Word not responding

[caro.line]

Dear Team

I know others have had similar problems, but nothing quite the same.

I can open Word and begin a new document. However, it will not save
and it will not open files (beachball). It WILL open some files in
the drop down file menu, but some come up as 'cannot locate'. Even the
ones I can open will not save. 'Force Quit' tells me that Word is not
responding.

This happened shortly after I downloaded a Word document from a
website but - it may be a coincidence.

Any advice very welcome.

G5
10.4

Caroline

 

[John McGhie [MVP Word, Word Mac]]

Hi Caroline:

OK, we do not have quite enough information to diagnose this problem (for
example, you have not told us which version of Word you have...)

However, I am going to take a guess that you have a damaged Normal template.
This may have been caused by a virus contained in the document you
downloaded, but I suspect not: I would expect to see specific error messages
if that were the case.

First, go here:
http://word.mvps.org/mac/MacWordNormal.html

Follow the instructions for re-naming your Normal template. If that cures
the problem, that's what it was, and it's very quick. Note: you have to
follow the instructions exactly or there is no guarantee of success.

If it doesn't cure the problem, go here:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/TroubleshootingIndex.html

Work your way slowly and carefully through the steps, in the order
specified. Including replacing the Normal template again.

Hope that helps (If not, come back and we'll get really serious ...)

--

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[caro.line]

Thanks all for the advice. I will try all options.

Meanwhile, here's the missing info.

imac G5
10.4.9 PowerMac8,2
Office:mac 2004

The doc I downloaded was an 8 page form.

I have the latest update on Word, but not latest Apple security update
which I will do now.

Will report back after I've tried everything.

Thanks again.

 

[caro.line]

Dear All

I worked through all the options on the troubleshooting index and the
problem seems to have been 'damaged preferences and settings' as
dragging the word/prefs/plist to the desktop has done the trick!
However,
I am not sure what the following means:

'If all is well, trash the old file(s). In the case of the Word
Preferences/Settings file, you will have to reset some preferences and
AutoCorrect settings'

Do I just trash the desktop file to the trash - and that's it? Also,
resetting preferences and AutoCorrect settings - is this important -
or does it just mean restoring personal preferences?

Many thanks for your help. Would be interesting to know what caused
this!

Best
Caroline

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Do I just trash the desktop file to the trash - and that's it?
yes.

Also, resetting preferences and AutoCorrect settings - is this
important - or does it just mean restoring personal preferences?

The latter. Of course, depending on how much one has customized, it
could mean several minutes of restoring prefs, but that just makes it a
pain.

If you just trash the .plist file, your AutoCorrects should be fine -
plain text autocorrects are stored in the "Microsoft Office ACL
[English]" file in the preferences folder, and formatted autocorrects
are stored in the Normal template. If you trash the entire prefs folder,
you'll have to recreate any custom AutoCorrects.

If you do a lot of preference manipulation, or if you like things just
so, you could use a macro to set all your preferences - one way is to
record the macro while you go through each pane of the preference
dialog. Store the macro somewhere safe like a template, and run when
necessary.

FWIW - I start Word with a global template that uses a macro to set
every single user preference. But most people would call that a
significant overkill.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Also, resetting preferences and AutoCorrect settings - is this
important - or does it just mean restoring personal preferences?

The latter. Of course, depending on how much one has customized, it
could mean several minutes of restoring prefs, but that just makes it a
pain.

If you just trash the .plist file, your AutoCorrects should be fine -
plain text autocorrects are stored in the "Microsoft Office ACL
[English]" file in the preferences folder, and formatted autocorrects
are stored in the Normal template.

Indeed. But if you go to Tools | AutoCorrect, all the checkboxes in that
dialog are stored in the prefs .plist file. That's what the page means
by restoring AutoCorrect settings. You'll have to turn off AutoFormat
again, etc.