Word 2007 - Document Protect problem

[Helen]

Hello,

I'm testing Word 2007/Vista right now and found out that when I want to
protect the document, I click either the Revision and Developer tab to get to
the Protect Document command; the options in the panel greyed out. However,
if my document is in Compatibility Mode (.doc as opposed to .docx), then the
options are enabled.

We have not migrated yet; I'm writing a user manual. Therefore, I'm going
through each command/option. Our normal.dot has not been updated yet, that's
why every time I create a new document, it is in Compatibility Mode (and the
Document Protect command is enabled). But in order to take advantage of all
the new features, I convert the documents to Word 2007. That's when the
Document Protect is disabled.

Why is this?

Thank you!

Helen

 

[Tony Jollans]

Our normal.dot ...

I do hope you mean "my" normal.dot. Normal templates should never be shared.

... has not been updated yet, that's
why every time I create a new document, it is in Compatibility Mode (and
the
Document Protect command is enabled).

What do you mean when you say normal.dot has not been updated? Word 2007
uses a new normal template, normal.dotm; it does not update normal.dot, nor
need it updated.

It is not the default to start in compatibility mode; you must have
deliberately configured that to happen, and it seems rather pointless if you
want to play with the new features.

All that said, I don't know what may cause the protect Document facility to
be disabled; I don't think it is normal behaviour. A policy, perhaps?

 

[Helen]

Tony,

Maybe I should have called my normal.dot the blank page, sorry. When we
create a brand new document, we click the New button and get the blank page.
This is what I'm referring to. Our company's global.dot and its other
templates (letters, memos, etc.) replace Word's default templates. These
custom templates were created with Word 2003 and have not be replaced, i.e.
have not been created with Word 2007.

I suspect that this could be the problem but it shouldn't be. I don't see
why the Protect Document feature is not always available.

Thank you.

 

[Graham Mayor]

It's the when WE click the New button that is still causing confusion. That
action creates a new document from the normal template normal.dotm and it is
this that must not be shared. Only Word can create normal.dotm so attempts
to create such a template are destined to be problematic.

Why the protect command is not available is not clear - it certainly should
be. Maybe a corrupt normal template? See
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm then
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm.which cover all
the usual pitfalls.

If you are going to create protected Word forms using 2007, you may find
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Classic Form Controls.htm
useful
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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