Missing Normal.dot

J

Joe Johnson

If you don't believe me, then please just don't try to
answer my question.
I am an MCSE and an MOS. I have supported, taught, and
used Microsoft Office applications for years and years. I
know how to search for files. I know about hidden files
and extensions and all that. I have solved hundreds of
problems for Users by deleting normal.dot and then
allowing Word to recreate it. Recently, I did the same
thing for myself, except that Word did NOT recreate it.

I do not have a normal.dot. Word works perfectly.

Once again, I do NOT have a normal.dot and Word works
perfectly.

Please explain. Thanks.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

You don't have a Normal.dot and Word works perfectly. I don't see either a
question or a problem there.
 
J

Joe Johnson

Suzanne, are you being coy? Suppose I wish to change the
default margins on all documents I open in Word? What do I
edit if I don't have a normal.dot? And besides, that is
not even the point. Every book and reference in the
universe says that Word will regen the normal.dot if you
delete it. Well, my Word does not. Do you have an
explanation or not?
 
C

Charles Kenyon

I can't explain it. Normal.dot is a part of the Word program.

Do you have the option checked to prompt to save changes to normal.dot?

I suspect that you simply haven't found normal.dot or you are not allowing
it to be saved when you close Word. I just checked my own, renaming
normal.dot and then starting Word. The file normal.dot did not appear until
I closed Word and authorized the saving of changes to normal.dot. Word 2003.
 
J

Joe Johnson

Hi Charles,
Thanks for your thoughtful and sincere response.
I am aware of the "Prompt to save changes to Normal"
setting and I have tried it both ways. I have also
restarted Word and even restarted my whole computer, both
on and off the network. No luck.
Here is even more evidence though...My Network
Administrator is brilliant and he did not believe me
either and so he deleted his normal.dot and guess what? It
did not regenerate!
And here's more...If I take a blank file and attempt to
save it as normal.dot, I am told that I cannot save a file
that is already open! How can a non-existent file be open?
AND I also have a great VB programmer here who knows his
stuff and he has confirmed that normal.dot does not exist
on my machine or my Net Admin's machine. I don't get it.
But thanks for trying. Keep me posted if you hear
anything. (And yes, we also checked to see if Word was
perhaps finding a normal on the LAN)...first we don't
point Word there and second there is no normal in my
personal LAN space either. We checked everything.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

If you want to change the default margins, change them in Page Setup, click
Default..., answer yes, then click OK (for more, see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CustomizeNormalTemplate.htm). When
you quit Word, provided you have "Prompt to save Normal template" enabled,
you should get a prompt, and you should then have a Normal.dot. If you have
the prompt enabled and make this change and don't get a prompt, then the
problem is even more mysterious.

Like Charles, I can't explain why you don't have a Normal.dot. You say
you're knowledgeable about folders and extensions, and I'll take your word
for that. I assume that you have checked to make sure that the user
templates folder is not read-only and that, if you are on a corporate
network, your Normal.dot is not being flushed every time you start Word or
anything dire like that.
 
D

Danny

What ver. operating system are you using? If XP ,the
Normal.dot is in a hidden folder and unless you
check "search for hidden files" it will not show up in
your search. Word HAS to have this doc, it holds all the
default styles macros etc.
Danny
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Danny, did you read the OP's question carefully? He wrote: "I know how to
search for files. I know about hidden files and extensions and all that."
 
B

Big O

Hi just helped a friend out with a similar problem. When
he ran word it would hang, when i asked him to search for
his normal.dot file it didnt show up, but when you goto
the templates folder the file was there. Well i was only
able to solve it for another user on the pc would use
word normally, so i just copied the working normal.dot
file to his templates folder. Well anyway if you dont
have another user on your pc goto the templates folder
can be found in C:/Document and
Settings/"User"/Application Data/Microsoft/Templates
here delete everything except for the normal.dot file.

I havent tried this so dont know it it will work, you
could delete everything and place an empty file named
normal.dot in there instead.
Hope this helps or give people any ideas
 
B

Beth Melton

Hi Charles,

I suspect you have an add-in that modifies Word when it starts. It
could be an add-in that checks to see if their menu/toolbar commands
are present and if not found it creates them which would trigger a
change to Normal.dot. Otherwise if you have a pristine version of
Word, with no add-ins, then the prompt will not be encountered in Word
2003 until you make a modification.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
B

Beth Melton

Hi Joe,

If you haven't modified your default settings then it's possible
Normal.dot has not been recreated. Word doesn't necessarily ~need~
Normal.dot to function, it's there to hold modifications to the
default settings. For example if you start Word in Safe Mode or using
the /a switch it bypasses the Normal.dot and various Registry keys and
Word loads using the defaults stored in the binary files.

Try adding an AutoText entry or modify the default font. If you have
"Prompt to save Normal" turned on under Tools/Options/Save then you
should be prompted to save the Normal.dot when you exit Word. If you
answer "Yes" then it will be created.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
C

Charles Kenyon

Thanks for the clarifications.

My Add-Ins may do the things you mention (WOPR). The ones I wrote do not.



Beth Melton said:
Hi Charles,

I suspect you have an add-in that modifies Word when it starts. It
could be an add-in that checks to see if their menu/toolbar commands
are present and if not found it creates them which would trigger a
change to Normal.dot. Otherwise if you have a pristine version of
Word, with no add-ins, then the prompt will not be encountered in Word
2003 until you make a modification.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
Click to expand...
 
B

Beth Melton

I think the WOPR add-in does modify your Normal.dot. I seem to recall
it clears the Windows Clipboard when Word starts which is an
indication of modifying the menu/toolbars. Although this was some time
ago so I don't know if this behavior was changed.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/


Charles Kenyon said:
Thanks for the clarifications.

My Add-Ins may do the things you mention (WOPR). The ones I wrote do not.
Click to expand...
 
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