Word 97 opens 'normal.dot' template?

L

Liz

Microsoft Word 97 running on Win XP Pro often seems to
open the template for 'normal' instead of a copy of it.
It doesn't happen every time, & I can't determine what
scenarios would be a cause for it. I am currently having
problems with Internet Explorer shutting down and locking
up the computer, I don't know whether this is related. I
am trying to fix that via other avenues.
These are the error messages I get when it happens:

'Word encountered file corruption while opening
C:\Program Files\.\Normal.dot. Part of this document may
be recoverable. Attempt recovery now?'

'(My Name) is using the file (Filename) do you want to
make a copy?'

'Changes have been made that affect the global template,
Do you want to save those changes?'

Any help would be appreciated!
 
R

RWN

There are some excellent people here that will probably tell you more
than I can and point you at some good sites, just thought I'd put in my
"two cents worth".

I believe the message is telling you exactly what the problem is, your
Normal.dot is corrupted.
There are a variety of reasons for this (as I've found out!).
Find the Normal.dot, rename it , say "Normal.old" and start up Word
again and see what happens.
This will cause Word to generate a new Normal.dot.
Anything you may have stored in the old Normal.dot will, of course, be
gone, which is the reason not to store anything in it.
If it's not the problem then re-name the "Normal.old" back to
"Normal.Dot" (after killing the newly created one).
 
L

Liz

Thanks for the idea, Rob. I tried it and renaming normal
to normal.old didn't change the file type... so the new
name was normal.old.dot! Word used that file as a
template. It did not create a new 'normal' template.
However, I did find another file which appeared to be a
copy of the original uncorrupted normal (in another
folder,) manually swapped the two files, and now it's
working ok. (so far) I still don't know why Word opened
the template instead of a copy of it when I started a new
document, and I don't know whether it will again, since I
didn't fix the cause.
The lists of filenames in the MS Office folders showed
file extentions for every file type except Word
Templates! I couldn't figure out how to change it
from .dot to another file type. Hmmm....
Thanks again, If you hadn't had me try that I wouldn't
have been digging around (or is it called 'exploring'?)
and found the uncorrupted one.
Liz
 
R

RWN

Liz;
I'm a little stymied, but being a non-expert, I'm allowed to be(!);
When I said change the name of the file I should have been more
explicit.
I meant, find the Normal.Dot (do a search for files/folders using
"Normal.Dot" to locate the directory).
Typically Normal.Dot is in a directory such as
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates
Got to that directory and right click the file, should drop a menu with
"rename" on it, click that.
This will highlight the file name (I'm assuming you have the extensions
displayed).
Remove the "dot" and replace it with "old" so that you have "Normal.old"
<enter>.
If your search shows more than one Normal.dot then try re-naming them
all.
This will bring you a warning about all sorts of dire consequences to
this action, say "OK".
Now start Word.
Just for "fun" - repeat your search and you should see a newly created
Normal.dot.
(you'll also see where Word is creating the template).

When you say it was opening a "copy" of normal.dot, what exactly do you
mean?
The title bar will usually give the document name as "DocumentX" where X
is a sequence # commencing with 1.

Hope I haven't lead you too far astray or muddied the issue too much.
 
L

Liz

OK, the reason I couldn't change the corrupted file's
filetype when I renamed it was because I had not
unselected 'hide file extensions for known file types' in
Windows Explorer. When I tried to change the filename I
couldn't change the file type because it wasn't
displayed. Now I see all file extensions. (There are some
new ones in XP Pro)
I originally found the corrupted Normal.dot file by
opening Word, selecting file, new, and right clicking on
the template 'blank document' to get it's properties. I
didn't search from the start menu. That's how I got to
the one I knew it was using, it had to be the corrupt
template file.
What I meant by 'not opening a copy of the template' was
that it was obviously opening the template file and I was
editing the template itself when I opened Word to start a
new document. It should have been opening a copy of the
template as a new blank document. I didn't know this
until I tried to save a document (correctly auto-titled
Document1) and instead of opening the 'save as' box it
asked me if I was sure if I wanted to save the changes
to 'normal.dot'
Since it seems to be working ok with the other normal.dot
file I found in an MS Office folder (I guess it was a
backup) I'm going to leave it as it is. But with your
help I know how to make it create a new template if I
need to.
Thank You
Liz
 
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