Hi Debbie,
It's not so much that Word doesn't like changes to normal.dot, it's that
by default, *all* your new documents are based on normal.dot. If you
make a change, thinking that it's only going to effect one particular
document, you often find that it effects every document you create from
then on.
This is especially easy to do as people sometimes change things which
are stored both in the document they're working with, and the normal.dot
template. Word then helpfully asks you "do you want to save the changes
to normal.dot", and not being sure, most folks would answer yes.
Then they find that something they've done (say, changed the appearance
of one of the built-in styles like the footnotes style), is now showing
up changed in all their documents.
Sometimes, it is easiest to solve such a problem by finding the
normal.dot file on your pc (while word is not running), and deleting it.
This removes all your changes, either accidentally made or on purpose,
and Word will recreate it automatically the next time you start Word.
That time of course, since it's being recreated, you would want to
answer "yes" to saving its changes to normal.dot.
There are of course quite valid reasons to change normal.dot; maybe you
really do want all your documents to have a certain margin setup for
instance. But more often than not, it's something that occurs
unintentionally.
hth,
Chip
Chip Orange
Database Administrator
Florida Public Service Commission
Chip.Orange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(850) 413-6314
(Any opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect those of the Florida Public Service Commission.)
_____
From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Debbie Kessler
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 9:56 AM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: want help with headers in Word 2000
Chip,
I understand that changing the "normal" template can cause some
problems in that Word doesn't like it much? Thanks for the tutorial. I
will sure take a look.
Debbie
----- Original Message -----
From: Chip Orange <mailto:Corange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 2:16 PM
Subject: RE: want help with headers in Word 2000
I have to chime in here to say that among other things,
I have to write elaborate document automation systems in Word which make
use of templates.
They can be a great time saver for those who are
well-versed in Word, but I wouldn't recommend a beginner start trying to
use them. I've seen to many folks get really frustrated with their
efforts at templates.
A template is basically just a copy of a document, that
you've got just the way you want, and which you intend to use as a
starting point for many other documents. Once you create a document
from a template, you've made a copy, so nothing you do when changing the
document changes the original template (as Judith pointed out). This
doesn't apply to your normal.dot template, which is somewhat different.
This means that in order to change a template, you've
got to learn enough about templates to know how to do it (because it's
not obvious).
Still, for those who want to spend the time learning
about them, here's a tutorial on Word templates for beginners:
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm
hth,
Chip
Chip Orange
Database Administrator
Florida Public Service Commission
Chip.Orange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(850) 413-6314
(Any opinions expressed are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of the Florida Public Service
Commission.)
_____
From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Judith Bron
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 4:03 PM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: want help with headers in Word 2000
I don't think so Debbie. First of all, if you
hav a template with your name, address etc. the template wont change if
you decide to change your name on one template to Jane Doe. Every time
you bring down that template you will still be Debbie Kessler. As for
headers on a template, if you save it once it remains in that template
until you decide to delete said template. HTH, Judith
----- Original Message -----
From: Debbie Kessler
<mailto:jessesgirl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 1:37
AM
Subject: Re: want help with headers in
Word 2000
Now there is something I could use to
save me time and yet hardly use them, those templates. Do I simply save
a blank document template and insert the header information? Then when I
save the document, the new information would become the new header?
Debbie
----- Original Message -----
From: Francis Daniels
<mailto:fdaniels@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2005 11:12
AM
Subject: Re: want help with headers in
Word 2000
Hi Debbie,
That's an excellent suggestion. Having
the file name on the document is a great way to keep track of documents.
You can have that set to a template, so when you open a new document
using this template, the header is already in place. Thanks!
Francis