My normal.dot template has changed its appearance! How do I change it back?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jack Fu
  • Start date Start date
J

Jack Fu

Recently, when I opened a new Word document in Print layout mode (View =>
Print layout) and with the normal template, the page looks different than it
used to. The shape of the whole page is more sqat than it used to be. The
ruler on the left is all white. It does not show margins at the top and
bottom as it used to.Also, the first character I type appears right at the
top edge of the page, rather than some distance down as it used it.

How do I change the appearance of a Word file with normal template back to
the way it used to appear? Many thanks!

Jack
 
Jack said:
Recently, when I opened a new Word document in Print layout mode
(View => Print layout) and with the normal template, the page looks
different than it used to. The shape of the whole page is more sqat
than it used to be. The ruler on the left is all white. It does not
show margins at the top and bottom as it used to.Also, the first
character I type appears right at the top edge of the page, rather
than some distance down as it used it.

How do I change the appearance of a Word file with normal template
back to the way it used to appear? Many thanks!

Jack
Click to expand...

You have clicked in the white space between the pages and toggled the
display, which is all too easy to do :(
Click in the tiny space between the top of the page and the ruler or Tools >
options > view > show white space between pages.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
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Thanks Graham, you've solved my problem!

Whoda thunk of clicking in that tiny space between the top of the page and
the top ruler??? Now that's what I call intuitive.

Jack
 
I cannot think of a reason why anyone would want this facility and it would
suit me if it could be disabled permanently as I find it very irritating.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
 
It can be very useful. I work mostly in Normal view, but if I worked in
Print Layout view more I'd probably use it more since it gives you the
WYSIWYGness of Print Layout view while still displaying continuous text as
in Normal view. It's easier to read for content when you're not having to
skip over headers and footers, and only when you're actually editing headers
and footers do you really need to see them. The only really deceptive thing
about hiding them is that you also hide any extra white space at the end of
a page, so it's more difficult to spot "short" pages.

--
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 always work in print layout view (unless editing very large documents when
the pagination becomes a problem). I find Word's readiness (especially Word
2003 - as I never had this problem in earlier versions) to change this
setting if you happen to let the cursor wander off the page most irritating.

I would rather see my headers :)

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
 
I don't mind the existence of this feature and I agree with you that for
some people it can be very handy. What I do mind is that Word does not give
the user an easy, intuitive way to restore the old appearance of the page
when he has accidentally and unintentionally got rid of the white spaces. To
me, the first thing I naturally think of when I want to restore the old
appearance is to look for a menu item under View, but of course there is no
such item. I looked in help under templates, thinking that maybe somehow I
had done some damage to the normal.dot template, but that search led
nowhere. I continued to search help under every topic I could think of that
could solve my problem, but after I while I saw that I could search till
kingdom come and not find the answer I need, and that is when I gave up and
entered the message in the news group. (Where, thanks to Graham, I got my
answer.)

It never occurred to me to search under "white space", which is in fact the
item you need to search under to find the answer.

As I said, not very intuitive. What's all this about "usability"?

:-)
 
There is definitely a missed opportunity in Help. If you search for "View
header," one of the Help topics is "Troubleshoot headers and footers." The
first item is "The headers and footers have disappeared." Unfortunately, the
Help topic only tells you to switch to Print Layout view because headers and
footers don't appear or print in Web Layout view (they don't in Normal view,
either, but Help also doesn't mention this).

--
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.
 
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