Word 2000/97 : normal.dot problems 1

[Lou2]

Hey all,

I have a few clients that upon closing Word, they get a message to the effect that changes have been made to normal.dot and do they want to save it. I assume that normal.dot is the template for a "new" document. What could be causing this grief and how can it be fixed?

Thanks in advance.

Lou2

 

[donna6197]

There's lots of reasons why this message may display.

If the user creates or changes autotext, formatted autocorrect, toolbars, macros, uses the spike (which is autotext I think), clicks on a button named Default in any dialog box, etc.

One other (Word97) is when the user starts up multiple instances of Word and then closes the first instance before the others - this can often end up with the user overwriting a perfectly good Normal.dot.

Under Tools - Options - Save tab there is a checkbox for Prompt to Save Normal. When this is checked, the save message will always come up when changes are made to Normal.dot. If it is unchecked, then Word automatically saves any changes made to Normal.dot when you quit (unless the user has done the multiple instances of Word thing in which case the dialog box shows).

I prefer having the prompt on. Users should be taught why the prompt appears and this them a choice on whether they want to keep the changes (I know, dream on).