Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2022 June 17

= June 17 =

Word normal.dot styles blow away
I have asked about this problem before and have gotten some advice that I have tried, and that has not solved the problem. I was also advised as to a web site to go to for possibly more knowledgeable help. The problem is that, if Word ends without exiting cleanly, I lose the normal.dotm template, which Word, on restarting, creates from almost nothing. This happens if I lose power, if Word crashes, if Windows crashes, or for any other reason I start Word up anew. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Word, and this does not improve the situation. I am running Office 365, or whatever Microsoft calls it, and I should have the latest version, because I have uninstalled and reinstalled. I am running Windows 10 with a Dell Inspiron 3668 with four CPUs that is not eligible for Windows 11.

So if I restart Word, all of my styles are lost. I have them saved in a document and can reload them, but that is a nuisance.

First, does anyone have a proposed explanation and proposed solution, other than reinstalling Office? Second, is there a web site where I might be able to get an answer? Robert McClenon (talk) 14:27, 17 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Proposed solution: use LibreOffice! ;-) Martin of Sheffield (talk) 14:59, 17 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Well there are several Help forums for Micro$oft Word. And this is one of the most common gripes. I am not aware of a solution apart from reloading them as you are doing. If you find you often lose power you might want to consider investing in an Uninterruptible power supply. The one under my desk has saved my bacon several times. If Word or Windows keeps crashing it might be time for a new computer.--Shantavira|feed me 08:48, 19 June 2022 (UTC)
 * User:Martin of Sheffield - What is LibreOffice? Robert McClenon (talk) 03:55, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Since you've found the link there's not a lot more to add. It's freeware and for most people does everything Office 365 does, though sometimes in a slightly different way.  The great thing though is that it is portable across operating systems (well, to be accurate, graphical OSs) giving you an common interface on all current Winboxen, Macs and *NIX.  For a comparison between the two see Feature Comparison which is, of course, written from a LO perspective. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 07:23, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * User:Shantavira or anyone else - Do you recommend a particular Help forum for Word problems? Robert McClenon (talk) 03:55, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * make a copy of your working normal.dotm and save it somewhere useful. When Word/Windows falls over, just copy it back before re-starting Word. The location of normal.dotm is given here. MinorProphet (talk) 21:54, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Aha. You just gave me a useful tip, which is to check things before restarting Word, rather than immediately after restarting it.  Thank you, User:MinorProphet.  Robert McClenon (talk) 23:33, 23 June 2022 (UTC)