stopping changes to normal.dot everytime word is loaded

[ben]

Hello,

I have set word to warn if there have been any changes to normal.dot on
exit. In recent times it has started warning every time I exit - even if I
just load Word and immediately exit. It will give the message "Changes have
been made to that affect the global template, Normal.dot. Do you want to
save those changes?". I want to be warned about changes, but until recently
it didn't change *every* time Word was loaded. What is going on and how can
I stop it (without canceling the "Prompt to save normal.dot template")?

Thanks,
Ben

 

[Doug Robbins]

What Addins are loaded when you start Word. There are a couple of common
ones that are very poorly written and the way in which they add buttons to
the toolbar is seen as a change to Normal.dot.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Charles Kenyon]

The reason for the message being shown repeatedly is almost always a poorly
written Add-In. The Norton AV Office Plug-In seems to be the most frequent
offender recently, but that can change as some other poorly written program
comes on the market.

Other offenders include the MS Works Suite Add-In, EZ-Photo, Scansoft, and
Adobe Acrobat. These all install Add-Ins that mess with your normal.dot when
they shouldn't do so and don't need to do so. Some of these are .dot files,
others are installed. See <URL:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm> for
instructions on seeing what Add-Ins you have. (Having Add-Ins is not a bad
thing. I run Word with 15 Add-Ins, most of which I wrote myself.)

Start with the Add-Ins I've noted. If you have any of them, decide whether
they are worth the annoyance they are causing you. Probably they are not.
Disable any that are not worth the candle. Restart Word and see if your
problem is gone.

If not...

If you start Word using
Start => Run: Winword.exe /a
you'll end up with Word out of the box loading without your saved normal.dot
file, with no macros and no Add-Ins. You may notice that it loads much more
quickly than you are used to seing. When you close it, you won't get the
"normal.dot" prompt. Doing this may fix the problem, by itself, but probably
will not. Generally, it is a diagnostic, not a fix.

So, what you need to do is disable all of your Add-Ins (don't delete them).
Start by moving .dot files out of your Word Startup folder, one-by-one, with
Word closed. Restart Word and see if that Add-In caused the problem. If not,
put it back in and take the next one out. (You can put them in a sub-folder
of your Startup folder.) If none of them are the problem, move to the .com
Add-Ins that have to be uninstalled.

If your offender is not on my list, please write back and let us know which
one caused your problems.

Write to the company that put out the Add-In with a complaint, and possibly
a bill for your time.

Hope this helps,

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See "You are prompted to save the changes to the Normal.dot global template
every time that you quit Word" at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=291352