L
Leigh Webber
I have seen many messages here and elsewhere about lost normal.dot
files. I had the same problem, then solved it. For the benefit of
future sufferers:
Word expects to find normal.dot in the directory specified in Tools,
Options, File Locations, User Templates. Click the Modify button to
see exactly where that is (you may have to open the "Look In"
drop-down to see the folder name in context. Be sure to have all
folder visibility options enabled (in My Computer, choose Tools,
Folder Options, click the View tab, and select "Show Hidden Files and
Folders", and clear the "Hide extensions for known File types" and
"Hide protected operating system files" option boxes).
Now my contribution: If there is no normal.dot in the User Template
folder, but there is one in the workgroup template folder, then Word
2002 will happily use it. This, I think, is new to Word 2002, and
drove me nuts till I figured it out. I had foolishly left a normal.dot
in the workgroup templates folder. When I deleted normal.dot from my
user templates folder, expecting that when I restarted Word, it would
create a new one with out-of-box defaults (an old trick). I was
stunned to find old toolbars and macros still there. Turns out that
when Word can't find normal.dot in the user templates folder, it looks
in the workgroup templates folder and uses that one. Since my
workgroup templates folder was on a network share, all the searching
of my C: drive (with all file X-Ray Goggle options turned on) never
found it.
files. I had the same problem, then solved it. For the benefit of
future sufferers:
Word expects to find normal.dot in the directory specified in Tools,
Options, File Locations, User Templates. Click the Modify button to
see exactly where that is (you may have to open the "Look In"
drop-down to see the folder name in context. Be sure to have all
folder visibility options enabled (in My Computer, choose Tools,
Folder Options, click the View tab, and select "Show Hidden Files and
Folders", and clear the "Hide extensions for known File types" and
"Hide protected operating system files" option boxes).
Now my contribution: If there is no normal.dot in the User Template
folder, but there is one in the workgroup template folder, then Word
2002 will happily use it. This, I think, is new to Word 2002, and
drove me nuts till I figured it out. I had foolishly left a normal.dot
in the workgroup templates folder. When I deleted normal.dot from my
user templates folder, expecting that when I restarted Word, it would
create a new one with out-of-box defaults (an old trick). I was
stunned to find old toolbars and macros still there. Turns out that
when Word can't find normal.dot in the user templates folder, it looks
in the workgroup templates folder and uses that one. Since my
workgroup templates folder was on a network share, all the searching
of my C: drive (with all file X-Ray Goggle options turned on) never
found it.