Not refreshing my template menu commands?

[LouErc]

I have created a Word template in my Startup with a Menu item that has a few
other dropdown macros beneath it. I created these Menu items in the template
by going to the Tools, Customize and then select the Commands tab. I then
select Macros and drag and drop a macro onto the Toolbar for a customer Menu
item, for example LOU. Lets say my drop down values under LOU are A, B, and
C. When I launch Word, sure enough I see A, B, and C under my Customer Menu
LOU to the right of the Word Help. I then send this template to someone else
who modifies the Menu items in the same fashion except they rename B to D.
They see A, D, and C. When this user sent the template back to me and I
replaced the one in my Startup, I still see A, B, and C (my original which is
NOT the one I expected to see). Even after reboots and reinstalling Word, I
still see A, B, and C. When I go into the template and select Customize, I
see A, D, and C. However, when I close out and instantiate Word again, I see
A, B, and C. Where are the menu items really stored and/or can you explain
why this is behaving as so. Thanks.

 

[Beth Melton]

Menu customizations are stored in the template but if you are creating
a global template then what you've encountered is easy enough to do.
I've done this myself and I *know* better! lol

There are a number of possibilities but essentially the customization
context was not the same each time the menu was modified. For example
the customization context could have been your Normal.dot instead of
the template. Always check "Save in" in the Customize dialog to verify
you have the correct template selected.

It's possible to inadvertently modify both your Normal.dot menu and
the menu template. If you accidentally modified the menu for your
Normal.dot and removed the commands, and then added them back to your
template, the fact that the commands were removed still lingers and
this data is still present in your Normal.dot or the template. IOW, if
you removed a command you 'told' your Normal.dot, or the template,
that you didn't want to see a command and it's simply doing exactly
what you 'told' it to do and suppressing it from your view. Of course
this scenario becomes even more muddied if you have several global
templates, those in your Startup folder, and each have menu
customizations. In this case the one that loads last is the final view
you see.

When you open the Customize dialog box you could be seeing either the
customizations for your Normal.dot or those stored in your template.
You can check by changing the template in the "Save in" drop down.

Although anytime this occurs your best bet is to reset the menu bar
for your Normal.dot and the template. I know it can mean losing other
customizations you may have, but in the long run, adding the
customizations back is far easier than struggling with this issue.

THEN, use my 'tried and true" procedure I developed to circumvent this
issue: Start Word using the /a switch by going to Start/Run and run:

winword /a

Note the space before the forward slash.

This will place Word in a troubleshooting mode which will by-pass your
Normal.dot and other personal preferences. The key here is it doesn't
load your Normal.dot and any accidental modifications will not be
saved. Then open your template and make your menu customizations
again.

If you follow this procedure each time you modify the built-in
menus/toolbars for a template you shouldn't encounter these oddities
in the future.

Also, another procedure I've implemented is to not base my template on
Normal.dot so I don't pick up customizations I may have added in my
new template. To by-pass your Normal.dot use the following steps:

- File/New
- On the New Document task pane click "On my computer"
- Select the General tab if necessary
- Select "Blank Document"
- Select the option "Template"
- Click OK

The template that is created uses the factory defaults which will give
you a pristine template to start with.

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/

 

[LouErc]

Thanks Beth. You pointed me in the right direction. I know I was saving my
menu items in my own template but for some reason, an older menu item must
have been saved in normal.dot. I delete my normal.dot and changed it to
read-only. I now copy in an edited version of the template and put it in my
startup. Now I am seeing other peoples menu edits.