Changes to Normal Template in Word 07

[claypot33]

A few weeks ago, Word 07 was crashing each time I tried to open it. I always
received a popup that Word had automatically changed the Normal template, so
thought that was my problem. I followed instructions to rename the existing
Normal template to allow a clean version to load. This took care of the
problem. I also changed the setting so that Word was to prompt me before
saving changes to Normal.dotm.

Tonight, I was notified again that Word had automatically saved changes to
Normal.dotm. I tried unsucessfully to rename the file, so deleted (I hadn't
made any customizations), and again changed my setting so that I'd be
prompted before changes are made. As I then closed Word, I received another
popup prompting me to save changes to Normal.dotm, even though I hadn't even
made one keystroke in Word.

So, that prompts two questions:
1. What would cause (and how do I fix) Word to revert to NOT prompting me
to save changes to the Normal template?
2. What would cause changes to Normal.dotm if I hadn't even typed a letter?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

A corrupted Data key or a misbehaving add-in could cause either or both
problems. In Word 2007, the Data key is here:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word

Sometimes, you get into an endless loop... you delete Normal.dotm, but the
corrupted Data key causes Normal.dotm to get recorrupted. You delete the
Data key... but a bad Normal.dotm causes the data key to be recorrupted. (To
make it even more fun... a misbehaving add-in sometimes joins in the cycle
of corruption... but I find that add-ins don't usually contribute for this
kind of problem).

I would try zapping or renaming the Data key .and. zapping or renaming
Normal.dotm... and see if that can break the cycle.