Normal Dot Dot

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Normal Dot Dot

Understanding normal.dot should help you to better understand Word. Normal.dot (endearingly referred to as Normal Dot Dot) is the default or global template that Word uses to create a blank document. Normal.dot is always in use when Word is open, even if you are using another template.

It is very common for normal.dot files to become what is referred to as corrupt. This doesn't necessarily mean that normal.dot has actually gone bad, but that it has inherited some behavior from the installation of another application, or contains information left over from someone trying to record a macro. They also store macros AND macro viruses.

When you launch Word, it looks for normal.dot and opens a copy of it. If your normal.dot is corrupt, it can cause Word to crash upon launching.

If Word cannot locate a normal.dot file, it creates a brand new one. When you first install Word, normal.dot is not installed with it. Uninstalling Word or Office does not delete normal.dot. These facts explain why reinstalling Office or Word often does not fix a problem with a corrupt or virus-infected normal.dot file. Your newly installed program finds normal.dot right where it was before and the problem you had still exists.

If you have never successfully run Word on your PC, then you may not have a normal.dot file and will have to look in some other direction for the cause of the problem.

Deleting or renaming normal.dot forces Word to create a new one.

The location of the normal.dot file that your version of Word uses can be found by opening Word and using the Tools → Options, File locations tab. Double-click User templates. The path to normal.dot is in the lower area of the window under Folder name. If you're unable to see the whole path, hit your Home key on the keyboard.

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Tip 55: Finding Normal.dot

To go to your normal.dot file, you can copy the path, hit Windows' Start → Run, paste the path into the box and hit Enter. This opens Windows Explorer to that folder.

Newer operating systems consider normal.dot to be a system file and therefore hide it. To search for it, you'll first have to tell Windows to show hidden files. Open Windows Explorer, hit Tools → Folder options. Choose the View tab and check the checkbox that says 'Show hidden files and folders.'

While you are there, you may want to uncheck 'Hide file extensions for known file types.' The text and checkbox selections vary slightly from one operating system to the next.

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Dreamboat on Word
Dreamboat on Word: Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003 (On Office series)
ISBN: 0972425845
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 130
Authors: Anne Troy

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