Publisher 2003 cannot complete the operation

M

Melanie

Hello! I have an annoying problem I just cannot figure out. The computer is
running Windows XP Pro SP2, and Office 2003 - both of which are completely
updated. Publisher 2003 runs fine until you run a template wizard. Then a
couple of seconds in, I get the error "Publisher cannot complete the
operation." and the wizard won't give me the complete template. So far, I
ran a repair on Office. Then I uninstalled office completely, deleted all
leftover directories, even removing stuff in the registry I could find. Then
I did a complete reinstall, and updated Office from officeupdate.com. Still
the same error. I also found the KB article about the clip organizer error
and updating MDAC to fix it and the dcomcfg change. Tried that, still no go.
I'm at the point now of just redoing this machine, but its so annoying for
one little problem like that to force a redo. Any ideas?
 
M

Mary Sauer

Start by emptying your temporary cache, in Internet Explorer, tools, Internet
Options, delete files.

Are the templates online?

Try this
Start, run, type
REGSVR32 OLE32.DLL
 
M

Melanie

The templates are not online, they are local. I will give that a whirl tho
and post the results!
 
M

Mary Sauer

Melanie, What does the complete error say?

Another thing to try

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.
2. In Add or Remove Programs, click Microsoft Office 2003, and then click
Change.
3. Click Add or Remove Features, and then click Next.
4. On the Custom Setup page, click to select the Choose advanced customization
of applications check box, and then click Next.
5. On the Advanced Customization page, in the Choose update options for
applications and tools list, expand Office Shared Features.
6. Click the down arrow next to New and Open Office Documents Shortcuts, click
Run from My Computer, and then click Update.
7. When the update is complete, click OK, and then close Add or Remove Programs.

What are your macro security settings? In Publisher, tools, options, security
tab, macro settings button, tick medium.

Do you have any problems with graphics in general? If you do I suggest you read
the third FAQ here
http://ed.mvps.org/Static.aspx?=Publisher/FAQs
 
M

Melanie

I fixed it! One thing I hadnt tried was logging in with the administrator
account - did that and publisher worked fine! So I deleted the other account
and let Windows recreate it - boom it worked!!
 
M

Mary Sauer

Hey, great. Never occurred to me it was a permission problem. Glad you are up
and running. Thanks for posting your success, it is appreciated.
 
S

Steve_H

Hey Mary, I'm having the exact same problem. I'm running Windows XP Home and
only have 1 user account set up, so it shouldn't be a permission problem.
I've tried your suggestions, but I still get the "cannot complete" error
message. Any other ideas? This happens when it goes to open the template for
web sites, email, and calendars.

Thanks.
 
S

Steve_H

Hi Mary, sorry I didn't respond sooner, I've been out of town. Yes, I've
tried all of the above suggestions and my security settings are set to medium.
 
M

Mary Sauer

What are you doing when you get your error? Are you inserting clipart? Check
your firewall permissions.
What is the exact error?
 
S

Steve_H

All I'm trying to do is open a template to create a web page (or business
card or calendar). No clipart involved. The error message is exactly the
same as the thread title. Windows firewall is disabled and I'm running
Norton Internet Security set to medium. This is a case where everything was
working fine, then bam! Not working. Quick publications work fine, but
nothing else seems to.
 
S

Steve_H

I disabled the plug-in and (sigh) it still doesn't work. My macro settings
are set to medium. A new wrinkle is that Publisher crashed on me today while
I was trying to see if anything other than quick publications worked. I sent
the error report to MS and after sending it I was prompted to follow a link
to a possible fix. The "fix" stated that I was using a demo version of
Publisher, but that's not true. I have the full-blown version of Office 2003
under the Home Use Program. Do you know if there's a time limit on this
software? (I don't remember one being mentioned when I purchased it) I
haven't had any problems with Word, Excel, or Powerpoint, only Publisher.

Thanks again (and again and again...)
 
S

Steve_H

Well it doesn't look like the Home Use software was the issue. We shelled out
the bucks for the retail version, but it still doesn't work. I removed the
previous version and installed the new one. I've installed the Office 2003
Update SP2 and the security update for Publisher - still no luck. I haven't
been able to recreate the abend. The error message said something like
"...Publisher has encountered an error and must shut down..." My macro
security setting is set to medium.

-Steve
 
M

Mary Sauer

References:
You receive an error message and then the program quits unexpectedly when you
use a program of Office 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/835262/en-us

Do you think it could be a permission issue?
I would download FileMon and RegMon from
http://www.sysinternals.com/. Run them as administrator (when no
user is connected), start a TS session as a normal user and try to
run the application.

FileMon and RegMon will show you all "access denied" errors that
occur, so that you can give your users the necessary permissions on
a file-to file or Registry subkey basis.
 

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