Word will NOT create new normal.dot template, can't replace

[jtimleck]

Hi,

I've somehow fubared my normal.dot template - it shows custom size paper
(7.25 x 9" - and I didn't enter that btw) but under page sizes it shows 8.5 x
11".

I've followed the usual steps to restore the normal.dot template (found it,
deleted it and then *tried* to make a new one and install at the path
location for templates (per the Tools>Options>File Locations

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/BlankDocNotBlank.htm

Problem is that the page I am saving AS normal.dot has all the wrong
settings - I *cannot* change the paper size, so all I do is replace the bad
with a new bad template.

What I'm wonder, because this is a multi-user computer is whether or not
there has been an *admin* template that someone created by accident that is
overriding my template - problem with this thought is that *other* users on
the computer don't have this problem.

Thoughts? It's exasperating as "heck" since ALL my documents, no matter who
wrote them, open in the *wrong* paper format ARGH!!!

Suggestion: MS should make it EASY to just "revert" to original settings.

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi,

I've somehow fubared my normal.dot template - it shows custom size
paper (7.25 x 9" - and I didn't enter that btw) but under page sizes
it shows 8.5 x 11".

I've followed the usual steps to restore the normal.dot template
(found it, deleted it and then *tried* to make a new one and install
at the path location for templates (per the Tools>Options>File
Locations

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/BlankDocNotBlank.htm

Problem is that the page I am saving AS normal.dot has all the wrong
settings - I *cannot* change the paper size, so all I do is replace
the bad with a new bad template.

What I'm wonder, because this is a multi-user computer is whether or
not there has been an *admin* template that someone created by
accident that is overriding my template - problem with this thought
is that *other* users on the computer don't have this problem.

Thoughts? It's exasperating as "heck" since ALL my documents, no
matter who wrote them, open in the *wrong* paper format ARGH!!!

Suggestion: MS should make it EASY to just "revert" to original
settings.

After deleting the messed-up normal.dot, you *do not* "make a new one and
install it". You just restart Word. When Word starts and doesn't find any
file named normal.dot in the Templates folder, it will autmatically create a
new one from the defaults contained in the program code.

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

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You should not be trying to save a page as Normal.dot. As the article surely
explains, you cannot create a Normal.dot; you have to let Word do it. When
you rename or delete the existing Normal.dot, Word will create a new one
with the default factory settings. This *is* the way to revert to the
original settings, and it's not *that* difficult.