Autotext crashes Word

[Lin]

Have just upgraded to 2003 from 2000. All my previous autotexts are 1,2,or 3 letters. When I try to use them it crashes the programme. The Help tells me that only entries of 5 letters work in this version but when I tried making some of these the same thing happened. I ran Detect and Repair to no avail. Is there a fault in my software or am I missing a trick?

 

[Graham Mayor]

You can have autotexts with 1, 2, or 3 letters, but you don't get a prompt
until there are more than 4. This is not your problem.
My guess is that normal.dot is corrupt. Rename it to oldnormal.dot (it's a
hidden file in Word 2003) and allow Word to build a new one. If that works,
use the organizer to copy your autotexts from old to new.

You'll need to clean up the mess the crashes have left behind -
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm and if the normal.dot
change doesn't fix it, have a look at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Lin]

Thank you for your very swift response. Not being very technically minded, this all sounds a bit scary, but I will have a go. What do you mean by the organiser and where do I find it?

 

[Lin]

I've just followed your instructions re normal.dot and I'm afraid it was unsuccessful. After the new normal.dot was in place the problem remained. Any more ideas gratefully received.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Checkout the second link I posted ie
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm.
Do you have any add-ins that may require updating for the new version?
You will also need to clear up the mess the crashes have left behind -
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Lin]

Thanks for the reply Graham. I don't have any add-ins as far as I know. I will sort out the crash debris tomorrow - today to be spent with my newest grandchild. I have looked at the Probs opening Word article and again will go through it in more detail tomorrow to see which bits may be relevant to my problem. I'm really scared about fiddling with the registry though.
Lin

 

[Graham Mayor]

If you have Windows XP, simply use the System Restore tool to backup the
system state before you mess with the registry. FWIW the registry is largely
a big text file. You will come to no harm in the areas of the registry this
article refers you to, and if in doubt you can always backup any registry
keys before you alter them and if the wheel comes off you can use system
restore to put it all back as it was.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Lin]

Thanks to your advice and a bit of help from microsoft this morning I am now fully functional again.

Lin