Normal.dot Word 2003

[Allan Bach]

I have Word 2003 and Word 2007 on my Desktop and Laptop. Word 2003 will not
create a normal.dot template on my Desktop PC. If I attempt to make a default
change, I am warned about the effect on all documents base on Normal
Template. However, no changes ever become permanent. When I open Word again,
I'm back to the original settings. There is never a normal.dot file in the
Users subfolder (I have Vista Ultimate)

(My laptop is fine.) I've done the registry fixes (delete options, data) and
have uninstalled Word 2003, removed all registry entries and folders for
Office 11, then rebooted and reinstalled.

I don't have a clue as to why Word will not create a normal.dot. I've tried
a search for ~normal.dot while Word is running, with no success. If I change
the location for normal.dot, it still does not allow changes. I have no
problem with any other templates.

Word 2007 works fine. I'm stumped and would appreciate any ideas.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you have Adobe Acrobat, that could be the problem. See the last section
of http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adobe_acrobat_toolbar.htm

 

[Allan Bach]

Suzanne,

Thanks for the reply. I have tried the suggestions but no change. This is
very odd. I can create any other tempate name and save it, but Word will not
create a normal.dot.

--
Allan

If you have Adobe Acrobat, that could be the problem. See the last section
of http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adobe_acrobat_toolbar.htm

 

[Allan Bach]

Suzanne's post opened my thoughts to look for some add-in that might be
causing my problem. I had nothing in the startup folder, so I looked at a
registry key for Word add-ins and began to disable each one listed in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Word\Addins

It turned out to be a WinZip Email Companion for Word add-in. By disabling
this, Word now creates and saves normal.dot.

Since most users do not use WinZip, this is one of those issues that may be
rare, but now I can make changes to Word and have them saved.

--
Allan

Suzanne,

Thanks for the reply. I have tried the suggestions but no change. This is
very odd. I can create any other tempate name and save it, but Word will not
create a normal.dot.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Thanks for adding to our knowledge of add-ins that erroneously mark
Normal.dot as unchanged. The workaround for this problem (as I believe
Graham points out) is to use File | Save All to force Word to save
Normal.dot immediately.

I do use WinZip but apparently don't have that add-in.

 

[Allan Bach]

I did try the Shift-File Save All to no avail.

"It's always something"

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

That certainly seems more serious. I can understand an add-in preventing
Normal.dot from being saved at shutdown, but if it prevents it from being
saved at all, this behavior should be reported to the WinZip folks.

 

[Allan Bach]

wrote to WinZip and told them of my problem. Their reply was:

"Thank you for the information. We are aware of an issue with the e-mail
companion product. WinZip E-Mail Companion is compatible with Office 2002,
Office 2003 and Office 2007 of which Microsoft Word is a part"

So, how should one interpret the above? Maybe "It's a compatible problem" or
"We know of a problem, but don't want our customers to know" or "Sorry but
the product is already paid for - you're on your own"

Do I sound cynical?

(How I long for the kind of tech support I used to receive from the old
WordPerfect folks out of Utah)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Maybe they were trying to imply that you have some version other than XP
(there is no Office 2002), 2003, or 2007, which might let them off the hook.
But yeah, it's not a very satisfactory response.