Word is reading the wrong Normal template

[Ian]

I've just upgraded to Office 2004 for Mac 10.4. I've customised the
Normal template, but everytime I open a new document it is opening from
a different template - at least, that's what I assume is happening
because it does not open with my custom settings.
I've saved the customised Normal as a template in
Users-(me)-Documents-Microsoft User data, and also tried saving it in
"My Templates" in the Templates folder of MS Office, but nothing works.
I've also searched for anything named "Normal" but can't find another.
What is it opening and how do I correct this?
Thanks

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Word creates a Normal when you launch Word, if it can't find one, but if no
changes get made, it may not save it, so that would be why you can't find
the real Normal. Word is obviously not finding your Normal for some reason.

Did you try to create a template and save it as Normal? because Word doesn't
like that. Instead, you should let Word create Normal and then customize
that. Which did you do?

What type of changes did you want to make to Normal?

In your case, I would forget about your existing customized Normal. Launch
Word. Change the font, margins, whatever, and be sure to hit Default, which
will propagate the changes to Normal. Hold down Shift and select File |
Save All. There should now be a Normal in your MS User Data folder that you
can open and change if necessary. (Then back it up)

More info on Normal:
http://word.mvps.org/mac/MacWordNormal.html

 

[Ian]

Thanks Dalya; I'll try doing as you say, but I think I opened Normal
and made the changes, then saved it again as a template. As you
suggest, I adjust margins, default font, para styles, and customise the
toolbars. But still, what puzzles me is that there is no other file
named "Normal" except the one in my MS User Data folder so why isn't
Word finding it?

I'll let you know what happens...

Ian

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Hi Ian,

I'm a little bewildered by this myself, but two things‹1) Word will not
recognize a "Normal.dot" (note the extension) in the MUD folder as Normal,
for instance. 2) If you had to deliberately save it again as a template,
then it wasn't really Normal. A simple cmd-S will save changes made in
Normal.

For all the things you mention, in fact, there is no need to open Normal
itself, so try *not* doing it, and see if it works to make the changes
stick. Also use the Shift-File | Save All technique to force Normal to save
right after you make these changes, as it normally does not save until you
quit Word.

Launch Word, and make the changes while a default doc based on Normal is
open. For margins and font, use the Default button in the dialogs. For
paragraph styles, be sure to check the "add to template" box in the Modify
Style dialog (but do not check "automatically update", usually). Toolbar
customizations will automatically save to Normal unless you consciously make
them not.

Do look in Word | Preferences | File Locations and see if anything seems
weird. But there is no overt setting to tell Word to look for Normal, so
those settings should not make a difference if you can't find another Normal
(I don't think).

You might check Word | Preferences | Save "prompt to save Normal template"
which will give you a dialog when Word tries to save a changed Normal, and
thus confirm that the process is behaving.

Daiya

 

[Ian]

Thank you - sorted! It took some finagling but I'm eventually there.

Ian

 

[Phillip Jones]

Try this. open a blank document make changes to fonts used margins, etc.

now type something , anything and save the document. at some point the
following should come up. Make changes in Normal? (or equivent) choose
yes! or kit okay, return, enter key any way you want accept this. Then
save the document itself.

now Quit Word. Locate the dummy document you just created - throw away.

Now any time you open up a document it should use your new defaults.

Word creates a Normal when you launch Word, if it can't find one, but if no
changes get made, it may not save it, so that would be why you can't find
the real Normal. Word is obviously not finding your Normal for some reason.

Did you try to create a template and save it as Normal? because Word doesn't
like that. Instead, you should let Word create Normal and then customize
that. Which did you do?

What type of changes did you want to make to Normal?

In your case, I would forget about your existing customized Normal. Launch
Word. Change the font, margins, whatever, and be sure to hit Default, which
will propagate the changes to Normal. Hold down Shift and select File |
Save All. There should now be a Normal in your MS User Data folder that you
can open and change if necessary. (Then back it up)

More info on Normal:
http://word.mvps.org/mac/MacWordNormal.html

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

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<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Glad you sorted it!

Daiya

Thank you - sorted! It took some finagling but I'm eventually there.

Ian

 

[Phillip Jones]

Gosh,

I wish I could spell!

should be:

Try this. Open a blank document make changes to fonts used, margins, etc.

now type something (anything), and save the document.

at some point the following should come up:
Make changes in Normal? (or equivalent) choose yes; or hit okay, return,
enter key any way you want accept this.

Then save the document itself.

Now Quit Word. Locate the dummy document you just created - throw away.

Now any time you open up a document it should use your new defaults.

Try this. open a blank document make changes to fonts used margins, etc.

now type something , anything and save the document. at some point the
following should come up. Make changes in Normal? (or equivent) choose
yes! or kit okay, return, enter key any way you want accept this. Then
save the document itself.

now Quit Word. Locate the dummy document you just created - throw away.

Now any time you open up a document it should use your new defaults.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Phillip Jones]

Need all the prayer I can get. The way things have been going in my life
I ma beginning to think the Lord is punishing me for something I don't
know I did. :-(

We're praying for you down here, Phillip! ;-))

Cheers,

Clive
======

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Phillip:

If prayer doesn't work, try booze... Worked for me

Cheers

Need all the prayer I can get. The way things have been going in my life
I ma beginning to think the Lord is punishing me for something I don't
know I did. :-(

--

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John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410