problems with normal.dot

[Su]

I had to reformat my hard drive, which meant reinstalling Word 2003 in
Vista. I had done this before with never a problem, until now.

Nothing will stay written to the normal.dot file. Things work okay in a
current session, but if I close down Word for any reason and then restart
it, my normal.dot file is back to the way it was at the time I installed the
program.

I have gone to Tools | Options and made sure the normal.dot file is located
in the directory designated. I even tried putting it in a different
directory and pointing things toward that, and that doesn't work. I have
made sure there is nothing in the Startup directory that could be
interfering with things. I have run a repair. I have renamed the normal.dot
file, restarted Word, and nothing changes (sometimes a new normal.dot file
is not even created). The file cannot be damaged, since (as I stated at the
beginning) I had just formatted my hard drive and intalled Word 2003 "for
the first time."

Oh, and I should mention that the same is true for the *.acl file. Whatever
entries I add or delete in a session will remain for that session only. If I
exit Word and restart it again, all of the additions/deletions that I made
are gone. As before, this is on a freshly installed version of Word 2003.

I'm at a complete loss on this and would certainly appreciate any and all
suggestions that can be offered to resolve this problem. How do I put the
"glue" back in the normal.dot and *.acl files?

 

[Terry Farrell]

Well normal.dot is not created until it is needed. So a fresh install of
Word (or Office) 2003 onto a clean system won't have a normal.dot.

Once you have opened Word and made a change that requires to be saved in
normal.dot, it will be created automatically. So that you have a normal.dot
means something is being saved.

Under Tools, Options, have you checked the box 'Prompt to Save Changes to
Normal'? If not, check it now. Then go to Format, Font and change the font
size or type and press the DEFAULT button at the bottom of the dialog. Now
close Word. Are you prompted to save changes to normal.dot on closing?

 

[Su]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't have the option for "prompt to save
changes to Normal." What I *do* have under the Save tab is "Prompt to Save
Normal template," and when I close Word the program asks me if I want to
save "Document ___" (whatever the blank page # is).

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you have "Prompt to save Normal template" checked, then you should be
prompted to save Normal.dot as well as any unsaved documents.

 

[Dave]

I have this issue as well and do not get a second prompt.
I installed Word 2003
Opened Word
Ticked the "Prompt to save Normal template"
Changed some margins
Then tried:
1. Save document close Word, or
2. Close word - prompt to save document, nothing about template
No second prompt appears.

 

[Dave]

However, if I make a change to the toolbar (customise) than I get a second
prompt and changes to the toolbar stick and appear when I next open Word BUT
any changes made to the margins of the document do not.

 

[Terry Farrell]

After changing the margins, did you press the DEFAULT button?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

As Terry suggests, changing margins is for the current document only unless
you click the Default... button to make the change to the attached template;
see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CustomizeNormalTemplate.htm.

 

[Dave]

Terry,

Thank you, I did not.

Dave

After changing the margins, did you press the DEFAULT button?

 

[Terry Farrell]

It's easy to miss. Note that there is also a Default button at the bottom of
the Font dialog too.

Terry