Error Message

[frank]

Continuing to get error message "microsoft word has
encounter a problem and needs to close.

After closing, get message word automattically saved
changes to the normal document template. Do you want to
load.

Having all kinds of problems getting to word. I have xp.

 

[Gordon]

Continuing to get error message "microsoft word has
encounter a problem and needs to close.

After closing, get message word automattically saved
changes to the normal document template. Do you want to
load.

Having all kinds of problems getting to word. I have xp.

Close Word, and search for a file called normal.dot and delete it. Word
will rebuild it on next start up.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Do not *ever* delete Normal.dot. It is sufficient to rename it. In this
case, even that may not be necessary. If the OP is running Norton AntiVirus,
it may suffice to disable its Office Plug-in.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Gordon]

Do not *ever* delete Normal.dot.

Why ever not? I have done so many times - the only time there is a
problem is if you have customised it as you lose all the customisation.

 

[Doug Robbins]

Deleting your own is fine; I would caution against deleting anybody else's
or advising anybody else to delete it for exactly the reason that you
mention.

--
Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be
interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a paid
consulting basis.

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[TF]

You are a Director of an IT support company and you recommended deleting
normal.dot and you don't know why that is wrong? No wonder IT support has
such a bad name.

--
Terry Farrell - Word MVP
http://word.mvps.org/

: Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
: > Do not *ever* delete Normal.dot.
:
: Why ever not? I have done so many times - the only time there is a
: problem is if you have customised it as you lose all the customisation.
:
:
: --
: Interim Systems and Management Accounting
: Gordon Burgess-Parker
: Director
: www.gbpcomputing.co.uk

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

How do you get "IT" out of "Interim Systems and Management Accounting"?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Gordon]

You are a Director of an IT support company and you recommended
deleting normal.dot and you don't know why that is wrong? No wonder
IT support has such a bad name.

certainly up to and including Office 2000 deleting the normal.dot file was
the standard answer to Word access problems.

 

[TF]

Gordon

It has been standard practice to rename normal.dot as normal.old or
normal.bad since the year dot. The majority of inexperienced users are going
to have saved all their custom macros, AutoText, Toolbars, etc., in
normal.dot. In one deletion, they lose possibly hours of work.

Renaming normal.dot ensures that all customisations (stored in their old
normal.dot) can be recovered using Organiser.

Terry


: TF wrote:
: > You are a Director of an IT support company and you recommended
: > deleting normal.dot and you don't know why that is wrong? No wonder
: > IT support has such a bad name.
: >
: certainly up to and including Office 2000 deleting the normal.dot file was
: the standard answer to Word access problems.
:
: --
: Interim Systems and Management Accounting
: Gordon Burgess-Parker
: Director
: www.gbpcomputing.co.uk
:
:

 

[Gordon]

Gordon

It has been standard practice to rename normal.dot as normal.old or
normal.bad since the year dot. The majority of inexperienced users
are going to have saved all their custom macros, AutoText, Toolbars,
etc., in normal.dot. In one deletion, they lose possibly hours of
work.

Renaming normal.dot ensures that all customisations (stored in their
old normal.dot) can be recovered using Organiser.

yes I know that all the customisation is lost - in the circles I inhabited,
deleting WAS the standard answer. There are plenty of references to it (some
even by MVPs!) on Google.

 

[Doug Robbins]

Probably with a follow up admonition from Suzanne.

--
Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be
interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a paid
consulting basis.

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

And the worst-case scenario is that Normal.dot wasn't the problem at all, so
all the customizations have been lost with no benefit. Although there are
some customizations that can't be retrieved via the Organizer, there are
other ways of retrieving them provided Normal.dot has been renamed, and of
course if it proves that renaming Normal.dot doesn't solve the problem, it
can be renamed back to Normal.dot without loss.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Amedee Van Gasse]

Suzanne S. Barnhill shared this with us in
microsoft.public.word.newusers:

How do you get "IT" out of "Interim Systems and Management
Accounting"?

www.gbpcomputing.co.uk
<quote>
GBP Computing Ltd
Your One-Stop Small Business Support Service in and around North
Staffordshire and the Peak District. Book-keeping, Management
Accounting and IT Support Services for small businesses
</quote>

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

But not everyone who works for an IT firm is involved in IT, just as not
everyone who works at Ford Motor Company is engaged in making cars.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Doug Robbins]

Not just an employee, a Director.

--
Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be
interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a paid
consulting basis.

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I gather that directors are more hands-on in UK companies, but in the U.S.,
directors may know less about the firm's nitty-gritty business than the
front-office receptionist.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Amedee Van Gasse]

Suzanne S. Barnhill shared this with us in
microsoft.public.word.newusers:

I gather that directors are more hands-on in UK companies, but in the
U.S., directors may know less about the firm's nitty-gritty business
than the front-office receptionist.

In .be, neither the director nor the receptionist know anything. But
that's material for another rant.