normal.dot template becomes huge

T

td

I'm having a problem with my normal.dot becoming enormous after I run a
macro. This macro has a lot going on, but nothing that obviously would
affect my normal.dot file. It basically goes through a folder, opens a bunch
of files one at a time (about 70 or 80 files in all), looks for bookmarks
with certain things in their names, and copies and pastes the text in those
bookmarks into another document.

I have a couple suspicions of what might be going on, but not sure how to
prevent or fix these problems.

First, each one of these files that the macro is opening has their own
attached dot file with some special menus in them. (Those are the menus that
were used to set these bookmarks to begin with.) These dot files are NOT
global templates, but rather are just attached to those documents. I have a
suspicion that perhaps somehow opening a file with an attached template might
somehow cause your normal.dot template to be modified also. Any insight?

Alternatively, I wonder if there is something to do with style definitions.
All of these files that I am opening were received from different parties,
and a lot of them have their own special style definitions. I know I have
had major headaches before with people's styles somehow migrating into my
computer. Could it be that every new style in each of these documents I am
opening gets added to my normal.dot?

My normal.dot files starts out at 488k, and ends up at about 4 MB after I
run this macro a couple times. At that point, my computer (a rather powerful
new type of computer) becomes completely bogged down, and extremely slow. I
can close Word and restart my computer, but the slowness remains until I
replace my normal.dot file with an archived copy.

Thanks for any help.
 
S

Shauna Kelly

Hi td

I suspect that there's something fishy with the code that's running.

As a bit of a test, at Tools > Options > Save, tick "Prompt to save Normal
template". Start Word, do nothing, then exit Word. You should *not* receive
a prompt asking if you want to save normal.dot.

Now, start Word, run your macro, and exit Word. Do you get a "do you want to
save?" prompt? If so, then the macro is somehow dirtying your normal.dot.
perhaps somehow opening a file with an attached template might
somehow cause your normal.dot template to be modified also.
If there's no code in the 'other' template, then it won't do anything to
normal.dot. If there's code in the 'other' template, then it will affect
normal.dot only if it's poorly-written code.
people's styles somehow migrating into my computer.
For some info about issues relating to this, see
What happens when I send my document to someone else? Will Word mess up my
formatting?
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/sharing/WillMyFormatChange.html

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
 
K

KleChink

Hi Shauna, I'm working with td on this project.
The template document that is being opened has code in it that creates a
context menu. How could this code, poorly written or not, change the
normal.dot?

Klechink
 
J

Jean-Guy Marcil

KleChink was telling us:
KleChink nous racontait que :
Hi Shauna, I'm working with td on this project.
The template document that is being opened has code in it that
creates a context menu. How could this code, poorly written or not,
change the normal.dot?

Which template receives the context menu changes?

If you do not specify a template by using "CustomizationContext" then you
are dirtying your Normal.dot. And yes, many menu changes will for sure
inflate your template.

--
Salut!
_______________________________________
Jean-Guy Marcil - Word MVP
(e-mail address removed)
Word MVP site: http://www.word.mvps.org
 
K

KleChink

Interesting. Thank you. I'll look into that.

Jean-Guy Marcil said:
KleChink was telling us:
KleChink nous racontait que :


Which template receives the context menu changes?

If you do not specify a template by using "CustomizationContext" then you
are dirtying your Normal.dot. And yes, many menu changes will for sure
inflate your template.

--
Salut!
_______________________________________
Jean-Guy Marcil - Word MVP
(e-mail address removed)
Word MVP site: http://www.word.mvps.org
 

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