Word: icon customization won't save

[Axlfoley]

I am currently running office 2003, and from what I understand one should be able to make customizations to the toolbar, removing, adding and changing icons, and creating custom toolbars. I go to the tools menu and then to "customize." I make my changes and it is set to save in normal.dot which should be the template for all word documents. When I close the program and reopen it, any changes I've made are undone and the icons revert back to their default configuration. Even custom toolbars I've created and named are gone. What do I do?

 

[TonyJollans]

This is a question I have seen asked a lot recently and I don't know any cause for it other than that your normal.dot template is not being saved - do other customizations get saved correctly?

One way to check that Word at least tries to save it is to set "Prompt to save Normal.dot" under Tools > Options > Save tab. You should then be prompted to save changes on exit and you can explicitly say yes. Another possibility is to explicitly save Normal.dot - you can do this via the VBE.

It is almost always better to save your own customizations in a global template of your own other than normal, so if all else fails you might consider creating one and putting your customizations in it instead.



Enjoy,
Tony

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[Madawc]

Is it your own computer or is it part of a network? Where I work, I was able to set up my own icons by using a different template. But then security was changed and I can't alter it any more.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK)

 

[fumei]

Hi Madawc. When you say you set up icons in a different template, do you mean as in a different global template - as per Tony suggestion?

Gerry

 

[Madawc]

What I did was save a template called 'Madawc', which I can attach to a document.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK)

 

[TonyJollans]

Hi Madawc,

A template is a template is a template ..

What makes a template global is its being opened as global.

What makes a template available for basing documents on is, well, its existence.

I absolutely despise systems administrators who try (and inevitably fail) to restrict built-in functionality in some sort of bid for total conformity or world domination or something equally bizarre. Word provides all sorts of capacity for people to tailor their own environment in a way which best suits them and makes them as productive as possible - it can only be stopped by security which also stops you doing any effective work at all.

If you want to create your own template for your own customizations, go ahead - it is a very sensible thing to do. If you want to base documents on such a template, by all means do so but that isn't really the right way to do it. If you want to use your template as a global template, just put it in your startup directory - if security stops you, change your startup directory. if you have any problems with any of this, come back here for answers.

[/soapbox rant]

Enjoy,
Tony

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