Bob,
After Barb Meek wrote, "the directions for even locating it [Normal.dotx]
are inaccurate in Microsoft's help center," you asked, "Can you provide a
link or a title of the help page that appears to have the incorrect
information?"
Having just gotten Word 2007 two days ago and like Barb wanting to edit
Normal.dotm, I believe I may have experienced her problem.
But there were two different ways in which Word Help seemed to mislead me.
(1) In Word Help, I searched for "Normal.dotx." The first result was "Change
the Normal template (Normal.dotm)." Clicking this result provided the
following directions:
"Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Open. ... In Microsoft
Windows Vista: Click Templates, and then double-click the Normal.dotm file to
open it."
Clicking the Microsoft Office Button, then clicking Open, brings up Windows
Explorer inside the dialog box. "Templates," of course, is the first item in
the navigation pane on the left, in the top half called "Favorite Links."
However, previously, while in Windows Explorer itself, I had moved the
horizontal bar in the navigation pane upward so that I could see more of the
directory tree in the bottom half ofd the navigation pane. In fact, I had
moved the bar so high that I covered over all of the "Favorite Links.," I
thought to myself, "Who needs 'Favorite Links'? I can always find what I need
via the directory tree."
Consequently, when Windows Explorer appeared in the Word dialog box, there
was no "Templates" item for me to click on. It seemed that Windows Help was
misdirecting me. Perhaps this is why it seemed to Barb that "the directions
for even locating [Normal.dotx] are inaccurate in Microsoft's help center."
(2) The other possibility is this.
In Word Help, I searched for "Normal.dotx." The fourterenth result was
"Create a new template." Since I couldn't find Normal.dotx, I thought to
myself, "Perhaps I'll create my own template and tell Word 2007 to always
load it."
Clicking on "Create a new template" provided the following directions:
"You can find Word templates for most kinds of documents on Microsoft Office
Online. If you have an Internet connection, click the Microsoft Office
Button, click New, and then click the template category that you want."
Clicking the Microsoft Office Button, then clicking New, brings up the "New
Document" page. In the left pane, there are two headings: "Templates" and
"Microsoft Office Online." But because they have gray backgrounds, I did not
realize that they were two headers. I did not even see the "Templates"
heading immediately under "New Documents"; and I assumed that "Microsoft
Office Online" was in a gray rectangle because Word Help was highlighting it
by default. So the templates that I saw in the right pane -- "Blank Document"
etc. -- were assumed by me to be the only offerings available under
"Microsoft Office Online."
Now, of course, I realize that "Templates" is the first heading, with four
items under it, and that "Microsoft Office Online" is the second heading,
with many items under it. But on first seeing the "New Documents" page, I was
quite confused.
My confusion in the two instances above are just the sort of mistake that
new users make. If it is possible to bring these difficulties to the
attention of the writers of Word's help files or of Microsoft's usability lab
workers, I -- and probably many other new users as well -- would be most
grateful.
Bob Buckland ?:-) said:
Hi Barb,
With a blank document open, try using Alt, T, I
and then in the dialog that comes up if the Attached template listed is 'Normal' click on the
