START UP WORD), THE SQUARE
MICROSOFT WORD LOGO COMES UP, BUT THEN FREEZES. THEN, WHEN END THE
PROCESS USING THE TASK MANAGER AND START UP WORD AGAIN, IT PROMPTS ME
TO OPEN WORD IN SAFE MODE. I DO THIS, BUT WORD IS STILL NOT FUNCTIONAL,
AND NOTHING I DO WITHIN SAFE MODE (SUCH AS CHANGING SETTINGS OR USING
THE \"DETECT AND REPAIR\" OPTION) REMEDIES THE PROBLEM. AFTER GOING
THROUGH THOSE THREE STEPS, THE ONLY THING LEFT TO TRY IS TO DELETE THE
NORMAL.DOT/DOTM FILES. THEN ALL WORD DOES IS CREATE A NEW NORMAL
TEMPLATE WHICH IS STILL CORRUPTED, AND STARTS THE CYCLE ALL OVER AGAIN.
(I MENTIONED THE NORMAL FILES FOR BOTH 2003 AND 2007 BECAUSE FOR SOME
REASON, THE ISSUE OCCURS WITH BOTH PROGRAMS.)

You said you tried, amongst other things, to install Office 2007 -
only
later did you confirm that the original problem was with Word 2003.
YES. THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM -WAS- WITH WORD 2003, BUT THE EXACT SAME
PROBLEM OCCURRED WHEN I TRIED USING WORD 2007 (WHICH, AS I SAID BEFORE,
I WAS ABLE TO USE ALONGSIDE WORD 2003 BECAUSE IT IS A \"STANDALONE
EXECUTABLE FILE\" OF SORTS, AND DOES NOT REQUIRE INSTALLATION). THIS IS
WHY I AM VERY CONFUSED AND CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON.

Finally you said you had found out that the issue was with the Normal
Template. How did you find this out? And why do you persist in that
belief
as you seem to be saying that the evidence is suggesting that it is not
the
problem?
GIVEN ALL THE EVIDENCE BEHIND THE SYMPTOMS AND RELATED THINGS I'VE
DESCRIBED ABOVE, I AT FIRST DEEMED IT LOGICAL TO ASSUME THAT THE NORMAL
TEMPLATE FILES WERE THE MAIN SOURCE OF MY PROBLEM. BUT SINCE
RENAMING/DELETING THEM DOES NOT SOLVE MY PROBLEM, I CAN ONLY ASSUME
THAT IT IS SOMETHING ELSE (OR, POSSIBLY, THAT IT IS SOMETHING ELSE THAT
IS SOMEHOW RELATED OR CONNECTED TO THE NORMAL TEMPLATE FILES).

So, what are your symptoms? Can you start Word at all? Can you not
even
start it in Safe Mode? Or what, exactly?
IN SHORT, MY ISSUE IS THAT WORD IS NOT FUNCTIONAL. I CAN START IT
THROUGH BYPASSING THE NORMAL TEMPLATE FILE (AS IN GET THE PROGRAM TO
START BY EITHER RENAMING/DELETING THE NORMAL TEMPLATE FILE, OR BY USING
THE \"WINWORD.EXE /A\" COMMAND), BUT WHEN IT DOES OPEN, IT WILL FREEZE
IF I TRY TO SAVE OR OPEN A DOCUMENT. WHAT I AM TRYING TO DETERMINE IS
WHAT EXACTLY IS CAUSING THESE PROBLEMS, AND, HENCE, HOW I CAN SOLVE THE
PROBLEM.

I hope this gives you all a coherent understanding as to what exactly
my issue is.

 

[Graham Mayor]

If you get the same problem in Word 2003 and 2007 and you have exhausted the
trouble shooting tips I posted a while back, it seems likely that the
printer driver is corrupt. Try updating and/or re-installing the printer
driver.

Word makes surprising demands on the display driver. If the reinstalling the
printer driver doesn't fix it then try updating the display driver and check
its settings.

If neither of these fix the problem, I have no further suggestions to offer.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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