"Do you want to replace Normal?"

[Larry]

I get this message from time to time when closing Word or when saving
Normal, and when no particular problem has occurred recently with
Normal. Why does this message appear? And what is Normal being
"replaced" by?

 

[Guest]

Hi Larry
This message means something has updated your normal template. It's not
replacing your normal, it's saying it wants to update the one that's already
there.

It could be something simple that you have done deliberately, e.g. change
the default margins or default font.

Sometimes this message could be a sign of something more sinister, e.g.
virus activity.

It could also have been caused by an add-in, e.g. Adobe Acrobat, EZ Photo,
or, as more recently discovered, bluetooth dongles.

If you know you haven't made any changes, then it's best to always say NO to
this message. The warning message *can* be turned off but if you did this
then you would never know if anything had been changed in the template, so on
balance it's better to be annoyed periodically!
Genine

 

[Beth Melton]

If I'm not mistaken this can occur if your Normal.dot is locked by
another process or temp file and Word 'thinks' you are replacing the
file.

Have you been running multiple instances of Word? Did you complete
your macro to return your document to a previously saved version? If
so, did the messages start appearing afterwards?

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Larry]

It sounds like what you mean by "updated" is "saved." Why then doesn't
the message say, "Do you want to save the changed in Normal" instead of
the sinister "Do you want to replace Normal"?

And if I say "No," does that mean I will be losing unsaved changes that
I may want to keep?

Also, why does this message exist at all? Normally, when I close Word,
if there are any unsaved changes in Normal, a message and bar appear in
the status bar saying "Word is saving Normal." So, what is this "Do you
want to replace Normal" doing that "Word is saving Normal" is not doing?

Also, I don't think this has anything to do with Word being locked, or
multiple instances (which I avoid). And my only add-in is another Word
template.

Larry