Reading Layout View

[Andrea]

A Google search indicated old posts in this newsgroup on permanently
disabling the Reading Layout option in Word 2003, but I'm unable to bring
them up through my newsreader, so I'm creating a different thread. I've gone
through the generally suggested solutions: unchecking the Allow box in the
General/Options tab, renaming normal.dot and forcing a new one to be
created, creating an AutoOpen macro in Normal.dot (Options.AllowReadingMode
= False). However, the checkbox kept returning--and also some of the other
Options settings didn't stay saved (e.g., Automatically Create Drawing
Canvas, Recently Used File
List) and Save options (number minutes, etc.). Finally, I deleted the Word
Data Settings registry key, but nothing seems to keep my Options settings
stable. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm using Windows XP Pro SP2.
Windows and Office 2003 are completely updated.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This most likely indicates that a poorly written add-in is changing your
settings at startup.

 

[Graham Mayor]

It is a fact of life that some users find some settings of the Options
volatile, exacerbated by the addition of poorly written add-ins that write
to the registry. The only sure solution is to force the settings using auto
macros. You may need a combination of
autoopen
autonew
and
autoexec
macros to fix all the likely issues.

Start the macro recorder and set all the options you require. As you move to
each new tab from options, all the settings on that tab will be recorded.
Extract the entries you want and add them to the macros.

Word's vba help explains the use of the different types of auto macros
http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm also has some sample code.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Andrea]

I forgot to add that I also deleted two add-ins from the registry and the
Global Templates and Addin window.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Disabling add-ins in Tools | Templates and Add-ins merely unloads them for
the current session. Unless you actually remove them from the Word/Office
Startup folder (or uninstall them if they're COM add-ins), you won't have
solved the problem.

 

[Andrea]

Sorry again for not being clear. I had checked the paths under the global
template window and did remove them from the Startup folders. Each was in a
different folder.

The reason I haven't written back about Graham Mayor's suggestions for
macros is that I wasn't sure that I followed the directions carefully for
the Return Settings macro I was supposed to run after deleting the registry
key, so I created a new macro, deleted the settings part of the key again,
and ran the macro. (There are also 2 auto open macros macros installed:
OpenOptions.AllowReadingMode = False and ActiveWindow.View.Type =
wdNormalView. It's too soon to tell if the settings have been retained
because it's usually all right for a while.

 

[Andrea]

I was hoping that this was fixed, but the Options settings, including
disabling Reading Layout View, are not holding. I now have 2 auto open
macros macros installed:
OpenOptions.AllowReadingMode = False and ActiveWindow.View.Type =
wdNormalView. I've read the link that you suggest (many times), but I'm not
familiar enough with macros to know exactly how to go about creating an
autonew or autoexec macro. Do I just name the macro (E.g., for autonew) and
then start recording as I would for a non-auto macro?

 

[Graham Mayor]

See http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Andrea]

I _have_ looked at the link below--many times--as I wrote in a previous
post. Thank you for supplying the link, but it's not that clear to someone
as unfamiliar with macros as I am, and the VBA help wasn't very detailed.
Here are my questions. (1) Can the information on each of the Options tabs
be saved in an auto macro? In other words, should I contain the macro to
just some of the tabs? I notice that in your samples, you're only selecting
some options. (2) In your sample of an AutoNew macro, you "End with" a line
of code, whereas your other auto macros just say "End with," then "End Sub."
I don't know what these terms mean; is the AutoNew macro supposed to end
differently? (3) Could you explain your sample AutoExec macro? I don't
understand what it's supposed to do, specifically "forces off the display of
formatting commands." Displayed where? I understand that the AutoExec macro
is used when Word is started or when a global template is loaded, but I
don't understand why the contents of this macro aren't exactly the same as
the AutoOpen or AutoNew. Because I wasn't very grounded in macro
terminology, I recorded a macro (not an auto macro) as I opened each of the
Options tabs. Then I copied all of it to another AutoOpen and an AutoNew
macro. (I did this because I couldn't figure out if there was a way to
directly record an auto macro.) I don't know if this is adequate or
converely, too much copying. I still haven't created an AutoExec maco, but I
will once I understand what I'm doing. Thanks for your help.

 

[Andrea]

Just to add to what I posted a few minutes ago, even with my just installed
AutoNew and AutoOpen macros, assuming they're correct, I just reopened Word
and the options I'd set weren't retained. It usually takes more time before
they get undone, but regardless, they weren't retained. Either I didn't
create them correctly (copying and pasting everything from a recorded macro
of each tab in Options), or I really need the AutoExec macro too, or this
problem just can't be fixed.

 

[Graham Mayor]

There are three automacros listed on the web page:
AutoNew (which runs when a new document is created from the template)
AutoOpen (which runs when an existing document is opened)
AutoExec (which runs when Word is started).
and an associated macro CodesOff which is run from the AutoExec macro after
a short delay.

All the macros end with 'End Sub'. None of them ends with 'End With'?

You can record all of the Tools Options in a macro if you want, but usually
it is only a handful of settings that cause problems. The ones that bother
me are included in the sample macros, but you can supplement these and/or
replace them as necessary. Recording all the settings will give you the
syntax required - however as you have a specific issue let's get back to
basics.

To stop the reading layout you need the line:

Options.AllowReadingMode = False

in a macro called AutoOpen
ie at its simplest

Sub AutoOpen()
Options.AllowReadingMode = False
End Sub

If for some reason ReadingLayout mode activates for new documents, then you
also need that line in an AutoNew macro - again at its simplest

Sub AutoNew()
Options.AllowReadingMode = False
End Sub

Options are document related so AutoExec which runs before the document is
opened, will not be required.

If you have created some automacros, open the VBA editor (Alt+F11) and
replace them with the two above by copying and pasting from this message.

If you have other issues such as those documented on the web page then you
can add the relevant lines of code. (The text in green explains what the
code does). For example if you were to use the three macros in full, then
the line
Options.AllowReadingMode = True
could be inserted immediately before the EndSub statements in each of
AutoNew and AutoOpen.

If this is still not clear, contact me via my web site link with more
details.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Andrea]

Thank you for your response. I didn't mean that the AutoExec macro ended
with "End with.' What I meant was that in your sample, the line just before
"End sub" was "Command Bars etc.," but for the AutoOpen and AutoNew macros,
the line just before "End sub" was "End with." I hope that's clearer.
Anyway, it's not an issue for me now that I know that the AutoExec macro
doesn't apply to options. I've realized that my problem goes beyond the
Reading Layout view option, so I included the other options that aren't
being saved from the General and Save option tabs. However, the reason that
I'm posting this here instead of directly to you at your website as you
requested is that I don't have a question anymore about what to put in the
macros. The issue is that I've had an AutoOpen macro with
Options.AllowReading Mode = False for some time and recently added an
AutoNew macro with the same line after reading this thread, but the Allow
Starting in Reading Layout box kept getting checked again anyway. Yesterday
I created different AutoOpen and AutoNew macros to include the other options
that weren't being saved, but after opening and closing Word several times,
none of them (including the Reading Layout view) held. Do you or anyone else
have a suggestion?

 

[Graham Mayor]

Did you save normal.dot after making the changes?
Are you using Word as Outlook editor?
Close both Word and Outlook
Attend to the measures listed at
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm then reopen Word.
I take it that you only have one copy of each macro in normal.dot?

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Andrea]

I did save normal.dot, and I am using Word as Outlook editor, although
Outlook was closed when I made the changes and it was closed when I opened
Word and saw that the options hadn't held. I did have an original AutoOpen
macro with only the reading layout line and another one with all the options
(called AutoOpen2). It sounds as if I should have deleted one? I've now done
that. I looked at the newest link you sent. I use a disk cleaning program
obsessively, so there weren't any .tmp files anywhere, but there were a
couple of other junk files, including a ~$normal.dot template from 2005.
I've seen it there before and not known whether to delete it. I'll report
back whether the settings hold now. Thank you.

 

[Graham Mayor]

If ~$normal.dot remains when Word and Outlook are both closed - delete it.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Andrea]

It's gone, but when I opened Word again, my settings were off! The worst
part of this isn't even the annoying Reading Layout, although that is
annoying, but that the Always Create Backup Copy gets unchecked and the
AutoRecover time gets changed.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It sounds very much as if some add-in is changing these settings.

 

[Graham Mayor]

If you have saved normal.dot containing the two mnacros - which must be
named AutoOpen and AutoNew and not something different like AutoOpen2 - then
they run whenever Word opens or creates a document and force the changes
just as if you had gone into Tools > Options and changed them manually.

You could send me a copy of your normal.dot template to the link on my web
site and I will have a look at what you have done with it - tomorrow!

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Andrea]

As I searched more, I discovered that I have a normal.dot template in the
usual location, in the path with my name, but there's also another, older
one in the Administrator path. I tried opening it, and it brought me to a
blank Word document with all the correct settings, but I'd just corrected
them under (I assume) the other normal.dot template. Could the existence of
2 of these be causing the problem? If so, which should I delete? I will send
you a copy of the normal.dot template with the macros. I renamed one and
then the other of the 2 templates and saw that the macros are saving to the
newer one in the path with my name. I don't know how to read the contents of
a .dot file, but I can see the macros when I look for them in Word, Tools,
Macros.

 

[Andrea]

That may be so, but I already deleted the add-ins that I saw in the global
templates and addins window from their startup menus. Is there any way for
me to tell if there are other add-ins?