jatkinson,
Anne is actually more experienced with Word kind of things then I may be. I also tend to assume everything is default, which is not usually the case. Here are pasted snippets of explanation from MS of how Word works when starting up.
The Normal.dot template behaves differently from your other "custom" templates, and Word searches for it differently from the way it does in earlier versions of Word.
If the Normal.dot template is not located in one of the folders where Word expects to find it, Word does not "see" it and cannot use it. The first Normal.dot template that Word finds, Word stops searching and uses it as the Word global template.
If you have multiple Normal.dot files on your system, Word uses the first one it finds in its search path.
Word searches for Normal.dot in the following order when Word is run from your computer (and not Network)
In the User Templates folder. Default folder is C:\Documents and Settings\ Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
If Normal.dot is not found in the User Templates folder, Word then searches in the Word Program folder. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office (and any Template folders within)
If Word does not find Normal.dot in the Word Program folder, Word searches the Workgroup Templates folder (if one is specified).
If Word still does not find a Normal.dot template file, Word creates a new template in the folder specified by the User Templates path.
"Age is a high price to pay for maturity."
