[Nyco_ork]

I have scoured this forum for solutions to the problem of being prompted to
save documents even when I've made no changes. I've followed all the advice:
disabled Smart Tags in the docs themselves and in the Normal.dot template;
tested with files that do not have data fields. I can't make the problem go
away. I've unchecked "update links" and "update fields." No good. I've tested
with old Word 2000 files that have never been near Word 2003, so they haven't
been "infected" with any 2003 features, and it even happens with them, the
first time I open them.

Any further suggestions on this one, or am I stuck?

Thanks in advance.

RB

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi R.B.,

Do you have the option to Save a preview picture turned on in File=Properties?

Are you just opening the document or printing it?

In Tools=Options=General=Web Options=Files
do you have the Update links on save box checked?

Do the documents contain date fields or hyperlinks [fields] (check with Alt+F9), or do the headers/footers include page # fields?

If you start Word 2003 in Office safe mode, (hold ctrl key when starting Word) and open a file do you get the same behavior? If
not, it could be an add-in at work.

================
"Nyco_ork" wrote in message ...
I have scoured this forum for solutions to the problem of being prompted to
save documents even when I've made no changes. I've followed all the advice:
disabled Smart Tags in the docs themselves and in the Normal.dot template;
tested with files that do not have data fields. I can't make the problem go
away. I've unchecked "update links" and "update fields." No good. I've tested
with old Word 2000 files that have never been near Word 2003, so they haven't
been "infected" with any 2003 features, and it even happens with them, the
first time I open them.

Any further suggestions on this one, or am I stuck?

Thanks in advance.

RB
--

Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

[Nyco_ork]

Bob,

I'm the only user of this computer, and it's at home. I'm retired, so there
are no "at work" issues. I tried deselecting "update links," and that didn't
help. The files that have date and time fields in the headers, I understand.
I've given up worrying about them (Word 2000 didn't feel the need to update a
document on open, even with the same fields embedded). I am not printing. I'm
talking about opening, and immediately closing.

What I did find was this: when I hit Alt-F9 to reveal codes, I discovered
the following field embedded on the first or second line of each file:
{ SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1}

I have no idea where this field came from. I thought maybe Document Map had
inserted it, but I found it even in files where I have never used Document
Map. When I deleted the field, then saved the document, then reopened/closed,
the prompt to save finally went away.

What is this field, and why is the program inserting it? Was that put there
while I had Smart Tags active? (Since I've deleted all Smart Tag options in
the Normal template, I don't find any such field in the current template.)

Thanks for the help.

RB

"Bob Buckland ?:-)" wrote:

Hi R.B.,

Do you have the option to Save a preview picture turned on in File=Properties?

Are you just opening the document or printing it?

In Tools=Options=General=Web Options=Files
do you have the Update links on save box checked?

Do the documents contain date fields or hyperlinks [fields] (check with Alt+F9), or do the headers/footers include page # fields?

If you start Word 2003 in Office safe mode, (hold ctrl key when starting Word) and open a file do you get the same behavior? If
not, it could be an add-in at work.

================
"Nyco_ork" wrote in message ...
I have scoured this forum for solutions to the problem of being prompted to
save documents even when I've made no changes. I've followed all the advice:
disabled Smart Tags in the docs themselves and in the Normal.dot template;
tested with files that do not have data fields. I can't make the problem go
away. I've unchecked "update links" and "update fields." No good. I've tested
with old Word 2000 files that have never been near Word 2003, so they haven't
been "infected" with any 2003 features, and it even happens with them, the
first time I open them.

Any further suggestions on this one, or am I stuck?

Thanks in advance.

RB
--

Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

[rebz]

Here is another option, just take your old file and only copy the data from
within the file that you want into a brand new word 2003 document. That
might do it.

"Nyco_ork" wrote:

I have scoured this forum for solutions to the problem of being prompted to
save documents even when I've made no changes. I've followed all the advice:
disabled Smart Tags in the docs themselves and in the Normal.dot template;
tested with files that do not have data fields. I can't make the problem go
away. I've unchecked "update links" and "update fields." No good. I've tested
with old Word 2000 files that have never been near Word 2003, so they haven't
been "infected" with any 2003 features, and it even happens with them, the
first time I open them.

Any further suggestions on this one, or am I stuck?

Thanks in advance.

RB

[Nyco_ork]

Tried that. It doesn't help. Removing those field tags helped in some docs,
but not all. Now that I have turned on "prompt for file properties" during
save, it happens all the time again. I think as soon as you open the file,
the program wants to save a new "accessed" date to the properties, so it
treats that as an edit, even though the body of the text hasn't been edited.
I've learned to live with the issue.

Thanks for responding.

RB

"rebz" wrote:

Here is another option, just take your old file and only copy the data from
within the file that you want into a brand new word 2003 document. That
might do it.

[rebz]

I have been working on some huge documents and it seems that the previous
person who was doing all the editing was using word 97, 2000, well I had a
nightmare to change the footers and headers to be in 2003. It seems that any
old versions of ms word before 2002 it is just not compatible with 2003. So
all the documents need to be recreated. I finally got all my manuals to be
consistent with the 2003 with all the footers and headers to match. Now I am
caught up in my work.

"Nyco_ork" wrote:

Tried that. It doesn't help. Removing those field tags helped in some docs,
but not all. Now that I have turned on "prompt for file properties" during
save, it happens all the time again. I think as soon as you open the file,
the program wants to save a new "accessed" date to the properties, so it
treats that as an edit, even though the body of the text hasn't been edited.
I've learned to live with the issue.

Thanks for responding.

RB

"rebz" wrote:

Here is another option, just take your old file and only copy the data from
within the file that you want into a brand new word 2003 document. That
might do it.

[Nyco_ork]

Yes, I had the same problem also. Couldn't use a text box attached to a
header, where I could before, and so on. Had to rebuild all my big documents
I had created in Word 2000. However, there are some really great features in
2003 that 2000 lacked, so I'm glad I upgraded.

R

"rebz" wrote:

I have been working on some huge documents and it seems that the previous
person who was doing all the editing was using word 97, 2000, well I had a
nightmare to change the footers and headers to be in 2003. It seems that any
old versions of ms word before 2002 it is just not compatible with 2003. So
all the documents need to be recreated. I finally got all my manuals to be
consistent with the 2003 with all the footers and headers to match. Now I am
caught up in my work.

[Barbara]

RB,

Well, I can explain a little bit about { SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 }. It is a
sequence field, used to run a counter. In this case it is counting chapters.
The "\h" switch makes the field result (i.e., the chapter number) hidden
(which is why you never knew it was there). The "\r 1" switch resets the
counter to 1.

I have used a field like this in a manual when I wanted page numbers or
figure numbers to include the chapter number (1-1, 1-2,...,2-1, 2-2...) but a
numbered heading style for chapter titles wasn't going to cut it. (There are
many reasons why an autonumber might not work out.) The SEQ field basically
stashed the number for me in an invisible place, and I could then use a REF
field to include it in my page numbers, etc. It is a good idea to reset a
counter to 1 at the start of something. Presumably the person who got this
field into your documents intended to get rid of "\r 1" in the second and all
subsequent chapters.

As for getting rid of it: I am guessing that this field is in the content of
your normal.dot. Open normal.dot itself (probably in C:\Documents and
Settings\your name\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates), toggle field
codes, and delete it.

If that's not where it's coming from, I am out of ideas.

Good luck!
--
Barbara Hill


"Nyco_ork" wrote:

Bob,

I'm the only user of this computer, and it's at home. I'm retired, so there
are no "at work" issues. I tried deselecting "update links," and that didn't
help. The files that have date and time fields in the headers, I understand.
I've given up worrying about them (Word 2000 didn't feel the need to update a
document on open, even with the same fields embedded). I am not printing. I'm
talking about opening, and immediately closing.

What I did find was this: when I hit Alt-F9 to reveal codes, I discovered
the following field embedded on the first or second line of each file:
{ SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1}

I have no idea where this field came from. I thought maybe Document Map had
inserted it, but I found it even in files where I have never used Document
Map. When I deleted the field, then saved the document, then reopened/closed,
the prompt to save finally went away.

What is this field, and why is the program inserting it? Was that put there
while I had Smart Tags active? (Since I've deleted all Smart Tag options in
the Normal template, I don't find any such field in the current template.)

Thanks for the help.

RB

"Bob Buckland ?:-)" wrote:

Hi R.B.,

Do you have the option to Save a preview picture turned on in File=Properties?

Are you just opening the document or printing it?

In Tools=Options=General=Web Options=Files
do you have the Update links on save box checked?

Do the documents contain date fields or hyperlinks [fields] (check with Alt+F9), or do the headers/footers include page # fields?

If you start Word 2003 in Office safe mode, (hold ctrl key when starting Word) and open a file do you get the same behavior? If
not, it could be an add-in at work.

================
"Nyco_ork" wrote in message ...
I have scoured this forum for solutions to the problem of being prompted to
save documents even when I've made no changes. I've followed all the advice:
disabled Smart Tags in the docs themselves and in the Normal.dot template;
tested with files that do not have data fields. I can't make the problem go
away. I've unchecked "update links" and "update fields." No good. I've tested
with old Word 2000 files that have never been near Word 2003, so they haven't
been "infected" with any 2003 features, and it even happens with them, the
first time I open them.

Any further suggestions on this one, or am I stuck?

Thanks in advance.

RB
--

Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

[Fadil]

Bob,
I can no longer save any Word docs. It asks me if I want to save before
closing and on Yes just does nothing. When I clisk on save as all that
happens is that the rules appears!!??? Very odd. THis seems to have happend
only after the last Office 2003 update. Please help.

Fadil Pedic

"Bob Buckland ?:-)" wrote:

Hi R.B.,

Do you have the option to Save a preview picture turned on in File=Properties?

Are you just opening the document or printing it?

In Tools=Options=General=Web Options=Files
do you have the Update links on save box checked?

Do the documents contain date fields or hyperlinks [fields] (check with Alt+F9), or do the headers/footers include page # fields?

If you start Word 2003 in Office safe mode, (hold ctrl key when starting Word) and open a file do you get the same behavior? If
not, it could be an add-in at work.

================
"Nyco_ork" wrote in message ...
I have scoured this forum for solutions to the problem of being prompted to
save documents even when I've made no changes. I've followed all the advice:
disabled Smart Tags in the docs themselves and in the Normal.dot template;
tested with files that do not have data fields. I can't make the problem go
away. I've unchecked "update links" and "update fields." No good. I've tested
with old Word 2000 files that have never been near Word 2003, so they haven't
been "infected" with any 2003 features, and it even happens with them, the
first time I open them.

Any further suggestions on this one, or am I stuck?

Thanks in advance.

RB
--

Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*