Prompted to save changes when no changes are made

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeni Q
  • Start date Start date
J

Jeni Q

Greetings. If this is not an appropriate place for this post please redirect
me - I couldn't find a more general kind of category.

I have a user who is complaining that in Word 2000 (and Excel 2000), he is
prompted with "Do you want to save the changes you made to 'File Name.doc'?"
every time he opens and closes a document. Typically, a user is only
prompted with this message when changes have been made. In his case, he
receives the prompt when no changes have been made. This appears to be
happening with all documents, not just a select few. The Update Fields when
Printing selection is unchecked, and the problem is reproducible without
printing the document. If the document is prompting to save changes because
of a field, what is activating the field when the user does absolutely
nothing to the document?

I have tried renaming all of his normal.dot tempaltes to normal.dot.old so
that it would recreate the normal template, but this had no therapuetic
effect.

I would love some suggestions here. We're running Win2KPro SP4 with Office
2000SP3.
Thanks in advance for your kind advice.

Jennifer
 
"all of his normal.dot templates"
There should only be one per user unless he is a Word consultant or
developer.

If you press Alt-F9 you'll get a display of field codes in the document.

I believe the Date and Time fields are updated when the document is opened.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
 
Are you referring to inserted Date and Time fields in a specific document?
Or are you referring to the document's properties? If you are referring to
specific, inserted Date and Time fields in a document, then that would mean
that every Word document he opens has one of those fields in his document,
which I just don't think is reasonable to suspect. Add to that that his
system is behaving differently from everyone else's - how/why could that be?
It doesn't make sense. If you are referring to the document properties then
that is just crazy. ;)

There are legitimate multiple copies of the normal.dot template. There is
the one where Microsoft puts it w/o asking, and then there's one for each
user profile that is created on the computer. At any rate, multiple
normal.dot's is not what is causing the problem.

Any other ideas or maybe troubleshooting steps?

Thanks,
Jennifer

message : "all of his normal.dot templates"
: There should only be one per user unless he is a Word consultant or
: developer.
:
: If you press Alt-F9 you'll get a display of field codes in the document.
:
: I believe the Date and Time fields are updated when the document is
opened.
: --
: Charles Kenyon
:
: Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word
:
: Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
: Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide
:
: See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
: --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
: This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
: and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
: from my ignorance and your wisdom.
:
: : > Greetings. If this is not an appropriate place for this post please
: > redirect
: > me - I couldn't find a more general kind of category.
: >
: > I have a user who is complaining that in Word 2000 (and Excel 2000), he
is
: > prompted with "Do you want to save the changes you made to 'File
: > Name.doc'?"
: > every time he opens and closes a document. Typically, a user is only
: > prompted with this message when changes have been made. In his case, he
: > receives the prompt when no changes have been made. This appears to be
: > happening with all documents, not just a select few. The Update Fields
: > when
: > Printing selection is unchecked, and the problem is reproducible without
: > printing the document. If the document is prompting to save changes
: > because
: > of a field, what is activating the field when the user does absolutely
: > nothing to the document?
: >
: > I have tried renaming all of his normal.dot tempaltes to normal.dot.old
so
: > that it would recreate the normal template, but this had no therapuetic
: > effect.
: >
: > I would love some suggestions here. We're running Win2KPro SP4 with
Office
: > 2000SP3.
: > Thanks in advance for your kind advice.
: >
: > Jennifer
: >
: >
:
:
 
Start Word in Safe Mode: from Start, Run, type in

winword /a

and press enter. Word will open in its default install mode. Now close Word
immediately. Does it still prompt to save normal.dot? If it doesn't, it
indicates that there is an add-in or custom macro that is dirtying the open
documents even though they are not being edited. Check the following FAQ for
more information:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm

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

: Are you referring to inserted Date and Time fields in a specific document?
: Or are you referring to the document's properties? If you are referring to
: specific, inserted Date and Time fields in a document, then that would
mean
: that every Word document he opens has one of those fields in his document,
: which I just don't think is reasonable to suspect. Add to that that his
: system is behaving differently from everyone else's - how/why could that
be?
: It doesn't make sense. If you are referring to the document properties
then
: that is just crazy. ;)
:
: There are legitimate multiple copies of the normal.dot template. There is
: the one where Microsoft puts it w/o asking, and then there's one for each
: user profile that is created on the computer. At any rate, multiple
: normal.dot's is not what is causing the problem.
:
: Any other ideas or maybe troubleshooting steps?
:
: Thanks,
: Jennifer
:
: message :: "all of his normal.dot templates"
:: There should only be one per user unless he is a Word consultant or
:: developer.
::
:: If you press Alt-F9 you'll get a display of field codes in the document.
::
:: I believe the Date and Time fields are updated when the document is
: opened.
:: --
:: Charles Kenyon
::
:: Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word
::
:: Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
:: Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide
::
:: See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
:: --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
:: This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
:: and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
:: from my ignorance and your wisdom.
::
:: :: > Greetings. If this is not an appropriate place for this post please
:: > redirect
:: > me - I couldn't find a more general kind of category.
:: >
:: > I have a user who is complaining that in Word 2000 (and Excel 2000), he
: is
:: > prompted with "Do you want to save the changes you made to 'File
:: > Name.doc'?"
:: > every time he opens and closes a document. Typically, a user is only
:: > prompted with this message when changes have been made. In his case, he
:: > receives the prompt when no changes have been made. This appears to be
:: > happening with all documents, not just a select few. The Update Fields
:: > when
:: > Printing selection is unchecked, and the problem is reproducible
without
:: > printing the document. If the document is prompting to save changes
:: > because
:: > of a field, what is activating the field when the user does absolutely
:: > nothing to the document?
:: >
:: > I have tried renaming all of his normal.dot tempaltes to normal.dot.old
: so
:: > that it would recreate the normal template, but this had no therapuetic
:: > effect.
:: >
:: > I would love some suggestions here. We're running Win2KPro SP4 with
: Office
:: > 2000SP3.
:: > Thanks in advance for your kind advice.
:: >
:: > Jennifer
:: >
:: >
::
::
:
:
 
Thanks, I'll try these steps. By the way, he is NOT getting prompted to save
normal.dot. He is getting prompted to save every individual file, regardless
of whether or not any changes have been made to the file.


"TF" <terryfarrell%40%6d%73%6e%2ecom> wrote in message
: Start Word in Safe Mode: from Start, Run, type in
:
: winword /a
:
: and press enter. Word will open in its default install mode. Now close
Word
: immediately. Does it still prompt to save normal.dot? If it doesn't, it
: indicates that there is an add-in or custom macro that is dirtying the
open
: documents even though they are not being edited. Check the following FAQ
for
: more information:
: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm
:
:
 
In Word 2002 and 2003, there is a simple explanation for this, but it would
not be applicable to Word 2000.

--
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.
 
I have a user who is complaining that in Word 2000 (and Excel 2000), he is
prompted with "Do you want to save the changes you made to 'File Name.doc'?"
every time he opens and closes a document.
Click to expand...

Isn't it aggravating? I get those "false positives" a lot too.

Sometimes it's fields that auto-update, but sometimes it's not.

(Excel does the same annoying thing, when I open my gradebook
spreadsheet, look at it, and close it.)
 
In Word 2002 and 2003, there is a simple explanation for this, but it would
not be applicable to Word 2000.
Click to expand...

I've got Word 2003 -- could you share that simple explanation
please? :-)
 
Smart Tags. See "WD2002: You Are Prompted to Save Changes When You Close a
Document Even Though You Have Made No Changes"
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=816473

--
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.
 
Same applies to "Intelli," as in IntelliSense, the nuisance that replaces
your "misspellings" with the closest word in Word's limited lexicon.

--
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.
 
Smart Tags. See "WD2002: You Are Prompted to Save Changes When You Close a
Document Even Though You Have Made No Changes"
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=816473
Click to expand...

And a second thanks. I searched at Microsoft's site for similar
message in Excel and found that it is the cell() references in my
worksheet that get "updated" whenever I open it, thus giving the
spurious "Save your changes?" prompt.

I can't do anythjing about it, but at least I know now why it's
happening.
 
FWIW, if I move the insertion point in an Excel sheet I'm prompted to save
it.

--
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.
 
The really weird thing is that I feel like I've fixed this problem in the
past! Wish I knew how...


: "Jeni Q" wrote in microsoft.public.word.newusers:
: >I have a user who is complaining that in Word 2000 (and Excel 2000), he
is
: >prompted with "Do you want to save the changes you made to 'File
Name.doc'?"
: >every time he opens and closes a document.
:
: Isn't it aggravating? I get those "false positives" a lot too.
:
: Sometimes it's fields that auto-update, but sometimes it's not.
:
: (Excel does the same annoying thing, when I open my gradebook
: spreadsheet, look at it, and close it.)
:
: --
:
: Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
: http://OakRoadSystems.com/
 
Aha! The problem was the Office 2003 Flipped Pictures Add-In.
It checks a setting in every file that is opened, so it appears to be making
a change to the file even when you don't touch the document.

: Greetings. If this is not an appropriate place for this post please
redirect
: me - I couldn't find a more general kind of category.
:
: I have a user who is complaining that in Word 2000 (and Excel 2000), he is
: prompted with "Do you want to save the changes you made to 'File
Name.doc'?"
: every time he opens and closes a document. Typically, a user is only
: prompted with this message when changes have been made. In his case, he
: receives the prompt when no changes have been made. This appears to be
: happening with all documents, not just a select few. The Update Fields
when
: Printing selection is unchecked, and the problem is reproducible without
: printing the document. If the document is prompting to save changes
because
: of a field, what is activating the field when the user does absolutely
: nothing to the document?
:
: I have tried renaming all of his normal.dot tempaltes to normal.dot.old so
: that it would recreate the normal template, but this had no therapuetic
: effect.
:
: I would love some suggestions here. We're running Win2KPro SP4 with Office
: 2000SP3.
: Thanks in advance for your kind advice.
:
: Jennifer
:
:
 
Thanks for letting us know. It adds one more possible culprit to the (long)
list of Add-Ins.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
 
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