"Save changes to Normal" prompt when No Changes were Made

[Fishie]

My workstation was recently upgraded from Office XP to
Office 2003. In either version of Word (2002 or 2003),
whenever I merely open Word and close Word (nothing
else), I get the prompt, "Changes have been made that
affect the global template, Normal.dot. Do you want to
save those change?" and even when I answer "No" to this
message, the Normal.dot shows that it was modified at the
time I closed Word. Any idea why this is happening and
what to do about it?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Disable the Office Plug-in in Norton AntiVirus.

--
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.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

I'm not sure why it shows it was modified. You get this prompt because
changes _were_ made to normal.dot, even though you didn't make changes.

The usual suspects for this message are some poorly written Add-Ins. Many of
these are commercial software written by companies that ought to know
better. Take a look at <URL:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm> to see
how to find what ones are installed on your system.

You may get advice to turn off the prompt. That is poor advice; it is like
advising someone to take the batteries out of the smoke detector because it
keeps buzzing.
--

Charles Kenyon

See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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[Fishie]

I have removed all templates from my Word Startup folder
(global templates), all COM Add-Ins, AND have deleted my
Normal.dot so that my computer can create a new
Normal.dot. I continue to get the prompt asking if I
wish to save changes to Normal.dot whenever I merely open
Word and close Word, without opening any documents or
recording any macros. Any other ideas?

 

[Charles Kenyon]

How up to date is your virus protection?

If you have Norton AV, disable the Office Plug-In.
--

Charles Kenyon

See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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[Guest]

It is updated daily; we use McAfee.

-----Original Message-----
How up to date is your virus protection?

If you have Norton AV, disable the Office Plug-In.
--

Charles Kenyon

See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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.

 

[Guest]

Also, I can tell that Normal.dot is open in the
background because every time I close Word, I
see "Normal.dot" at the top of the Word window, in the
title bar, just before it closes completely (in case this
information is helpful to you). I appreciate your
assistance, Mr. Kenyon!

 

[Fishie]

I just tried deleting Normal.dot again. When I OPEN Word
the first time after doing this, I get the "Changes have
been made that affect the global template, normal.dot.
Do you want to save those changes?" Maybe that's to be
expected?? But I also get the message again when I close
word - this time and any other times after a new
Normal.dot has been created. Frustrating!!

 

[Charles Kenyon]

You will get it whenever a new normal.dot is created. The creation of a new
normal.dot is a "change" in normal.dot. You should answer "yes" the first
time.
--

Charles Kenyon

See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
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from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Fishie

Are you using Microsoft's Remove Hidden Data tool? If so, that will cause
the "Changes have been made..." message. Use the control panel > Add or
Remove Programs > Remove Hidden Data Tool to remove it.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word