normal.dot

[Roy]

When I shut down Word, I get the message

The file Normal.dot already exists. Do you want to replace the existing file
yes - no - cancel

No matter what I click, I arrive at the "Save As" window, open to a folder called "Templates." It attempts to save Normal.dot as a Document Template. I click cancel, and I arrive at a blank Word window (no document). I try to quit the program, and i receive the message

Changes have been made that affect the global template, Normal.dot. Do you want to save those changes
yes - no - cancel

If I had just saved a document before exiting the program, and I try to open that document, it tells me that this document is not available. "The file x.doc is not availble," where x is the name of the document. I cannot retrieve any saved files.

-Roy

 

[Raghu Prakash]

Hi Roy,

I would request you to
Rename the Normal.dot Global Template
To rename the Normal.dot global template, follow these steps:
Quit all Office programs.
Double-click the Support Template shortcut on your desktop.
In the Word 2003 Support Template, click Troubleshoot Utility.
In the Microsoft Word Troubleshooting Utility dialog box, click Normal.dot
Global Template in the Select an Item list, and then click Rename.
Click OK when you receive the following message:

path\Documents and Settings\username\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates\Normal.dot
Copied To
path\Documents and Settings\username\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates\11Normal.dot
Note The path of your Normal.dot global template may be different.
Click Close to close the Microsoft Word Troubleshooting Utility dialog box.
On the File menu, click Exit to quit Word.
Start Word the way that you typically do.

If Word starts correctly, you have resolved the problem. In this case, the
problem is a damaged Normal.dot global template. You may have to change
several settings to restore your favorite options. If the Normal.dot global
template that you renamed contains customizations, such as styles, macros,
or AutoText entries that cannot be easily re-created, you may be able to
copy those customizations from the 11Normal.dot file (your old Normal.dot
global template) to the new Normal.dot global template by using the
Organizer.

For more information about how to use the Organizer to rename macros, click
Microsoft Word Help on the Help menu, type rename macros in the Office
Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

If the problem is not resolved, restore your old Normal.dot global template
(11Normal.dot). To do this, follow these steps:
Quit all Office programs.
Double-click the Support Template shortcut on your desktop.
In the Word 2003 Support Template, click Troubleshoot Utility.
In the Microsoft Word Troubleshooting Utility dialog box, click Normal.dot
Global Template in the Select an Item list, and then click Restore.
Click OK when you receive the following message:

path\Documents and Settings\username\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates\11Normal.dot
Copied To
path\Documents and Settings\username\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates\Normal.dot
Note The path of your Normal.dot global template may be different.
Click Close to close the Microsoft Word Troubleshooting Utility dialog box,
and then quit Word.

Please let me know has this helped You...
Thank you...
Raghu...
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Roy]

Thank you very much Mr. Prakash. However, there is no "Support Template" shortcut on my desktop. Upon searching all files and folders, there is no "support template." Any ideas

Thanks again
Roy

 

[garfield-n-odie]

Have you found a solution to this problem? If not, and if you happen to
be running Norton Antivirus, disable the Office Plugin that comes with
it by right-clicking on the Norton icon in the system tray, then left
clicking on Configure Norton Antivirus | Miscellaneous | uncheck the
"Enable Office Plugin" box. Hope this helps.

 

[Beth Melton]

Hi Roy,

Support.dot is typically located under \Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office<ver>\Macros. However this isn't installed if you didn't
either select all Office components during the installation or use a
custom installation and under Word\Templates and Wizards specify "More
templates and macros" should be installed.

However based on your description of the issue, the message Normal.dot
exists and the inability to open previously saved documents, suggests
the issue is due to Norton AV and the "Office Plug-in" option
described by 'garfield-n-odie'. The troubleshooting utility in
Support.dot will not identify this issue.

If you still encounter the inability to open previously saved
documents when you start Word using the /a switch, go to Start/Run and
run: winword /a, then the Troubleshooting utility found in Support.dot
will not help you.

Basically all it does is help you rename the Word\Data and
Word\Options Registry keys (which isn't the problem), recreate your
Normal.dot (which isn't the problem either), disable global templates
and COM Add-ins (which could be an issue but I doubt it).

--
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/

Thank you very much Mr. Prakash. However, there is no "Support

Template" shortcut on my desktop. Upon searching all files and
folders, there is no "support template." Any ideas?