Get a new normal.dot

[Guest]

I've customized my Word 2003; saved it as custom.dot in the same folder as
normal.dot; deleted normal.dot; and renamed custom.dot to normal.dot. I still
don't get my customization when I open a new Word.
Can someone tell me exactly how to do what I want to do?
Thanks.
Keith

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You are trying to play God. Only God can make a tree, and only Word can make
Normal.dot. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CustomizeNormalTemplate.htm for the
correct approach.

--
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.

 

[Guest]

Keith:

Some things to consider...

You can't "create" a template from a DOC file by changing the extension in
Windows Explorer or doing a Save As. You have to specify Template in File >
New, or open a template directly (so the title in the window says
Something.dot, not Something.doc) and doing a Save As if to rename it.

Not all customizations are saved in Normal.dot.

Word may be using a Normal.dot in another directory. (Use Windows Explorer
to find and delete all Normal.dots on your machine; in Word use Tools >
Options > File Locations to specify the path you want Word to use to look for
Normal -- it's called User Templates.)

Actually, you might want to avoid saving any customizations in Normal.dot,
as it seems more prone to corruption.

Save specific document designs in separate templates. Letter.dot,
Manual.dot, Outlines.dot, etc. Save global command and toolbar customizations
in Normal.dot at first, but back it up on a regular basis. When you're comfy
with this, start saving your global customizations in a template (maybe
"KeithTools.dot") but store this in the Startup folder (Tools > Options >
File Locations will show you where this is).

Bear

 

[Poprivet]

I've customized my Word 2003; saved it as custom.dot in the same
folder as normal.dot; deleted normal.dot; and renamed custom.dot to
normal.dot. I still don't get my customization when I open a new Word.
Can someone tell me exactly how to do what I want to do?
Thanks.
Keith

Assuming you used Save As Template (*.dot) to create custom.dot, that should
have worked.

Search the drive for more instances of normal.dot; there may be a different
one that the program is using. Options in Word has a Paths window too that
will show you where it gets things from.

If you simply renamed a file.doc to file.dot, that will not work. It has to
have been saved AS a *.dot.

HTH
Pop`

 

[Poprivet]

You are trying to play God. Only God can make a tree, and only Word
can make Normal.dot. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CustomizeNormalTemplate.htm
for the correct approach.

Whatever you meant by "only Word can make Normal.dot" is wrong. Only Word
can make the ORIGINAL normal.dot, yeah, but ... I think you're misleading
without clarification here.

I'm not sure I see what your'e getting at with that post OR the link. It
certainly is OK to create a different normal.dot as the person described as
long as he's using the correct methods. I have done it myself and just did
it again, to be sure of what I'm talking about. I created custom.dot
(opened from normal.dot), with a word of text in it for ID, saved it using
Save As Template, closed Word, deleted normal.dot, renamed custom.dot to
normal.dot, and it uses normal.dot perfectly fine! No issues whatsoever.
Then I deleted normal.dot and restarted word again, and got back my
original normal.dot (I don't store anything in my normal.dot; it's all in
other templates).

Perhaps what is really wrong is something of a clarification?

Pop`

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Does your new Normal.dot have the default AutoText entries? See “WD2002:
Styles and AutoText Are Not Copied to New Template Based on Normal.dot”
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=291441.

The proper way to modify Normal.dot is to modify it, not try to recreate it.
Did you read the section "What you should never do" in the referenced
article?

--
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.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, all.

Apparently my mistake was opening a .doc to make the changes. I opened the
normal.dot file, made my changes, then saved. It all worked.

Thanks, again.

Keith