Word Prompts to Save Normal.dot

[Daddy]

I have the problem described in the Subject line, and none of the published solutions I have read solve this problem.

I have Office 2002 running on Windows XP Home SP 3, and Word prompts me to save changes to the Normal.dot template every time I close the program.

I have no third-party add-ins that affect Word:

* All users' Word startup folders are empty.
* My Office startup folder is empty.
* There are no COM Add-ins. (The COM Add-Ins dialog box is empty.)
* There are no 'auto' macros - no macros of any kind, actually - and starting Word by holding down the Shift key does not solve the problem.
* I set macro security to Medium, restarted Word, and was not prompted to enable or disable macros. No surprise, really, since the Trusted Publishers tab is empty.
* Aside from Normal.dot itself, the only other .dot files I have are what comes with Word. No .wll files.
* I do not use Smart Tags (all Smart Tag options turned off), however, the Microsoft Shared\Smart Tags folder is not empty - there are files in it.

I never had the Works Suite add-in, and while I have not used Norton software for 3 years, I searched for the OFFICEAV.DLL file anyway. It was not present.

Finally, I scanned for macro viruses - for all types of malware, actually - and came up clean.

I have only 2 possible clues to offer you:

\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Addins does contain files
-and-
The behavior only manifests in the Limited User account, which may indicate something to do with permissions. Or perhaps there's something about the Limited User's normal.dot that isn't the same as the Administrator's normal.dot.

How can I finally get Word to stop prompting me to save Normal.dot? Thanks for your help.

Daddy

 

[Graham Mayor]

Do you have any orphaned temporary files? -
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

What happens if you actually save the normal template on exit? Does the
prompting then stop, if you close then re-open Word? Word will prompt if you
make changes that are stored in the normal template during the course of
document creation. A prompt under such circumstances is therefore both
normal and desirable.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[DeanH]

I am hoping this maybe simpler to solve than what you have gone through as
described.
Firstly, on Tools, Options, Save there is a check box for "Prompt to save
Normal template" this will be checked. DO NOT uncheck this. Even though this
will stop the messages from appearing all you will have done is hidden the
indicator that is telling you that something has changed and will the Normal
template will be changed. And personally I prefer to be told that something
has been changed and have the option to stop it.
My first thoughts on your problem is that one or more of your styles in the
Normal.dot has "Automatically update" selected . If this is so everytime you
open/create a file based on Normal.dot and do any changes this is being
reflected and the system wants to update the template.
Hope this points you in the right directions, best of luck.
DeanH

 

[Daddy]

Thanks to both of you for your help.

I do not need to create a document for this problem to occur. The prompt appears even if I just start Word and then immediately exit. (This may preclude automatically updating styles as a possible cause.)

The prompt still appears after all temp files are clear.

Since the prompt only appears in the Limited User account, I'm thinking it might have something to do with permissions. I'll also compare Word's configuration options in the Limited User and Administrator accounts. I welcome other ideas.

Daddy

 

[DeanH]

Possible next move is to ensure Normal.dot has not become corrupt.
try renaming the Normal.dot to Normal.old. Let Word create a new Normal.dot
and see if the annoyance repeats.
Best of luck.
DeanH

 

[Graham Mayor]

Did you authorise Word to save the changes to the template that Word thinks
it requires, as suggested?
If you allow Word to create a new normal template you will still get the
prompt to save that new template.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Did this by any chance start when the time changed? My experience is that
whenever the time changes (from standard to Daylight Saving and vice versa),
I will be prompted to save Normal.dot until I give in and do it. It's much
easier (now that I know what's causing the problem) to succumb on the first
day. <g>

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

I have the problem described in the Subject line, and none of the published
solutions I have read solve this problem.

I have Office 2002 running on Windows XP Home SP 3, and Word prompts me to
save changes to the Normal.dot template every time I close the program.

I have no third-party add-ins that affect Word:

* All users' Word startup folders are empty.
* My Office startup folder is empty.
* There are no COM Add-ins. (The COM Add-Ins dialog box is empty.)
* There are no 'auto' macros - no macros of any kind, actually - and
starting Word by holding down the Shift key does not solve the problem.
* I set macro security to Medium, restarted Word, and was not prompted to
enable or disable macros. No surprise, really, since the Trusted Publishers
tab is empty.
* Aside from Normal.dot itself, the only other .dot files I have are what
comes with Word. No .wll files.
* I do not use Smart Tags (all Smart Tag options turned off), however, the
Microsoft Shared\Smart Tags folder is not empty - there are files in it.

I never had the Works Suite add-in, and while I have not used Norton
software for 3 years, I searched for the OFFICEAV.DLL file anyway. It was
not present.

Finally, I scanned for macro viruses - for all types of malware, actually -
and came up clean.

I have only 2 possible clues to offer you:

\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Addins does contain files
-and-
The behavior only manifests in the Limited User account, which may indicate
something to do with permissions. Or perhaps there's something about the
Limited User's normal.dot that isn't the same as the Administrator's
normal.dot.

How can I finally get Word to stop prompting me to save Normal.dot? Thanks
for your help.

Daddy

 

[Daddy]

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Even when I say 'yes' and allow Word to change the global template, the
prompt returns the next time I open Word.

I seem to have exhausted all the usual fixes for this problem. This leads me
to suspect one of two things:

1) I have something oddball in my configuration; or

2) [More likely:] As I was working through the various fixes I either
misunderstood something or didn't do something correctly.

I think what I need to do is to go back and try all those proposed solutions
one more time.

[This may not matter, but here it is: Office 2002 is an OEM install. I
removed it, installed Office 2007, worked with it for a few months and
decided I didn't care for it, then removed Office 2007 and reinstalled
Office 2002. After removing Office 2007 I had to change permissions on
dozens of registry subkeys before I could proceed with installing Office
2002, and then I had to change permissions on more registry keys to prevent
Office 2002 from reinstalling every time it ran in the Limited User account.
This is what leads me to suspect that my normal.dot problem is also related
to permissions. But first I'll do over all the conventional fixes.]

Daddy

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

From your first post, I think it's clear that you've already read
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA011514521033.aspx and followed all
the suggestions there (more than once, I gather), but if you haven't seen
that article, it might be worth a try in case you've overlooked something.
But it does sound likely that there's a Registry entry gone awry somewhere.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Even when I say 'yes' and allow Word to change the global template, the
prompt returns the next time I open Word.

I seem to have exhausted all the usual fixes for this problem. This leads
me to suspect one of two things:

1) I have something oddball in my configuration; or

2) [More likely:] As I was working through the various fixes I either
misunderstood something or didn't do something correctly.

I think what I need to do is to go back and try all those proposed
solutions one more time.

[This may not matter, but here it is: Office 2002 is an OEM install. I
removed it, installed Office 2007, worked with it for a few months and
decided I didn't care for it, then removed Office 2007 and reinstalled
Office 2002. After removing Office 2007 I had to change permissions on
dozens of registry subkeys before I could proceed with installing Office
2002, and then I had to change permissions on more registry keys to
prevent Office 2002 from reinstalling every time it ran in the Limited
User account. This is what leads me to suspect that my normal.dot problem
is also related to permissions. But first I'll do over all the
conventional fixes.]

Daddy

Did this by any chance start when the time changed? My experience is that
whenever the time changes (from standard to Daylight Saving and vice
versa), I will be prompted to save Normal.dot until I give in and do it.
It's much easier (now that I know what's causing the problem) to succumb
on the first day. <g>

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

I have the problem described in the Subject line, and none of the
published solutions I have read solve this problem.

I have Office 2002 running on Windows XP Home SP 3, and Word prompts me
to save changes to the Normal.dot template every time I close the
program.

I have no third-party add-ins that affect Word:

* All users' Word startup folders are empty.
* My Office startup folder is empty.
* There are no COM Add-ins. (The COM Add-Ins dialog box is empty.)
* There are no 'auto' macros - no macros of any kind, actually - and
starting Word by holding down the Shift key does not solve the problem.
* I set macro security to Medium, restarted Word, and was not prompted to
enable or disable macros. No surprise, really, since the Trusted
Publishers tab is empty.
* Aside from Normal.dot itself, the only other .dot files I have are what
comes with Word. No .wll files.
* I do not use Smart Tags (all Smart Tag options turned off), however,
the Microsoft Shared\Smart Tags folder is not empty - there are files in
it.

I never had the Works Suite add-in, and while I have not used Norton
software for 3 years, I searched for the OFFICEAV.DLL file anyway. It was
not present.

Finally, I scanned for macro viruses - for all types of malware,
actually - and came up clean.

I have only 2 possible clues to offer you:

\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Addins does contain files
-and-
The behavior only manifests in the Limited User account, which may
indicate something to do with permissions. Or perhaps there's something
about the Limited User's normal.dot that isn't the same as the
Administrator's normal.dot.

How can I finally get Word to stop prompting me to save Normal.dot?
Thanks for your help.

Daddy

 

[Daddy]

Oh boy. You are not going to believe this.

I eventually gave in and answered "Yes" when asked if I wanted to save changes to Normal.dot. That did it. I haven't been prompted since.

I probably made a change to the global template when I initially setup Word, but didn't realize it, so I answered "No" every time when asked about Normal.dot. Finally I answered "Yes" and Word thought to itself "It's about damn time."

Thanks to everyone for putting up with me.

Daddy

From your first post, I think it's clear that you've already read
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA011514521033.aspx and followed all
the suggestions there (more than once, I gather), but if you haven't seen
that article, it might be worth a try in case you've overlooked something.
But it does sound likely that there's a Registry entry gone awry somewhere.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Even when I say 'yes' and allow Word to change the global template, the
prompt returns the next time I open Word.

I seem to have exhausted all the usual fixes for this problem. This leads
me to suspect one of two things:

1) I have something oddball in my configuration; or

2) [More likely:] As I was working through the various fixes I either
misunderstood something or didn't do something correctly.

I think what I need to do is to go back and try all those proposed
solutions one more time.

[This may not matter, but here it is: Office 2002 is an OEM install. I
removed it, installed Office 2007, worked with it for a few months and
decided I didn't care for it, then removed Office 2007 and reinstalled
Office 2002. After removing Office 2007 I had to change permissions on
dozens of registry subkeys before I could proceed with installing Office
2002, and then I had to change permissions on more registry keys to
prevent Office 2002 from reinstalling every time it ran in the Limited
User account. This is what leads me to suspect that my normal.dot problem
is also related to permissions. But first I'll do over all the
conventional fixes.]

Daddy

Did this by any chance start when the time changed? My experience is that
whenever the time changes (from standard to Daylight Saving and vice
versa), I will be prompted to save Normal.dot until I give in and do it.
It's much easier (now that I know what's causing the problem) to succumb
on the first day. <g>

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

I have the problem described in the Subject line, and none of the
published solutions I have read solve this problem.

I have Office 2002 running on Windows XP Home SP 3, and Word prompts me
to save changes to the Normal.dot template every time I close the
program.

I have no third-party add-ins that affect Word:

* All users' Word startup folders are empty.
* My Office startup folder is empty.
* There are no COM Add-ins. (The COM Add-Ins dialog box is empty.)
* There are no 'auto' macros - no macros of any kind, actually - and
starting Word by holding down the Shift key does not solve the problem.
* I set macro security to Medium, restarted Word, and was not prompted to
enable or disable macros. No surprise, really, since the Trusted
Publishers tab is empty.
* Aside from Normal.dot itself, the only other .dot files I have are what
comes with Word. No .wll files.
* I do not use Smart Tags (all Smart Tag options turned off), however,
the Microsoft Shared\Smart Tags folder is not empty - there are files in
it.

I never had the Works Suite add-in, and while I have not used Norton
software for 3 years, I searched for the OFFICEAV.DLL file anyway. It was
not present.

Finally, I scanned for macro viruses - for all types of malware,
actually - and came up clean.

I have only 2 possible clues to offer you:

\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Addins does contain files
-and-
The behavior only manifests in the Limited User account, which may
indicate something to do with permissions. Or perhaps there's something
about the Limited User's normal.dot that isn't the same as the
Administrator's normal.dot.

How can I finally get Word to stop prompting me to save Normal.dot?
Thanks for your help.

Daddy

 

[Terry Farrell]

The VERY FIRST reply you received suggested just that step.

Terry

Oh boy. You are not going to believe this.

I eventually gave in and answered "Yes" when asked if I wanted to save
changes to Normal.dot. That did it. I haven't been prompted since.

I probably made a change to the global template when I initially setup Word,
but didn't realize it, so I answered "No" every time when asked about
Normal.dot. Finally I answered "Yes" and Word thought to itself "It's about
damn time."

Thanks to everyone for putting up with me.

Daddy

From your first post, I think it's clear that you've already read
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA011514521033.aspx and followed
all
the suggestions there (more than once, I gather), but if you haven't seen
that article, it might be worth a try in case you've overlooked something.
But it does sound likely that there's a Registry entry gone awry
somewhere.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Even when I say 'yes' and allow Word to change the global template, the
prompt returns the next time I open Word.

I seem to have exhausted all the usual fixes for this problem. This leads
me to suspect one of two things:

1) I have something oddball in my configuration; or

2) [More likely:] As I was working through the various fixes I either
misunderstood something or didn't do something correctly.

I think what I need to do is to go back and try all those proposed
solutions one more time.

[This may not matter, but here it is: Office 2002 is an OEM install. I
removed it, installed Office 2007, worked with it for a few months and
decided I didn't care for it, then removed Office 2007 and reinstalled
Office 2002. After removing Office 2007 I had to change permissions on
dozens of registry subkeys before I could proceed with installing Office
2002, and then I had to change permissions on more registry keys to
prevent Office 2002 from reinstalling every time it ran in the Limited
User account. This is what leads me to suspect that my normal.dot problem
is also related to permissions. But first I'll do over all the
conventional fixes.]

Daddy

Did this by any chance start when the time changed? My experience is
that
whenever the time changes (from standard to Daylight Saving and vice
versa), I will be prompted to save Normal.dot until I give in and do it.
It's much easier (now that I know what's causing the problem) to succumb
on the first day. <g>

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

I have the problem described in the Subject line, and none of the
published solutions I have read solve this problem.

I have Office 2002 running on Windows XP Home SP 3, and Word prompts me
to save changes to the Normal.dot template every time I close the
program.

I have no third-party add-ins that affect Word:

* All users' Word startup folders are empty.
* My Office startup folder is empty.
* There are no COM Add-ins. (The COM Add-Ins dialog box is empty.)
* There are no 'auto' macros - no macros of any kind, actually - and
starting Word by holding down the Shift key does not solve the problem.
* I set macro security to Medium, restarted Word, and was not prompted
to
enable or disable macros. No surprise, really, since the Trusted
Publishers tab is empty.
* Aside from Normal.dot itself, the only other .dot files I have are
what
comes with Word. No .wll files.
* I do not use Smart Tags (all Smart Tag options turned off), however,
the Microsoft Shared\Smart Tags folder is not empty - there are files in
it.

I never had the Works Suite add-in, and while I have not used Norton
software for 3 years, I searched for the OFFICEAV.DLL file anyway. It
was
not present.

Finally, I scanned for macro viruses - for all types of malware,
actually - and came up clean.

I have only 2 possible clues to offer you:

\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Addins does contain files
-and-
The behavior only manifests in the Limited User account, which may
indicate something to do with permissions. Or perhaps there's something
about the Limited User's normal.dot that isn't the same as the
Administrator's normal.dot.

How can I finally get Word to stop prompting me to save Normal.dot?
Thanks for your help.

Daddy

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

But his reply to that post said that even when he said Yes he got asked
again, so that didn't seem to be the solution.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

The VERY FIRST reply you received suggested just that step.

Terry

Oh boy. You are not going to believe this.

I eventually gave in and answered "Yes" when asked if I wanted to save
changes to Normal.dot. That did it. I haven't been prompted since.

I probably made a change to the global template when I initially setup
Word, but didn't realize it, so I answered "No" every time when asked
about Normal.dot. Finally I answered "Yes" and Word thought to itself
"It's about damn time."

Thanks to everyone for putting up with me.

Daddy

From your first post, I think it's clear that you've already read
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA011514521033.aspx and followed
all
the suggestions there (more than once, I gather), but if you haven't seen
that article, it might be worth a try in case you've overlooked
something.
But it does sound likely that there's a Registry entry gone awry
somewhere.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Even when I say 'yes' and allow Word to change the global template, the
prompt returns the next time I open Word.

I seem to have exhausted all the usual fixes for this problem. This
leads
me to suspect one of two things:

1) I have something oddball in my configuration; or

2) [More likely:] As I was working through the various fixes I either
misunderstood something or didn't do something correctly.

I think what I need to do is to go back and try all those proposed
solutions one more time.

[This may not matter, but here it is: Office 2002 is an OEM install. I
removed it, installed Office 2007, worked with it for a few months and
decided I didn't care for it, then removed Office 2007 and reinstalled
Office 2002. After removing Office 2007 I had to change permissions on
dozens of registry subkeys before I could proceed with installing Office
2002, and then I had to change permissions on more registry keys to
prevent Office 2002 from reinstalling every time it ran in the Limited
User account. This is what leads me to suspect that my normal.dot
problem
is also related to permissions. But first I'll do over all the
conventional fixes.]

Daddy

Did this by any chance start when the time changed? My experience is
that
whenever the time changes (from standard to Daylight Saving and vice
versa), I will be prompted to save Normal.dot until I give in and do
it.
It's much easier (now that I know what's causing the problem) to
succumb
on the first day. <g>

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

I have the problem described in the Subject line, and none of the
published solutions I have read solve this problem.

I have Office 2002 running on Windows XP Home SP 3, and Word prompts me
to save changes to the Normal.dot template every time I close the
program.

I have no third-party add-ins that affect Word:

* All users' Word startup folders are empty.
* My Office startup folder is empty.
* There are no COM Add-ins. (The COM Add-Ins dialog box is empty.)
* There are no 'auto' macros - no macros of any kind, actually - and
starting Word by holding down the Shift key does not solve the problem.
* I set macro security to Medium, restarted Word, and was not prompted
to
enable or disable macros. No surprise, really, since the Trusted
Publishers tab is empty.
* Aside from Normal.dot itself, the only other .dot files I have are
what
comes with Word. No .wll files.
* I do not use Smart Tags (all Smart Tag options turned off), however,
the Microsoft Shared\Smart Tags folder is not empty - there are files
in
it.

I never had the Works Suite add-in, and while I have not used Norton
software for 3 years, I searched for the OFFICEAV.DLL file anyway. It
was
not present.

Finally, I scanned for macro viruses - for all types of malware,
actually - and came up clean.

I have only 2 possible clues to offer you:

\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Addins does contain files
-and-
The behavior only manifests in the Limited User account, which may
indicate something to do with permissions. Or perhaps there's something
about the Limited User's normal.dot that isn't the same as the
Administrator's normal.dot.

How can I finally get Word to stop prompting me to save Normal.dot?
Thanks for your help.

Daddy

 

[Daddy]

Suzanne is correct: Even when I answered 'Yes" early on in the process, I
was still asked to save Normal.dot the next time I opened Word.

This all started when I reinstalled Office XP and was setting it up again.
At that time I was having problems with registry permissions. (Long
story...I won't go into it here.) Eventually I solved those problems. I'll
probably never know for certain, but those registry problems /might/ have
had a bearing on this question.

In any case, my issue with normal.dot is solved and once again I appreciate
everyone's forbearance.

Daddy

But his reply to that post said that even when he said Yes he got asked
again, so that didn't seem to be the solution.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

The VERY FIRST reply you received suggested just that step.

Terry

Oh boy. You are not going to believe this.

I eventually gave in and answered "Yes" when asked if I wanted to save
changes to Normal.dot. That did it. I haven't been prompted since.

I probably made a change to the global template when I initially setup
Word, but didn't realize it, so I answered "No" every time when asked
about Normal.dot. Finally I answered "Yes" and Word thought to itself
"It's about damn time."

Thanks to everyone for putting up with me.

Daddy

From your first post, I think it's clear that you've already read
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA011514521033.aspx and followed
all
the suggestions there (more than once, I gather), but if you haven't
seen
that article, it might be worth a try in case you've overlooked
something.
But it does sound likely that there's a Registry entry gone awry
somewhere.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Even when I say 'yes' and allow Word to change the global template, the
prompt returns the next time I open Word.

I seem to have exhausted all the usual fixes for this problem. This
leads
me to suspect one of two things:

1) I have something oddball in my configuration; or

2) [More likely:] As I was working through the various fixes I either
misunderstood something or didn't do something correctly.

I think what I need to do is to go back and try all those proposed
solutions one more time.

[This may not matter, but here it is: Office 2002 is an OEM install. I
removed it, installed Office 2007, worked with it for a few months and
decided I didn't care for it, then removed Office 2007 and reinstalled
Office 2002. After removing Office 2007 I had to change permissions on
dozens of registry subkeys before I could proceed with installing
Office
2002, and then I had to change permissions on more registry keys to
prevent Office 2002 from reinstalling every time it ran in the Limited
User account. This is what leads me to suspect that my normal.dot
problem
is also related to permissions. But first I'll do over all the
conventional fixes.]

Daddy

Did this by any chance start when the time changed? My experience is
that
whenever the time changes (from standard to Daylight Saving and vice
versa), I will be prompted to save Normal.dot until I give in and do
it.
It's much easier (now that I know what's causing the problem) to
succumb
on the first day. <g>

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

I have the problem described in the Subject line, and none of the
published solutions I have read solve this problem.

I have Office 2002 running on Windows XP Home SP 3, and Word prompts
me
to save changes to the Normal.dot template every time I close the
program.

I have no third-party add-ins that affect Word:

* All users' Word startup folders are empty.
* My Office startup folder is empty.
* There are no COM Add-ins. (The COM Add-Ins dialog box is empty.)
* There are no 'auto' macros - no macros of any kind, actually - and
starting Word by holding down the Shift key does not solve the
problem.
* I set macro security to Medium, restarted Word, and was not prompted
to
enable or disable macros. No surprise, really, since the Trusted
Publishers tab is empty.
* Aside from Normal.dot itself, the only other .dot files I have are
what
comes with Word. No .wll files.
* I do not use Smart Tags (all Smart Tag options turned off), however,
the Microsoft Shared\Smart Tags folder is not empty - there are files
in
it.

I never had the Works Suite add-in, and while I have not used Norton
software for 3 years, I searched for the OFFICEAV.DLL file anyway. It
was
not present.

Finally, I scanned for macro viruses - for all types of malware,
actually - and came up clean.

I have only 2 possible clues to offer you:

\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Addins does contain files
-and-
The behavior only manifests in the Limited User account, which may
indicate something to do with permissions. Or perhaps there's
something
about the Limited User's normal.dot that isn't the same as the
Administrator's normal.dot.

How can I finally get Word to stop prompting me to save Normal.dot?
Thanks for your help.

Daddy

 

[Terry Farrell]

Sometimes opening Word in Safe Mode (using the /a switch) resolves a problem
that you cannot see. Probably we will never find the root cause of the
problem.

Terry

Suzanne is correct: Even when I answered 'Yes" early on in the process, I
was still asked to save Normal.dot the next time I opened Word.

This all started when I reinstalled Office XP and was setting it up again.
At that time I was having problems with registry permissions. (Long
story...I won't go into it here.) Eventually I solved those problems. I'll
probably never know for certain, but those registry problems /might/ have
had a bearing on this question.

In any case, my issue with normal.dot is solved and once again I
appreciate everyone's forbearance.

Daddy

But his reply to that post said that even when he said Yes he got asked
again, so that didn't seem to be the solution.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

The VERY FIRST reply you received suggested just that step.

Terry

Oh boy. You are not going to believe this.

I eventually gave in and answered "Yes" when asked if I wanted to save
changes to Normal.dot. That did it. I haven't been prompted since.

I probably made a change to the global template when I initially setup
Word, but didn't realize it, so I answered "No" every time when asked
about Normal.dot. Finally I answered "Yes" and Word thought to itself
"It's about damn time."

Thanks to everyone for putting up with me.

Daddy

From your first post, I think it's clear that you've already read
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA011514521033.aspx and followed
all
the suggestions there (more than once, I gather), but if you haven't
seen
that article, it might be worth a try in case you've overlooked
something.
But it does sound likely that there's a Registry entry gone awry
somewhere.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Even when I say 'yes' and allow Word to change the global template,
the
prompt returns the next time I open Word.

I seem to have exhausted all the usual fixes for this problem. This
leads
me to suspect one of two things:

1) I have something oddball in my configuration; or

2) [More likely:] As I was working through the various fixes I either
misunderstood something or didn't do something correctly.

I think what I need to do is to go back and try all those proposed
solutions one more time.

[This may not matter, but here it is: Office 2002 is an OEM install. I
removed it, installed Office 2007, worked with it for a few months and
decided I didn't care for it, then removed Office 2007 and reinstalled
Office 2002. After removing Office 2007 I had to change permissions on
dozens of registry subkeys before I could proceed with installing
Office
2002, and then I had to change permissions on more registry keys to
prevent Office 2002 from reinstalling every time it ran in the Limited
User account. This is what leads me to suspect that my normal.dot
problem
is also related to permissions. But first I'll do over all the
conventional fixes.]

Daddy

Did this by any chance start when the time changed? My experience is
that
whenever the time changes (from standard to Daylight Saving and vice
versa), I will be prompted to save Normal.dot until I give in and do
it.
It's much easier (now that I know what's causing the problem) to
succumb
on the first day. <g>

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

I have the problem described in the Subject line, and none of the
published solutions I have read solve this problem.

I have Office 2002 running on Windows XP Home SP 3, and Word prompts
me
to save changes to the Normal.dot template every time I close the
program.

I have no third-party add-ins that affect Word:

* All users' Word startup folders are empty.
* My Office startup folder is empty.
* There are no COM Add-ins. (The COM Add-Ins dialog box is empty.)
* There are no 'auto' macros - no macros of any kind, actually - and
starting Word by holding down the Shift key does not solve the
problem.
* I set macro security to Medium, restarted Word, and was not
prompted to
enable or disable macros. No surprise, really, since the Trusted
Publishers tab is empty.
* Aside from Normal.dot itself, the only other .dot files I have are
what
comes with Word. No .wll files.
* I do not use Smart Tags (all Smart Tag options turned off),
however,
the Microsoft Shared\Smart Tags folder is not empty - there are files
in
it.

I never had the Works Suite add-in, and while I have not used Norton
software for 3 years, I searched for the OFFICEAV.DLL file anyway. It
was
not present.

Finally, I scanned for macro viruses - for all types of malware,
actually - and came up clean.

I have only 2 possible clues to offer you:

\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Addins does contain files
-and-
The behavior only manifests in the Limited User account, which may
indicate something to do with permissions. Or perhaps there's
something
about the Limited User's normal.dot that isn't the same as the
Administrator's normal.dot.

How can I finally get Word to stop prompting me to save Normal.dot?
Thanks for your help.

Daddy