My XL computer (as all do) contains a "Normal" style for use in
opening MS Word Documents. My "Normal" style somehow became corrupted
and opens using a shaded square & no "Normal" in the style window. How
do I fix this & where do I find the default information for all MS
documents?

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Request for Question Clarification by clouseau-ga on 18 Feb 2004 16:26 PST

Hi talkingmule,

Most likely this is a result of a corrupt normal.dot file, which
stores the default information for Microsoft Word. It stores quite a
bit of your customizations as well, and perhaps some you would not
like to lose. But let's see if that is the problem and we are able to
revert if not.

Close Word. Search your hard drive for normal.dot. There should only
be one copy of this. If there are more, let me know what folders they
appear in, but let's assume you have only one. Rename it to
normal.dot.old

Now, reopen Word and see if your problem has been cured. Word will
rebuild a new normal.dot when it does not find the old one. You may
find that this works and you do not need anything else from your old
file. Or, you may wish to salvage some of the settings from your old
normal.dot and I can help you there as well. But first see if it
solves the problem and post a clarification here to let me know.

If it does not, close Word. Find the new normal.dot and delete it.
Find normal.dot.old and rename it to normal.dot and you are back to
where you were.

Let me know how this goes.

Regards,

-=clouseau=-

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Clarification of Question by talkingmule-ga on 19 Feb 2004 08:18 PST

Dear Clouseau-ga
I'm in love with you.  Your answer was perfect & when I followed your
directions the normal.dot was reset & now docs open with the style
they should have. Thank you, thank you, thank you.  My dog Amber
thanks you too -- she had to listen to me swearing at MS Word.
Merci beaucoup,
talking mule

Hello again talking mule (and Amber!),

So happy to be able to help. Since this solved your problem as I
suspected, I'm reposting my clarification here as the official answer:

Most likely this is a result of a corrupt normal.dot file, which
stores the default information for Microsoft Word. It stores quite a
bit of your customizations as well, and perhaps some you would not
like to lose. But let's see if that is the problem and we are able to
revert if not.

Close Word. Search your hard drive for normal.dot. There should only
be one copy of this. If there are more, let me know what folders they
appear in, but let's assume you have only one. Rename it to
normal.dot.old

Now, reopen Word and see if your problem has been cured. Word will
rebuild a new normal.dot when it does not find the old one. You may
find that this works and you do not need anything else from your old
file. Or, you may wish to salvage some of the settings from your old
normal.dot and I can help you there as well. But first see if it
solves the problem and post a clarification here to let me know.

If it does not, close Word. Find the new normal.dot and delete it.
Find normal.dot.old and rename it to normal.dot and you are back to
where you were.

Best regards,

-=clouseau=-

Clouseau gave a quick, succinct, clear answer to my question. His/her
advice was completely accurate & I proposed marriage I was so happy.
Et plus je dit, merci beaucoup a Mssr Clouseau et le Google.

Haha!

Thank you for the rating tip and proposal! Indeed, my pleasure to be able to help.

Kind regards,

-=clouseau=-