Where has my normal.dot gone?!

[Nickyxx5]

I want to change my default margins in Word.

I know that to do this I need to change the normal.dot template - but I
can't find it anywhere! There is no file by this name in the location that
Word Help says it should be. I have searched my entire computer for a file
of this name - the search function cannot find one. I have also searched my
entire computer for all .dot files - I still can't find one called 'normal'.

Clearly there must be some template file somewhere that Word is using to
base my documents on, but I do not know what it is called or where it is.
The folder in which Word Help says the normal template should be saved is
completely empty.

As an alternative way of changing my margins, I opened up a new blank
document, made the page margin changes I wanted and clicked on the "Default"
option in the dialogue box. It said it had saved my changes, but next time I
opened up a new document in Word, the margins were the same as ever and my
changes had not been registered.

So where has my normal.dot gone?
What template is Word using as its default? What is it called (since it's
not normal.dot) and where should I look for it (since it's not saved where
normal.dot should be found).

I am using Word 2003 from Office Professional Edition 2003. This is the
first time that I have tried to change anything in the normal template, so I
don't know if it used to be there and has disappeared or got corrupted, or if
there has been something funny going on ever since I installed it.

Thanks for any help!

Nicky

 

[Rae Drysdale]

Just change the margins in Page Setup and click on default, then respond Yes
to save the normal template with those margins.

 

[Nickyxx5]

As I said originally, I'm afraid I already tried that and it didn't work.

Thanks for trying to help though!

 

[Rae Drysdale]

Try this link to see if it helps

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/BlankDocNotBlank.htm

 

[Lex De Leuke]

I should start giving a better place for your normal.dot.
The default directory is located in your profile. And mostly the
specific directory is hidden.
Just change the user template folder via Tools|Options, tab File
locations to a directory like
c:\templates\ or \my documents\my template\
Close MS Word and Outlook, start MS Word again and your old normal.dot
won't be used anymore. After you've changed something in your autotext,
shortcuts, or if you change your margins and choose for default, the
normal.dot will appear in your template directory.

In case you want to change the normal.dot or default behaviour of MS
Word, just open the normal.dot (via File|Open in MS Word), change and
save it.
Good luck

Rae Drysdale schreef:

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you have Adobe Acrobat 7 installed, see the last portion of
http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adobe_acrobat_toolbar.htm

 

[Graham Mayor]

Normal.dot is a hidden file in the folder indicates at tools > options >
file locations > user templates.
Set Windows explorer to display hidden files (and the extensions of files
for which the file type is known) and you should have no trouble locating
it.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Nickyxx5]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions - I have tried following them all,
but still to no avail. People have suggested finding my normal.dot and
editing it/moving it/renaming it, whatever, but seriously I DO NOT HAVE ONE!
I have searched my entire system, showing hidden files and file extensions
and there is no file anywhere called normal.dot. There are no other template
files stored where the normal.dot should be.

All the Word help pages and links people have posted here say that if you
delete or rename your normal.dot, Word will just create a new one each time
it starts up, and save it in the default template folder location, but mine
doesn't. It is still using as the default template a file I cannot find
anywhere on my system, so I can't delete/move/modify/rename it. I can't
understand how this is possible. I have looked everywhere on my system for
any .dot file that Word could be using and I literally cannot find anything.
I am reasonably computer literate and am confident I have searched everywhere
possible, including any hidden files.

If I just create my own document template, can I force Word to make it the
default? The Word help pages only describe how to edit normal.dot (which is
no good to me as it doesn't exist on my system), not how to set a different
template as default. If I create a new template and try to call it
normal.dot, Word will not let me save it because it says a file of that name
already exists, even thought I literally cannot find it anywhere on my
computer.

Am I going mad?!

Thanks

Nicky

 

[Nickyxx5]

Please ignore my last post - I have finally just managed to solve my own
problem.

I created a new template. Word would not let me save this as normal.dot as
it said this file already existed. I saved it under a different name, then
closed Word and in Windows Explorer, renamed it to normal.dot - this time
Windows did not object that the file "already existed", since Windows was
never able to find a file of that name. But now when I open Word, it seems
to be happily using my newly created normal.dot as the global template,
instead of whatever other hidden file it was using before.

 

[Graham Mayor]

You cannot create a normal.dot template. Only Word can do that!

The fact that you could not save a template as normal.dot was ample evidence
that it already existed. However if you had a (non-updated) version of
Acrobat 7 on your PC, then this would have prevented normal.dot from being
saved so Word may not have been able to create a permanent normal.dot. You
need to fix this issue if you want Word to operate correctly, because so far
you haven't.

When it exists normal.dot is a hidden file in the location defined at tools

options > file locations > user templates.

Rename your phoney normal.dot to oldnormal.dot and allow Word to build a new
one (having first attended to the Acrobat issue - if present)

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>