Word 2003 will not save

[Vole]

Suddenly wont save, wont save as - keyboard shortcut, tool bar, menu...
doesnt matter
Using XP media center edition
other office programs are OK
System restore and full office re-install no help

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Have you activated Office?

 

[Vole]

Thanks Suzanne - Yes, it's activated.

On further tinkering i think the problem is related to a couple of EndNote
(a bibliography database) files in my Word Startup folder. Will try fiddling
with macro security settings to see if i can persuade Word and EndNote to
play nicely together.

Mark

 

[beaner]

I have no idea of who you are...but......your brain certainly impresses me. I
am pretty savy on Word and have used it since it was born. However, you come
up with workable answers that I would NEVER have imagined.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't know about "workable," but I can see why you wouldn't have imagined
this answer in this case, since it was way off the mark; if other Office
programs are working, then activation is clearly not the issue. If it were
only Save As, I would suspect the Norton AntiVirus Office Plug-in, but I
don't believe that affects ordinary saving, so I haven't a clue.

 

[Beth Melton]

See if the problem still occurs when you start Word using the /a
switch. Go to Start/Run and run:

winword /a

Note the space before the forward slash.

If you are able to save files then more than likely you have a macro
intercepting your Save commands. Macros can be located in a global
template, Normal.dot or a COM Add-in.

Global Templates:

To determine if you are using any global templates go to
Tools/Templates and Add-Ins and see if there are any global templates
or add-ins listed. If so they are located in one of your Startup
folders. The location of the Word\Startup folder can be found under
Tools/Options/File Locations and the Office\Startup folder can be
found in the Office installation path..

Take a look in each folder and if you find more than one file move
them one at a time and try duplicating the error after each file is
moved out of the folder until you determine which one is causing the
problem.

COM Add-ins:

As of Word 2000, Word can have COM add-ins. COM are added via the
Registry rather than the Startup folders. To determine whether or not
you are using COM Add-In you can add the "COM Add-in" command to your
toolbar:

- Right-click any toolbar and select Customize
- On the Commands tab, select the Tools category
- Locate COM Add-Ins on the right
- Drag/Drop to a location of your choice

For more information on COM Add-Ins, see this article:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm

Normal.dot:

Locate Normal.dot and rename it to OldNormal.dot. Word will create a
new one upon starting.



If this resolves the problem, any customizations can be copied to the
new Normal.dot via the Organizer (Tools/Templates and Add-Ins) Once
this is complete OldNormal.dot can be discarded. If the problem still
exists then you can delete the new Normal.dot and rename your
OldNormal.dot to Normal.dot.

--
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/

 

[Vole]

Great info - thank you. It appeats that the problem is EndNote7 (my reference
database), which uses two files in my word startup folder to integrate
citations with word documents; their removal resolves the issue.
Mark

 

[Beth Melton]

Thanks for the update. Glad you have the problem resolved.

--
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/

 

[Lillian]

I am having the same problem. Excel and PowerPoint save fine but all of a
sudden, Word will not save. I tried your suggestion and Word will save when
using the /a option.
I checked for Global templates. There are none listed.
I moved out Normal.dot and ~$Normal.dot. It had no effect and Word did not
create a new one.
I checked for COM Add-ins. There are none listed.
I also tried the Office Repair utility. It said everything was repaired,
but no change.
I tried using the Office disk and uninstalling Word by unselecting it in the
install list, then installing it by selecting it again. No change.
Any other ideas? Do I have to completely uninstall Office and reinstall it?

 

[Albert Tony]

I have exactly same problem as Lilian.
Can any expert assist me on this? Problem arose after SP3 installed.

 

[Beth Melton]

Unfortunately, there are some add-ins that do not appear in any of the
Add-ins lists. Here's an article you can use that should help you find the
add-in:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555220

Disregard the Problem description, as that's not applicable to you since you
aren't encountering a runtime error, and jump to the Resolution section and
start with the steps provided in Method 3 and 4. Either of these may help
you find the add-in that is causing your saving issue.

~Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

 

[Terry Farrell]

It has to be one of those solution sited in the reply to Lilian or a
security issue with Anti Virus.

If this works correctly when starting using the /a switch as described, then
there is DEFINITELY northing wrong with Word.

 

[imran]

After reading the letters I went to Tools/Options/File Locations and clicked
on Word\Startup. A window opened up with Word\Startup. But there were no
folders in the window. When I clicked on properties the size came up as zero
bytes. Am I making a mistake?

 

[Stefan Blom]

What are you trying to accomplish? Note that there usually are no subfolders
within the Startup folder.

If you are trying to find out the full path to the Startup folder, click the
arrow next to the "Look in" box.