i want to consider migrating to office 2003, but haven't figured out a way to
'import' or replace its 'normal.dot' with the one used in my word 97
application.
i have many macros that i use for speeding my medical transcription of voice
files and would be forced to manually re-enter all of them if i can't
effectively use them from the normal.dot-word-97 file.
thanks in advance for your advice and suggestions!
If you simply upgrade by installing Word 2003 on top of Word 97, and
all goes as it should, you'll find that the old normal.dot works
perfectly well in the new program. The first time you close Word 2003
after the installation, it will save the template in the new format
and you're all set.
If that makes you nervous -- and I'm the last to say everything always
works right! -- you can take some steps before the upgrade to make
sure you can sidestep any problems that may occur.
First, read and heed the steps in
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/FilesToBackup.htm. This isn't
specific to upgrades, it's common sense protection against any kind of
problem.
In addition, open the VBA editor in Word 97, select View > Project
Explorer, expand the Normal icon, and expand the Modules icon under
that. Select each module and click File > Export File, select a
location and filename, and save. That will create a .bas file for each
module, containing the code of the macros in that module. Store the
..bas files safely on removable media. After the upgrade, if the macros
don't come along nicely, you can go into the VBA editor in the new
normal.dot and use File > Import File to bring all the .bas files in
as modules there.
Learn to use the Organizer to copy styles, toolbars, macros, and
autotext entries from one template to another.
One caveat: Much has changed in Word and in VBA between Word 97 and
Word 2003. A few things in your macros may not work the same way.
