normal.dot *won't* save, no matter what

[Kritz]

Just got assigned a new computer with XP SP2 and MS Office 2003. I created a
toolbar in Word with some macros and a couple of commands. It didn't behave
properly (repositioning itself and toolbar contents disappearing
unpredictably).

I tried renaming normal.dot to force Word to create a new one. Same
behavior. Tried deleting normal.dot, forcing new create but making sure the
old one was gone. Now Word won't create normal.dot at all, and I can't save
any changes to styles, toolbars, etc. I tried the Shift+File, Save All trick,
but that didn't work.

I do have the Acrobat 7.0 PDFMaker installed, but I thought Shift+File, Save
All was supposed to fix that. I use the Adobe toolbar all the time and am
reluctant to banish it. IT guys at my company are still scratching their
heads.

Any suggestions? TIA.

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

See http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/331259.html for several
possible solutions to the problem.

 

[Kritz]

Sorry, no go. I have updated Acrobat to 7.0.8 and used the Shift+File, Save
All command, and still Word won't create a new normal.dot and consequently
can't save any format or toolbar changes.

 

[Kritz]

CORRECTION: I have been able to force Word to create a new normal.dot by
placing the Save All button in my new toolbar and clicking it (why this
didn't work when I clicked on Save All from the menu is a mystery to me).

My remaining problem is this: I need to modify the normal style to be 11 pt
Arial rather than the default Times New Roman. When I change the style and
then exit, normal has defaulted back to Times.

My next test will be to recreate my macros and see if they'll stick in my
new toolbar.

 

[Kritz]

CORRECTION II: I got the style modification to work by inserting some text
and selecting it (along with the paragraph marker) before modifying the
normal style. Previously I had only positioned my cursor before the paragraph
marker and then changing the style. Apparently Word wanted some text to apply
the style change to before it would stick.

The macros have worked as well -- my new toolbar comes up where I want it to
with macros and commands intact. I'm just as happy to have the Save All
button on the toolbar anyway -- it'll come in handy.

It's all working now. I'll chalk this up to Acrobat's bad behavior and move
on.