Word 2K on 98SE

[Jeff]

On my Dad's machine with 98SE & Word2K, he cannot open any Word file.

At Word startup he gets "Cannot open this document template" messages for
both add-on DOT files he uses, then "The file XXXX.doc is not available" for
any document he wants to open.

When he closes Word he gets "The file Normal.dot already exists. Do you want
to replace the existing file ?" with "Yes", "No" & "Cancel" as choices.
Cancel leaves him in Word.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Try the diagnostic and curative steps shown here:


http://word.mvps.org/FAQS/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

All of these phenomena are symptoms of interference by Norton AntiVirus. If
your dad is running NAV, tell him to disable the Office Plug-in. See “OFF:
Latest Information on Using Microsoft Office with the Norton Anti-Virus
Microsoft Office Plug-In†at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329820.

 

[Jeff]

I tried most, if not all, of those things. I have moved all the DOT files
from Start-up, renamed the Normal.dot & used the built-in repair routine. I
used the MS installer tool to remove & then reinstalled Office over itself.

Looking on this news group, I have not seen my last symptom, where the
Normal.dot needs saving on close every time. I think this is a big clue, but
to what , I don't know.

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

If your dad's machine has Symantec/Norton AntiVirus, try disabling the
Office Plugin that comes with it (but don't disable Norton AutoProtect).
See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329820 "How to use Office
programs with the Norton AntiVirus Office plug-in" for more information.

 

[Jay Freedman]

You may have an add-in that isn't a template in the Startup folder.
Try this page:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011514521033.aspx

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

That's often a problem with some add-ins. Over the years, I've seen Adobe
cause that in several versions of Word. It modifies Normal.dot each time you
start Word, although not in any significant way. Nonetheless, when you close
Word, you're prompted to save non-existent changes. At one point MS'
"solution" was to turn off the "Prompt to save changes in Normal.dot"
option... which to many of us would be like dealing with a wailing burglar
alarm by turning it off. Take a look here for more clues about this one:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA011514521033.aspx

The other element that often solves problems is deleting the Data key, which
is described here (the title of the article notwithstanding):

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

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com