Often after I?ve opened a Microsoft Word document, and have made
absolutely no changes to the file (e.g., I open it and immediately go
to close it), Word asks: ?Do you want to save the changes to [FILE
NAME HERE]?? Oddly, this seems to happen only with certain files or at
certain times (it?s not universal). Is there any way to stop this from
happening? That is, when I open a file in Word only to look at it, I
don?t want Word to ask me if I want to save the (nonexistent)
?changes.? The reason is that I want the file to keep its creation
date, and definitely don?t want it saved over with the current date.
(Note: the specific version I?m using is Office Word 2003, though this
has happened with an earlier version as well).

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Clarification of Question by mharoks-ga on 30 Jan 2005 19:43 PST

I appreciate the suggestion that adding a "non-printing character such
as a space" would cause Word to ask me about saving changes, but this
is not the issue here. It happens when I open a file, and IMMEDIATELY
move the mouse to the "close file" icon (or "close file" on the
pull-down menu). I've asked the tech gurus at my university, they've
explicitly seen what I've done and what happens, and they had no ideas
(beyond suggesting that when Word opens a file up, it automatically
makes changes to it -- but then that would just make this part of the
problem).

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Request for Question Clarification by maniac-ga on 31 Jan 2005 15:10 PST

Hello Mharoks,

If the comment by james_l_mar meets the need, I suggest you close this
question. If not, please make another clarification indicating if you
use one of:
 - table of contents
 - list of figures (or tables)
 - numbered paragraphs
 - "fields" in a header or footer (e.g., date/time)
or some similar capability. It may also be relevant if you indicate
the version of Microsoft Word you are using.

  --Maniac

It could be that you made a non-printing character such as a space,
Even if the document is the same as it was since the last save Word
will still ask, if any character were placed, even if they were
removed, word will still ask if you wish to save your document.

I am fairly sure there is no way to stop this, because word ses it as
a revisions were made and believes all humans want to save their work.

Have a look in you ?Options? menu. Things to look for are for instance
?Confirm conversion at Open.? If this is unclicked, when you open a
different .doc version it won?t tell you that it has actually
converted it, so when you come to close it asks if you want to save
that change.

A few other things could also do it, like automatically updating
fields, such as the date.

Best

I doubt that this is the problem, but back in the day when the word
macro virus was fairly common, that was the symptom of an infection.

Just something to keep in mind, but I haven't seen that thing in years.

Its a great question...I have the same problem with some but not all
Word-2002 @SP3 docs.

I agree...good question.  good enuf for me to search for an answer.  :)

Here's a possible solution.  HTH

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=816473

google search criteria: word save changes no site:microsoft.com

thanks james_I_mar, that worked for me.
Shmart Tags  are just too Shmart for me.