Normal.dotm yellow exclamation

[Rob Walker]

I know this has been brought up here before and Google finds it all over the
Internet, but I am stumped. I have Office 2007 installed on Vista Business.
Three weeks ago I installed Small Business Server 2008 and joined this
workstation to the domain. I have local administrator rights.

I confirmed that my template folder is pointed in the right direction. I
exited Word and Outlook so neither process is running. I made sure
Normal.dotm was deleted from the templates folder. I started up Word and
checked the paragraph options to not add an extra line space. I hit the
default button so it would update the template. I exited Word and then
checked the template folder.

There is a Normal.dotm template with a yellow exclamation. When I open
word, the box I had checked off in the paragraph settings is unchecked. Any
suggestions?

Thanks,

 

[Graham Mayor]

The default style for Word is the Normal style. The default setting for that
style (which is what you'll have if you delete the normal template) is to
have spacing after of 10 points and multiple line spacing at 1.15. The don't
add spacing between paragraphs of the same style check box is unchecked. You
need to right click the normal style on the home tab and select 'modify'. Go
to the paragraph setting of that style and check the box. Click OK and then
check the box for new documents based on this style. Hopefully you will have
set the option to prompt to save the normal template in Word Options? Close
Word and save the template at the prompt.

In theory that should fix it, but in practice it doesn't appear to do so, so
to *force* it to do so, open the normal.dotm template in Word and make the
same changes. Then save and close the template. This time you should find
that the setting will stick.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[RobW]

Graham, thank you for the reply. Before I posted here, I did exactly waht
you suggested, open up the normal.dotm template and make the change. Then I
saved the template, exited Word, started up Word, anf the box was unchecked.

This is why I'm stumped.

Thanks,

 

[Beth Melton]

I believe what you are looking for is the Space After setting, rather than
the "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style". Return to the
Paragraph dialog box and change the Space After to 0 pts. Then click the
Default button and confirm the changes.

While you can modify your Normal style to take on this change, it's best to
leave your Normal style unmodified in Word 2007 especially if you work with
tables. For more on what I'm referring to and how you can encounter table
style nuances if you modify your Normal style, take a look at this article:
http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_off...tyles-doc-defaults-style-sets-and-themes.aspx

Note that when you use the Default button in the Paragraph dialog box you
are modifying the Document Defaults, not the Normal style. As noted in the
article, the Normal style is actually an empty style as it has no specific
formats defined. Instead, the Normal style looks to the Document Defaults in
order to obtain its formats.

Also, the reason you see an exclamation point in the icon for the Normal
template is because it's the icon used for files that are macro-enabled,
those with a .dotm or .docm file extension, which means the file has the
potential to run (!) macros where as those files that are macro-free, those
with a dotx or docx, cannot run macros and the icon associated with those
file extensions do not have an exclamation point.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx

 

[RobW]

Thanks for all the help. I did a search for all normal.* and deleted them.
Created a blank doc, edited the 'normal' template and changed the spacing to
0. Hit the default button and everything is working good now.

 

[Beth Melton]

I'm glad to hear you now have things working as you like.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx