Re: problems with normal.dot

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Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't have the option for "prompt to save changes to Normal." What I *do* have under the Save tab is "Prompt to Save Normal template," and when I close Word the program asks me if I want to save "Document ___" (whatever the blank page # is).



"Terry Farrell" <terryfarrell@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:D3B8B51A-EA1E-4026-B5F2-43641C3A22FF@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Well normal.dot is not created until it is needed. So a fresh install of Word (or Office) 2003 onto a clean system won't have a normal.dot.

Once you have opened Word and made a change that requires to be saved in normal.dot, it will be created automatically. So that you have a normal.dot means something is being saved.

Under Tools, Options, have you checked the box 'Prompt to Save Changes to Normal'? If not, check it now. Then go to Format, Font and change the font size or type and press the DEFAULT button at the bottom of the dialog. Now close Word. Are you prompted to save changes to normal.dot on closing?

--
Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP

"Su" <fake@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:2BC159EC-9C45-43A9-AC82-AFF8AB8664FF@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I had to reformat my hard drive, which meant reinstalling Word 2003 in Vista. I had done this before with never a problem, until now.

Nothing will stay written to the normal.dot file. Things work okay in a current session, but if I close down Word for any reason and then restart it, my normal.dot file is back to the way it was at the time I installed the program.

I have gone to Tools | Options and made sure the normal.dot file is located in the directory designated. I even tried putting it in a different directory and pointing things toward that, and that doesn't work. I have made sure there is nothing in the Startup directory that could be interfering with things. I have run a repair. I have renamed the normal.dot file, restarted Word, and nothing changes (sometimes a new normal.dot file is not even created). The file cannot be damaged, since (as I stated at the beginning) I had just formatted my hard drive and intalled Word 2003 "for the first time."

Oh, and I should mention that the same is true for the *.acl file. Whatever entries I add or delete in a session will remain for that session only. If I exit Word and restart it again, all of the additions/deletions that I made are gone. As before, this is on a freshly installed version of Word 2003.

I'm at a complete loss on this and would certainly appreciate any and all suggestions that can be offered to resolve this problem. How do I put the "glue" back in the normal.dot and *.acl files?


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