Word prompts non Administrators to save changes to normal template

[Gidders]

I'm using Windows XP & Office 97. I have 3 accounts created, 1 for myself as
an administrator. With this account Word works fine and closes down normally.

I've created limited accounts for both my daughters. When exiting Word they
both get a message prompting to save changes in the normal.dot template. If
they click yes, they get another message "Word can not create or save this
file. The disk may be full or write protected ..etc.". Clicking OK brings up
"Can not save C:\ Program Files ….\Normal.dot. The folder is marked read
only".

If I make their accounts an administrator account the problem goes away so
it appears to be something to do with not being an administrator.

I've read through the article
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011514521033.aspx and can't
see that I have any of the problems described. I have no add ins showing

Any ideas?
Regards Gidders

 

[garfield-n-odie]

If you're using Symantec/Norton AntiVirus, try disabling the Office
Plugin that comes with it. See
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329820 "How to use Office programs
with the Norton AntiVirus Office plug-in" for more information.

 

[Gidders]

Thanks for your input, but I don't use Norton Antivirus - I use AVG (and Zone
Alarm & Ad Watch if they are relevant)

Like I said, it only happens for limited access accounts, not for
administrator accounts.

Any other ideas?
Regards
Gidders

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Are you trying to operate all three accounts with a single Normal.dot in the
Administrator profile? This won't work. Each user needs to have his/her own
Normal.dot. See “You cannot share the Normal.dot file among multiple users
in Word†at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811468

 

[Gidders]

Suzanne

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I found that I had to save a
normal.dot to the user templates forlder not the office startup template
folder or in the workgroup template folder as the article said. Then I had to
make sure that under tools > options > file locations the location of user
templates actually pointed to the right place.

But all works great now - Thanks
Gidders

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you'll read the article more carefully, you'll see that it says, "For
items that must be shared on a single computer, create a global template and
put it in the office startup template folder or in the workgroup template
folder." This is not a reference to Normal.dot (which must be in each user's
User Templates folder) but to a(nother) global template containing shared
macros, AutoText entries, etc. For more on global templates, see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/WhatTemplatesStore.htm

I realize this is a little confusing, since you may be accustomed to seeing
messages from Word that refer to "the global template, Normal.dot." This
does not mean that "global template" is synonymous with "Normal.dot" but
that Normal.dot is a global template (there can be others); it should more
properly be written "the global template Normal.dot."

As an analogy, consider the phrase "beyond human understanding." In that
sentence, "beyond human understanding" is a phrase, but it is not synonymous
with the word "phrase."