[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

For some advice on creating templates, see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customizat...platePart1.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
Okay Terry, that's exactly what I thought. Thanks for all the advice.

W.

"Terry Farrell" wrote in message
...
Many changes can be made permanently by editing normal.dotm. However,
many of the changes that you want to make can be done through the dialogs
in Word - such as page settings, font set, paragraph spacing, line
spacing, etc. and that is the easiest and safest way to change them
(minimal risk of corrupting normal.dotm). Those examples can all be done
in the Font and Paragraph dialogs by pressing the DEFAULT button in the
dialogs after making the changes.

Curly quotes (Smart Quotes) can be toggled off in the AutoCorrect Options
dialog (Word Options | Proofing tab).

However, most of these settings will only work for new document and not
for existing documents. If you need to change existing documents, then
this can be done in various ways dependant on the changes: attaching a
new template to a document, running a Find & Replace or using a macro are
some of the tools.

But in the long-term, creating your own templates is often the best
method because some changes to normal.dot (such as adding a header or
footer, for example) can have unforeseen consequences with other Word
functions.

Terry

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
Terry, may I ask another question please.

I am not going to tamper with this, so do not panic, these are just only
questions.

Am I right in saying that, if I select the normal.dotm word file from
templates from within the office button and I change such things as
"line spacing" or "change curly quotes to straight quotes" or any other
such variation and I save it afterwards, does that mean that every
subsequent word document I open will automatically have those changes in
them?

If so, would I also be right in saying that I should make a separate
template in "Templates" specifically with these changes in them for that
use?

You may or may not know this but being a Microsoft Word expert, would
you happen to know the exact format within a word document that
professional writers and author's use generally?

That includes all the punctuation, line spacing, font and anything else
there is to know for the general formatting of a manuscipt?

It does not matter if you do not know, I was just wondering if you did?

W.

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
Will do Terry, once again thanks for all your help :-))

"Terry Farrell" wrote in message
...
We recommend renaming rather than deleting as normal.dotm sometimes
stores special user create macros and styles which can be copied to
the normal.bad to the normal.dotm using the Oganizer. If you ignore it
for a few session until you are happy that nothing is missing, then
delete it.

Terry

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
Brilliant Terry!!! Thank you very much indeed! It now works
perfectly.

Just one thing, renaming the normal.dotm to normal.bad has left a
file there in templates as a blank piece of paper with the filename
"normal.bad" and created a new normal.dotm which I assume is the new
uncorrupted file.

What do I do with the normal.bad blank piece of paper file, do I
delete it or just leave it there?

I checked all the other templates and there were no others there with
the ~ character.

Thank you so much for your patience and help.

W.



"Terry Farrell" wrote in message
...
That is correct reaction: when the Data Key is deleted, it is
automatically recreated when Word is restarted (but it will be fresh
and uncorrupted).

To resolve the other part of the problem, you need to find
normal.dotm and rename it normal.bad. Presuming you are using Word
2007 in Vista, you will find the file in:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templa tes

With Word closed, use Windows Explorer to get to the Templates
folder above, select normal.dotm, right-click and choose Rename;
then change it to normal.bad. Whilst in that folder, if you see ANY
templates or files starting with a ~ character, delete them.

Now test Word again.

Terry

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
I went into the registry, but I did not change anything within
there, so no damage has appeared. All I have done now, is exactly
what you have asked me to do which is to delete "Data" in "Word"
within the registry. I have done this three times and rebooted
three times and after deleting the "Data" each time, it comes back
when I reboot thus, still leaving the problem.

Can you think what else it could be?

Thank you

W.