Normal.dot

[Maria]

I'm constantly making changes to autotext,
autocorrect,and shortcuts. But no matter how many
changes I make over the days and weeks, when I check
Normal.dot (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates)
and click on Properties, the creation date is always
August 3, 2003, no matter how many changes I've made
since then.

Since I tremble at the thought of doing a single document
without my extensive customization, I want to make sure
to save the most recent changes to Normal.dot.

So is the August 3 Normal.dot the one I would save, or is
there a newer one lurking somewhere?

I can't tell you how much help you've been to me since I
discovered you, my new best friends!

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi, Maria,

Look in Tools > Options > File Locations. The folder named there as the User
Templates folder will be the location of the Normal.dot that Word actually
uses. That's probably C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates, not the one in Program Files.

There should be only one Normal.dot on your drive. If you find two or more,
rename or delete the others.

Lastly, the *creation* date is pretty much meaningless for this purpose --
you need to check the *modified* date, which is when it was last saved.