Word 2003 will not remember options settings

[Ian F.]

I have set various options in Word 2003 in the View, General, Edit and Save
menus, visibility of rulers and scroll bars etc.

The problem is that when I close Word and re-open it, all the settings have
disappeared and the program has put everything back to its default setting.

Hope I'm not missing anything obvious. Any assistance much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Ian

--

 

[Stefan Blom]

Deleting the Data key in the registry should improve things. However, if the
settings still won't stick, you may want to use auto macros to force them
each time a document is opened or created. For more, see the "Auto...
Macros" section of the article at
http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm.

 

[Ian F.]

Deleting the Data key in the registry should improve things. However, if
the settings still won't stick, you may want to use auto macros to force
them each time a document is opened or created. For more, see the "Auto...
Macros" section of the article at
http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm.

Thanks very much Stefan. Would you mind helping me as to where in the
registry I can find the Data key?

Ian

 

[Terry Farrell]

Under Tools, Options, Save tab, is the option to Prompt to Save Normal.dot
checked?

After you have made all these changes and close Word, are you getting the
prompt to save normal.dot and are you answering YES?

 

[Stefan Blom]

The key is
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<version_number_here>\Word\Data.

I can never remember the version numbers. :-( I wonder if it is 11.0 (at
least that makes sense because Word 2002 was version 10.0; see the article
at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/MissingMenusEtc.htm).

Note that if you cannot directly locate the key, just search for it within
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Word.

 

[Ian F.]

Under Tools, Options, Save tab, is the option to Prompt to Save Normal.dot
checked?

After you have made all these changes and close Word, are you getting the
prompt to save normal.dot and are you answering YES?

I think that may have done the trick, Terry. Prompt to Save normal.dot was
not ticked - it is now, and it appears to have fixed it. Many thanks.

Ian

 

[Ian F.]

The key is
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<version_number_here>\Word\Data.

I can never remember the version numbers. :-( I wonder if it is 11.0 (at
least that makes sense because Word 2002 was version 10.0; see the article
at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/MissingMenusEtc.htm).

Note that if you cannot directly locate the key, just search for it within
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Word.

Stefan, I think Terry's advice may have cured the problem. I'm keeping your
solution on file just in case! Many thanks.

Ian

 

[Stefan Blom]

But note that if you are not prompted to save the Normal template, Word
saves it without asking (assuming of course that everything works
correctly).

 

[Ian F.]

But note that if you are not prompted to save the Normal template, Word
saves it without asking (assuming of course that everything works
correctly).

Sadly Terry's option didn't work after all. I thought it had because I
closed Word, rebooted and it opened fine, but this morning we are back to
the previous problem.

Stefan, I'll try your registry change and report back. Thanks.

Ian

 

[Ian F.]

The key is
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<version_number_here>\Word\Data.

Well, I've tried everything! After I delete the Data key 11 in the registry
and close/re-open Word in the same session everything is fine. But after
rebooting, all options have re-set to the default.

Hope you may be able to help yet again. Many thanks.

Ian

 

[Terry Farrell]

Either you have a third party add-in that is stopping changes (unlikely
though from your description) or your Work Admin has stopped users from
changing normal.dot by resetting it whenever a user boots up and logs in.

 

[Ian F.]

Either you have a third party add-in that is stopping changes (unlikely
though from your description) or your Work Admin has stopped users from
changing normal.dot by resetting it whenever a user boots up and logs in.

I am the admin - it's a personal laptop. Is there a way I can establish if
that has happened?

Ian

 

[Terry Farrell]

If this is a single-user laptop, then it is even more confusing. I suggest
that you thoroughly search to make sure that you have only one normal.dot on
the computer and it is in your user profile. I would also suggest that you
make sure that you have none of those awful registry cleaners or security
devices being loaded on boot up that stop the registry from being changed.

Terry

 

[Ian F.]

If this is a single-user laptop, then it is even more confusing. I suggest
that you thoroughly search to make sure that you have only one normal.dot
on the computer and it is in your user profile. I would also suggest that
you make sure that you have none of those awful registry cleaners or
security devices being loaded on boot up that stop the registry from being
changed.

I deleted the existing normal.dot and Word re-created it when I rebooted and
opened the program. Have since rebooted again and all seems well.

Fingers crossed, and many thanks for your help.

Ian

 

[Terry Farrell]

Here's hopin'...

Terry

I deleted the existing normal.dot and Word re-created it when I rebooted
and opened the program. Have since rebooted again and all seems well.

Fingers crossed, and many thanks for your help.

Ian

 

[Ian F.]

Here's hopin'...

Oddly, sometimes it remembers the settings and other times it doesn't. I'm
resigned to having to adjust it each time.

Ian

 

[Terry Farrell]

That makes me wonder if you only have one normal.dot in your profile or if
you always log in to the same profile.

Terry

 

[Beth Melton]

Oddly, sometimes it remembers the settings and other times it doesn't. I'm
resigned to having to adjust it each time.

More often than not this is caused by a third party add-in. Most are
attempting to modify a single setting but end up picking up the current
state of all of their options. The intermittent behavior could indicate this
occurs only when you use a macro in their add-in. What add-ins do you have
installed?

If you don't have any add-ins installed then what option changes aren't
being saved?
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx

 

[Ian F.]

If you don't have any add-ins installed then what option changes aren't
being saved?

Beth, I have no add-ins installed.

What is not being saved is anything that you can adjust after clicking on
Tools>Options - view, save, print details etc. Everything else, such as
customised icons on toolbars, is saved OK.

Thanks,

Ian

 

[Ian F.]

That makes me wonder if you only have one normal.dot in your profile or if
you always log in to the same profile.

I have checked, Terry, and there is only one normal.dot and I always login
using the same profile.

Ian