Word cannot access documents

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hal Pryor
  • Start date Start date
H

Hal Pryor

Whenever I try to open an existing document in Word 2003, I
get the message that the document is not accessible. I can
create new documents, but cannont access any existing
document. I can open the files in notepad, so they exist
and are not read-only, but Word won't open them. I
reinstalled Word, but that didn't help. The only other
clue is that whenever I leave Word, I get a dialogue box
telling me that the Normal template aleady exists and asks
if I want to override it. Neither response helps the problem.

Thanks!
 
Have you got Norton Anti Virus? If so, open NAV and deselect the Office
Plug-in option.
Have you run the 2003 updates from the Office Update site?

--
Terry Farrell - Word MVP
http://word.mvps.org/

: Whenever I try to open an existing document in Word 2003, I
: get the message that the document is not accessible. I can
: create new documents, but cannont access any existing
: document. I can open the files in notepad, so they exist
: and are not read-only, but Word won't open them. I
: reinstalled Word, but that didn't help. The only other
: clue is that whenever I leave Word, I get a dialogue box
: telling me that the Normal template aleady exists and asks
: if I want to override it. Neither response helps the problem.
:
: Thanks!
 
Hi Andre,

Saving a blank document as Normal.dot is not a good idea unless you
want to loose the default AutoText entries and have difficulty with
AutoCorrect.

The only way to recreate Normal.dot correctly is to let Word do it for
you by renaming the old one. :-)

Although more than likely this issue is with Norton AV as Terry
suggested. Inability to open documents and "normal.dot already exists"
prompts when starting Word are symptoms of Norton's Office Plug-in
bug/issue/problem/whatever.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
Its possible that installation of Word is corrupt. There are number of
options, the first is to open a "blank" Word document, select "File" "Save
As". At the bottom of the "Save As" dialogue, click in the "Save as type"
and select "Document Template" and save it to a location such as the
"Desktop" where it can be easily found.

You could also, open up the Office CD-Rom and search for the "Office
Clean-Up" Wizard icon to clean up any crud left back after uninstalling
Office. So try this option after uninstalling Office then reinstall again.

Andre Da Costa
Jamaica W.I.
 
Yes, NAV is there. I'll try making the change you
suggested. As for updates, I live in the desert where
dialup speed is about 19kbps, so I haven't done the updates
yet. I'll try that as well.

Thanks so much to everyone for your help!!!
 
I have the same problem but only when my son logs in.
Word works great when I am logged in (adminstrator). I am
using Win XP and Word 97. Does Word need a different
Normal.dot for each user? Does it lock out permissions
for different users (hence the read-only)? Thanks for any
help.
 
I found the answer to my problem (another user unable to use Word) The
problem turned out to be folder permissions. Navigate to C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office, right click on the file, and select "Sharing and
Security...". Check 'Share this folder on the network', give it a name, and
also check 'Allow network users to change my files'. That did it for me.
 
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