Standard text disappearing in Normal.dot

[Dave McNicholls]

We want to change the normal.dot footer for every user on every machine in
the domain, so the footer displays standard doc management text - change
dates, versions, authors and the like.
However (and this is where it gets odd), if we put text in the normal.dot,
save, close, and create a document based on it, we can't see the text.
If the template is renamed - to "abnormal.dot", for example, save, close,
and create a document based on it, the boilerplate text appears!
Freeeeeky.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

FWIW, what you are trying to do is not recommended, for two reasons:

1. Any text that you put in Normal.dot is likely to show up where you least
expect it; at the very least, the presence of a header/footer will throw off
the alignment of labels.

2. Normal.dot is meant to be a personal scratch pad for each user's
customizations. If you want a standard corporate template, create one, put
it on a network share, and point each user's Workgroup Templates to that
folder. Then instruct the users in the use of that and other templates
(ideally, one template for each type of document produced).