New Word template always prompts to save changes

[Peter Stone]

Word 2003/XP Pro
I am trying to create an alternative Normal.dot. Problem is when I try to
save a document created from AltNormal, I always receive the prompt: "Do you
want to save the changes to AltNormal.dot?". Typing and saving a few of
characters is sufficient to cause the prompt. If I accept the prompt, the
prompt returns when I next modify the document. All this occurs even if
AltNormal has not been modified from Normal.dot.

I have tried many different ways to resolve this including basing AltNormal
on:
(1) a copy of Normal.dot,
(2) a clean document from Normal.dot,
(3) renaming Normal.dot and working with the new version of Normal.dot that
is created the next time I open Word,
(4) creating a .doc or a .dot by running START RUN winword /a to obtain a
clean copy.

There also don't appear to be any COM Add-Ins.

Throughout the process, this problem hasn't afflicted the opening and saving
of documents using Normal.dot.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Peter

 

[AlanW]

KB article 291352 may be helpful. Its title is
"You are prompted to save the changes to the Normal.dot or Normal.dotm or
Normal.dotm global template every time that you quit Word"

 

[Terry Farrell]

This is a crazy idea: you cannot have an alternative normal.dot. What
exactly are you actually trying to achieve?

 

[Peter Stone]

Thank Alan, I had already been through that article and tried all the
suggestions.
The interesting point is this only affects documents based on the AltNormal
that I create; not the Normal that is created by Word. I've tried every which
way to create one that doesn't do this.

I've run Detect and Repair and uninstalled Google and all other COM Add-Ins
except Microsoft Office Live Add-In; I guess I'll uninstall that next.

 

[Peter Stone]

Thanks Terry
I want to base some Word documents on an alternative template. If you Select
FILE SAVE AS in Word, the dialogue allows you to save a document as an
alternative Word template (.dot) in the default folder C:\Documents and
Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates where the
Normal.dot template lives.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can create as many document templates as you like, but you can't create
an "alternative Normal." See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart1.htm

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

 

[Peter Stone]

Thanks Suzanne, I had earlier read your helpful article in my hunt for a
solution.

Sorry I should have been saying template.

The core problem is I: (1) create a template, (2) open a document based on
that template, (3) modify that document by typing two words, (4) name, save,
and close the document, (5) reopen the document and delete one word, (6)
close the document, (7) Word prompts me to save changes to the document which
I do, (7) Word then prompts me to save changes to the template.

Deleting a word of text shouldn't be modifying the template.

Eureka. I have been experimenting as I write and I have just found the
solution. I have to skip step (3). If I enter text in my new document, the
next time I modify the document, Word prompts me to save changes to the
template.

I have to name and close the document without entering any text. Then reopen
and enter my text. I've just done this multiple times. Finally.

I haven't tried it yet, but maybe the same result could also be achieved by
SAVE AS before entering any text.

Another interesting point, I have just noticed, is that in Office 2003,
START-ALL PROGRAMS-NEW OFFICE DOCUMENT doesn't bring a user to the
WORD-FILE-NEW dialogue you illustrate in your tutorial . It's almost
identical, but it lacks the "document" and "template" radio buttons.

 

[Peter Stone]

I don't know if I have to reopen this question, but Word has reverted back to
prompting me to save changes to the template.

Peter

 

[Terry Farrell]

You not quite got the hang of templates.

Open a new document and then make all the changes you need to it for it to
become your new template. Use SaveAs and assign a sensible name (for the
sake illustration, let's call it test.dot) but make sure that it is being
saved in the USER TEMPLATES folder. This is not and never can be an
Alt-normal.dot, even if you name it as such. There is only ever one
normal.dot and that is created by Word.

To open a new document based on the test.dot, you open Word and then use
File > New, select test.dot and press OPEN. This opens a new document based
on test.dot. You can now continue to create you new document and save it as
anythingyoulike.doc.

However, there is one caveat with this. If you change an underlying styles
in the document, when you close the document Word will prompt you if you
want to save the changes to the template. This is solely to reflect style
changes you made in the document that now conflict with the template styles
rather than the actual contents of your document.

If you want to launch Word to a new document based on test.dot, you have
several options, but the easiest is to create a shortcut on the Desktop. The
default action of Word is to always open a new document based on a template
when you double-click on a template: it doesn't open the template itself.

Terry Farrell

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

However, there is one caveat with this. If you change an underlying styles

in the document, when you close the document Word will prompt you if you
want to save the changes to the template. This is solely to reflect style
changes you made in the document that now conflict with the template
styles rather than the actual contents of your document.

This should not be true unless you have checked "Add to template" in the
Modify Style dialog.

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

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This is not normal behavior. I would suggest that you may be confusing Word
by using "Normal" in the name of your template, though that shouldn't be a
factor. Try naming your template "Default" or "Standard" or something else
and see if you still have the problem. There are numerous articles about the
problem of being constantly prompted to save the Normal template (even when
you've made no changes), but I'm not aware of a known problem with document
templates.

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

 

[Terry Farrell]

I think they change the behaviour in W2007: in W2003 it definitely prompts
to update styles in the template. It was one of the reasons that I had to
write protect the templates in the Workgroup folder on the server.

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I've not seen that here; admittedly I haven't used Word 2007 much, though.

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

 

[Stefan Blom]

I haven't seen it either, and I *am* using Word 2007.

 

[Peter Stone]

Good afternoon
I think I have the solution. The problem appears to be Microsoft Office Live
Add-in 1.4. I have uninstalled it and everything now seems OK. Furthermore
the problem appears only to affect documents created from a new template, not
documents created from Normal.dot. I will report this as a possible bug.
Remember I'm using Word 2003.

Thank you all for your help. I followed your kind instructions and I am now
semi-expert on templates, having created 30+ in two days trying to solve this.

Once again, thanks for your help and Merry Christmas

Peter