changing the new document that comes up when you open Word

[Guest]

My daughter is dyslexic and would like the default document that comes up
when she clicks New, document to have a coloured background and be set to 1.5
line spacing along with some other modifications to the font. I have tried
changing an altered document as normal.dot but when I reopen a document it is
the original default. I have tried saving a new template called Katy.dot but
still the original document comes up when I open Word. How do I get Word to
open Katy.dot instead of normal.dot? Or how can I modify the normal.dot and
get it to stick?
Lynne

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CustomizeNormalTemplate.htm .

 

[Guest]

Hi, Lynne:

You want to launch MS Word and use the File > Open command to browse to the
NORMAL.DOT file. If your computer is set up under Windows XP and has
multiple user accounts, you will want to browse to the folder for your
daughter. The path is like this for a computer that has multiple accounts.
Yours might have one less level but should be similar.

c:\Documents & Settings\Username\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates\Normal.dot

When you open the Normal.dot file, make the color, line-spacing and font
changes that your doaughter is requesting and then click File > Save.

That should do the trick for you.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your replies. I have previously looked at this page and attempted
to do this. When I navigate to the templates folder through explorer and
open normal.dot with a right click, the file opens with a coloured
background. However when I go back to Word a white page opens when I click
on New.
I have gone into Tools, Options, file locations in Word, highlighted
templates and clicked modify location but the dialogue box that shows up is
blank with no files showing (even though if I navigate up the folders it
appears to be the right folder). the 'modify location' dialog box does not
appear to have anywhere that I could show hidden files if that is the problem

 

[Guest]

Hi
Please ignore the previous post as after a couple of hours of puzzling I
have realised that the colored background does show but only in web layout
view. Is this to be expected? Is there any way to get the coloured
background to show in other views?
Thank you for the help you have given me.
Lynne

 

[Jay Freedman]

I assume you used the Format > Background dialog to set the color.
That color should be visible in the Web, Page Layout, and Reading
views, but not in the Normal or Outline views.

That behavior can't be changed, but there is a different way to affect
the background. It will be visible in all views, and also in all
programs that use the Windows default background color. If you don't
mind making that sweeping a change, here's how:

Right-click a blank area of the Windows desktop and choose Properties.
Click the Appearance tab. Click the Advanced button. Set the Item
dropdown to say Window. Click the down arrow next to the Color 1 box
to drop down the palette. You can choose a color there, or click the
Other button to open the big color-picker dialog and pick any shade
your computer can display. After choosing your preferred color, click
OK in all dialogs.

Once you've done this, you should go back to edit Normal.dot and
remove the background color setting there, as it's now redundant.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Slight correction: the "background" is displayed in Web Layout and Reading
Layout views, but not in Print Layout view (at least not in Word 2003).

--
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.

 

[Jay Freedman]

You're half correct: You have to open Tools > Options > View and check
the box "Background colors and images (Print view only)" to get it to
appear in Print Layout view. IIRC, this is turned off by default.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Interesting. I'd never noticed that setting (since I don't use backgrounds);
I was aware of the setting on the Print tab.

--
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.

You're half correct: You have to open Tools > Options > View and check
the box "Background colors and images (Print view only)" to get it to
appear in Print Layout view. IIRC, this is turned off by default.



--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup

so all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Many thanks to all of you who have helped me with this. Katy will be
thrilled that she can set up her computer to suit her. I really appreciate
the time you have all taken to reply to my queries.
Lynne