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#1
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Where has my normal.dot gone?!
I want to change my default margins in Word.
I know that to do this I need to change the normal.dot template - but I can't find it anywhere! There is no file by this name in the location that Word Help says it should be. I have searched my entire computer for a file of this name - the search function cannot find one. I have also searched my entire computer for all .dot files - I still can't find one called 'normal'. Clearly there must be some template file somewhere that Word is using to base my documents on, but I do not know what it is called or where it is. The folder in which Word Help says the normal template should be saved is completely empty. As an alternative way of changing my margins, I opened up a new blank document, made the page margin changes I wanted and clicked on the "Default" option in the dialogue box. It said it had saved my changes, but next time I opened up a new document in Word, the margins were the same as ever and my changes had not been registered. So where has my normal.dot gone? What template is Word using as its default? What is it called (since it's not normal.dot) and where should I look for it (since it's not saved where normal.dot should be found). I am using Word 2003 from Office Professional Edition 2003. This is the first time that I have tried to change anything in the normal template, so I don't know if it used to be there and has disappeared or got corrupted, or if there has been something funny going on ever since I installed it. Thanks for any help! Nicky -- Nickyxx5 |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Where has my normal.dot gone?!
Just change the margins in Page Setup and click on default, then respond Yes
to save the normal template with those margins. -- Rae Drysdale "Nickyxx5" wrote: I want to change my default margins in Word. I know that to do this I need to change the normal.dot template - but I can't find it anywhere! There is no file by this name in the location that Word Help says it should be. I have searched my entire computer for a file of this name - the search function cannot find one. I have also searched my entire computer for all .dot files - I still can't find one called 'normal'. Clearly there must be some template file somewhere that Word is using to base my documents on, but I do not know what it is called or where it is. The folder in which Word Help says the normal template should be saved is completely empty. As an alternative way of changing my margins, I opened up a new blank document, made the page margin changes I wanted and clicked on the "Default" option in the dialogue box. It said it had saved my changes, but next time I opened up a new document in Word, the margins were the same as ever and my changes had not been registered. So where has my normal.dot gone? What template is Word using as its default? What is it called (since it's not normal.dot) and where should I look for it (since it's not saved where normal.dot should be found). I am using Word 2003 from Office Professional Edition 2003. This is the first time that I have tried to change anything in the normal template, so I don't know if it used to be there and has disappeared or got corrupted, or if there has been something funny going on ever since I installed it. Thanks for any help! Nicky -- Nickyxx5 |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Where has my normal.dot gone?!
As I said originally, I'm afraid I already tried that and it didn't work.
Thanks for trying to help though! -- Nickyxx5 "Rae Drysdale" wrote: Just change the margins in Page Setup and click on default, then respond Yes to save the normal template with those margins. -- Rae Drysdale "Nickyxx5" wrote: I want to change my default margins in Word. I know that to do this I need to change the normal.dot template - but I can't find it anywhere! There is no file by this name in the location that Word Help says it should be. I have searched my entire computer for a file of this name - the search function cannot find one. I have also searched my entire computer for all .dot files - I still can't find one called 'normal'. Clearly there must be some template file somewhere that Word is using to base my documents on, but I do not know what it is called or where it is. The folder in which Word Help says the normal template should be saved is completely empty. As an alternative way of changing my margins, I opened up a new blank document, made the page margin changes I wanted and clicked on the "Default" option in the dialogue box. It said it had saved my changes, but next time I opened up a new document in Word, the margins were the same as ever and my changes had not been registered. So where has my normal.dot gone? What template is Word using as its default? What is it called (since it's not normal.dot) and where should I look for it (since it's not saved where normal.dot should be found). I am using Word 2003 from Office Professional Edition 2003. This is the first time that I have tried to change anything in the normal template, so I don't know if it used to be there and has disappeared or got corrupted, or if there has been something funny going on ever since I installed it. Thanks for any help! Nicky -- Nickyxx5 |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Where has my normal.dot gone?!
Try this link to see if it helps
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/...ocNotBlank.htm -- Rae Drysdale "Nickyxx5" wrote: As I said originally, I'm afraid I already tried that and it didn't work. Thanks for trying to help though! -- Nickyxx5 "Rae Drysdale" wrote: Just change the margins in Page Setup and click on default, then respond Yes to save the normal template with those margins. -- Rae Drysdale "Nickyxx5" wrote: I want to change my default margins in Word. I know that to do this I need to change the normal.dot template - but I can't find it anywhere! There is no file by this name in the location that Word Help says it should be. I have searched my entire computer for a file of this name - the search function cannot find one. I have also searched my entire computer for all .dot files - I still can't find one called 'normal'. Clearly there must be some template file somewhere that Word is using to base my documents on, but I do not know what it is called or where it is. The folder in which Word Help says the normal template should be saved is completely empty. As an alternative way of changing my margins, I opened up a new blank document, made the page margin changes I wanted and clicked on the "Default" option in the dialogue box. It said it had saved my changes, but next time I opened up a new document in Word, the margins were the same as ever and my changes had not been registered. So where has my normal.dot gone? What template is Word using as its default? What is it called (since it's not normal.dot) and where should I look for it (since it's not saved where normal.dot should be found). I am using Word 2003 from Office Professional Edition 2003. This is the first time that I have tried to change anything in the normal template, so I don't know if it used to be there and has disappeared or got corrupted, or if there has been something funny going on ever since I installed it. Thanks for any help! Nicky -- Nickyxx5 |
#5
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Where has my normal.dot gone?!
I should start giving a better place for your normal.dot.
The default directory is located in your profile. And mostly the specific directory is hidden. Just change the user template folder via Tools|Options, tab File locations to a directory like c:\templates\ or \my documents\my template\ Close MS Word and Outlook, start MS Word again and your old normal.dot won't be used anymore. After you've changed something in your autotext, shortcuts, or if you change your margins and choose for default, the normal.dot will appear in your template directory. In case you want to change the normal.dot or default behaviour of MS Word, just open the normal.dot (via File|Open in MS Word), change and save it. Good luck Rae Drysdale schreef: Try this link to see if it helps http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/...ocNotBlank.htm -- Rae Drysdale "Nickyxx5" wrote: As I said originally, I'm afraid I already tried that and it didn't work. Thanks for trying to help though! -- Nickyxx5 "Rae Drysdale" wrote: Just change the margins in Page Setup and click on default, then respond Yes to save the normal template with those margins. -- Rae Drysdale "Nickyxx5" wrote: I want to change my default margins in Word. I know that to do this I need to change the normal.dot template - but I can't find it anywhere! There is no file by this name in the location that Word Help says it should be. I have searched my entire computer for a file of this name - the search function cannot find one. I have also searched my entire computer for all .dot files - I still can't find one called 'normal'. Clearly there must be some template file somewhere that Word is using to base my documents on, but I do not know what it is called or where it is. The folder in which Word Help says the normal template should be saved is completely empty. As an alternative way of changing my margins, I opened up a new blank document, made the page margin changes I wanted and clicked on the "Default" option in the dialogue box. It said it had saved my changes, but next time I opened up a new document in Word, the margins were the same as ever and my changes had not been registered. So where has my normal.dot gone? What template is Word using as its default? What is it called (since it's not normal.dot) and where should I look for it (since it's not saved where normal.dot should be found). I am using Word 2003 from Office Professional Edition 2003. This is the first time that I have tried to change anything in the normal template, so I don't know if it used to be there and has disappeared or got corrupted, or if there has been something funny going on ever since I installed it. Thanks for any help! Nicky -- Nickyxx5 |
#6
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Where has my normal.dot gone?!
If you have Adobe Acrobat 7 installed, see the last portion of
http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adob...at_toolbar.htm -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Nickyxx5" wrote in message ... I want to change my default margins in Word. I know that to do this I need to change the normal.dot template - but I can't find it anywhere! There is no file by this name in the location that Word Help says it should be. I have searched my entire computer for a file of this name - the search function cannot find one. I have also searched my entire computer for all .dot files - I still can't find one called 'normal'. Clearly there must be some template file somewhere that Word is using to base my documents on, but I do not know what it is called or where it is. The folder in which Word Help says the normal template should be saved is completely empty. As an alternative way of changing my margins, I opened up a new blank document, made the page margin changes I wanted and clicked on the "Default" option in the dialogue box. It said it had saved my changes, but next time I opened up a new document in Word, the margins were the same as ever and my changes had not been registered. So where has my normal.dot gone? What template is Word using as its default? What is it called (since it's not normal.dot) and where should I look for it (since it's not saved where normal.dot should be found). I am using Word 2003 from Office Professional Edition 2003. This is the first time that I have tried to change anything in the normal template, so I don't know if it used to be there and has disappeared or got corrupted, or if there has been something funny going on ever since I installed it. Thanks for any help! Nicky -- Nickyxx5 |
#7
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Where has my normal.dot gone?!
Normal.dot is a hidden file in the folder indicates at tools options
file locations user templates. Set Windows explorer to display hidden files (and the extensions of files for which the file type is known) and you should have no trouble locating it. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Nickyxx5 wrote: As I said originally, I'm afraid I already tried that and it didn't work. Thanks for trying to help though! Just change the margins in Page Setup and click on default, then respond Yes to save the normal template with those margins. -- Rae Drysdale "Nickyxx5" wrote: I want to change my default margins in Word. I know that to do this I need to change the normal.dot template - but I can't find it anywhere! There is no file by this name in the location that Word Help says it should be. I have searched my entire computer for a file of this name - the search function cannot find one. I have also searched my entire computer for all .dot files - I still can't find one called 'normal'. Clearly there must be some template file somewhere that Word is using to base my documents on, but I do not know what it is called or where it is. The folder in which Word Help says the normal template should be saved is completely empty. As an alternative way of changing my margins, I opened up a new blank document, made the page margin changes I wanted and clicked on the "Default" option in the dialogue box. It said it had saved my changes, but next time I opened up a new document in Word, the margins were the same as ever and my changes had not been registered. So where has my normal.dot gone? What template is Word using as its default? What is it called (since it's not normal.dot) and where should I look for it (since it's not saved where normal.dot should be found). I am using Word 2003 from Office Professional Edition 2003. This is the first time that I have tried to change anything in the normal template, so I don't know if it used to be there and has disappeared or got corrupted, or if there has been something funny going on ever since I installed it. Thanks for any help! Nicky -- Nickyxx5 |
#8
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Where has my normal.dot gone?!
Thank you everyone for your suggestions - I have tried following them all,
but still to no avail. People have suggested finding my normal.dot and editing it/moving it/renaming it, whatever, but seriously I DO NOT HAVE ONE! I have searched my entire system, showing hidden files and file extensions and there is no file anywhere called normal.dot. There are no other template files stored where the normal.dot should be. All the Word help pages and links people have posted here say that if you delete or rename your normal.dot, Word will just create a new one each time it starts up, and save it in the default template folder location, but mine doesn't. It is still using as the default template a file I cannot find anywhere on my system, so I can't delete/move/modify/rename it. I can't understand how this is possible. I have looked everywhere on my system for any .dot file that Word could be using and I literally cannot find anything. I am reasonably computer literate and am confident I have searched everywhere possible, including any hidden files. If I just create my own document template, can I force Word to make it the default? The Word help pages only describe how to edit normal.dot (which is no good to me as it doesn't exist on my system), not how to set a different template as default. If I create a new template and try to call it normal.dot, Word will not let me save it because it says a file of that name already exists, even thought I literally cannot find it anywhere on my computer. Am I going mad?! Thanks Nicky -- Nickyxx5 "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: If you have Adobe Acrobat 7 installed, see the last portion of http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adob...at_toolbar.htm -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Nickyxx5" wrote in message ... I want to change my default margins in Word. I know that to do this I need to change the normal.dot template - but I can't find it anywhere! There is no file by this name in the location that Word Help says it should be. I have searched my entire computer for a file of this name - the search function cannot find one. I have also searched my entire computer for all .dot files - I still can't find one called 'normal'. Clearly there must be some template file somewhere that Word is using to base my documents on, but I do not know what it is called or where it is. The folder in which Word Help says the normal template should be saved is completely empty. As an alternative way of changing my margins, I opened up a new blank document, made the page margin changes I wanted and clicked on the "Default" option in the dialogue box. It said it had saved my changes, but next time I opened up a new document in Word, the margins were the same as ever and my changes had not been registered. So where has my normal.dot gone? What template is Word using as its default? What is it called (since it's not normal.dot) and where should I look for it (since it's not saved where normal.dot should be found). I am using Word 2003 from Office Professional Edition 2003. This is the first time that I have tried to change anything in the normal template, so I don't know if it used to be there and has disappeared or got corrupted, or if there has been something funny going on ever since I installed it. Thanks for any help! Nicky -- Nickyxx5 |
#9
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Where has my normal.dot gone?!
Please ignore my last post - I have finally just managed to solve my own
problem. I created a new template. Word would not let me save this as normal.dot as it said this file already existed. I saved it under a different name, then closed Word and in Windows Explorer, renamed it to normal.dot - this time Windows did not object that the file "already existed", since Windows was never able to find a file of that name. But now when I open Word, it seems to be happily using my newly created normal.dot as the global template, instead of whatever other hidden file it was using before. -- Nickyxx5 "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: If you have Adobe Acrobat 7 installed, see the last portion of http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adob...at_toolbar.htm -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Nickyxx5" wrote in message ... I want to change my default margins in Word. I know that to do this I need to change the normal.dot template - but I can't find it anywhere! There is no file by this name in the location that Word Help says it should be. I have searched my entire computer for a file of this name - the search function cannot find one. I have also searched my entire computer for all .dot files - I still can't find one called 'normal'. Clearly there must be some template file somewhere that Word is using to base my documents on, but I do not know what it is called or where it is. The folder in which Word Help says the normal template should be saved is completely empty. As an alternative way of changing my margins, I opened up a new blank document, made the page margin changes I wanted and clicked on the "Default" option in the dialogue box. It said it had saved my changes, but next time I opened up a new document in Word, the margins were the same as ever and my changes had not been registered. So where has my normal.dot gone? What template is Word using as its default? What is it called (since it's not normal.dot) and where should I look for it (since it's not saved where normal.dot should be found). I am using Word 2003 from Office Professional Edition 2003. This is the first time that I have tried to change anything in the normal template, so I don't know if it used to be there and has disappeared or got corrupted, or if there has been something funny going on ever since I installed it. Thanks for any help! Nicky -- Nickyxx5 |
#10
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Where has my normal.dot gone?!
You cannot create a normal.dot template. Only Word can do that!
The fact that you could not save a template as normal.dot was ample evidence that it already existed. However if you had a (non-updated) version of Acrobat 7 on your PC, then this would have prevented normal.dot from being saved so Word may not have been able to create a permanent normal.dot. You need to fix this issue if you want Word to operate correctly, because so far you haven't. When it exists normal.dot is a hidden file in the location defined at tools options file locations user templates. Rename your phoney normal.dot to oldnormal.dot and allow Word to build a new one (having first attended to the Acrobat issue - if present) -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Nickyxx5 wrote: Please ignore my last post - I have finally just managed to solve my own problem. I created a new template. Word would not let me save this as normal.dot as it said this file already existed. I saved it under a different name, then closed Word and in Windows Explorer, renamed it to normal.dot - this time Windows did not object that the file "already existed", since Windows was never able to find a file of that name. But now when I open Word, it seems to be happily using my newly created normal.dot as the global template, instead of whatever other hidden file it was using before. If you have Adobe Acrobat 7 installed, see the last portion of http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adob...at_toolbar.htm -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Nickyxx5" wrote in message ... I want to change my default margins in Word. I know that to do this I need to change the normal.dot template - but I can't find it anywhere! There is no file by this name in the location that Word Help says it should be. I have searched my entire computer for a file of this name - the search function cannot find one. I have also searched my entire computer for all .dot files - I still can't find one called 'normal'. Clearly there must be some template file somewhere that Word is using to base my documents on, but I do not know what it is called or where it is. The folder in which Word Help says the normal template should be saved is completely empty. As an alternative way of changing my margins, I opened up a new blank document, made the page margin changes I wanted and clicked on the "Default" option in the dialogue box. It said it had saved my changes, but next time I opened up a new document in Word, the margins were the same as ever and my changes had not been registered. So where has my normal.dot gone? What template is Word using as its default? What is it called (since it's not normal.dot) and where should I look for it (since it's not saved where normal.dot should be found). I am using Word 2003 from Office Professional Edition 2003. This is the first time that I have tried to change anything in the normal template, so I don't know if it used to be there and has disappeared or got corrupted, or if there has been something funny going on ever since I installed it. Thanks for any help! Nicky -- Nickyxx5 |
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