Disappearing file locations Word 97

Topic

New Reply

I have been asked to solve a problem that has sporadically plagued a large number of users in my firm.

Apparently, from time to time, their File Locations in Word 97 (under Tools | Options | File Locations) will disappear. If they close out of Word and re-open it, the File Locations will be restored, but it’s been annoying enough of a problem that I have to fix it.

I am aware that Word 97 stores its File Locations in the Registry. However, I am unsure as to how to proceed next. Is this an issue of users’ Registries getting corrupted? If so, how is it possible for their settigs to come back the next time they start Word?

I tried looking in Microsoft’s KB but I could find nothing on this problem. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Stephan Ip

Reply | Quote

Replies

I had this problem before rerirement. Came to the conclusion that is was more of a ‘Network’ problem than MS Office. It was believed that the network connection would be lost and then the local machine could NOT see the server. Check the mapping of the servers on those machines that you are having problem with.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

Dave,

Thanks for your reply, but I wonder if you could clarify this just a bit: when you say that it was a “network” problem, do you mean that your users had their file locations set to network paths, and when the network fritzed out, their file locations disappeared? Or did your users have their file locations set to local paths?

In my situation, although all the users are on a LAN, all the file locations in Word are local to their C: drives. How does network disruption affect Word’s file locations if they’re all pointing to local paths?

Stephan Ip

Reply | Quote

Question:
How does network disruption affect Word’s file locations if they’re all pointing to local paths?

I have only seen this happen when the network is used for file storage and/or for a ‘networked’ copy of MS Office is running.

As stated your files are saved on the local drive, is MS Office (Word) also on the local drive or are you using a ‘networked copy’?

How much memory do these machines have?

What is is running (other appl’s) when this happens?

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

More questions:
Do your users have local or roaming profiles?
Does it happen every time the Word is opened, or just the first time after logging in?

Reply | Quote

I have found that those disappearing file locations are due to corruption in the user’s normal.dot file. Have the user exit Word, rename Normal.dot and restart Word. I bet the problem goes away.

If you are having repeated problems with corrupted Normal.dot files, the underlying problem may be multiple users logging on to one PC — networked or not. If you have user profiles enabled, you will have this trouble. The BEST solution (IMHO) is to let Word put Normal on the user’s home directory on the server (by setting the User Templates file locations) and delete any Normal.dot files found on local drives. If you do not delete the local normal.dot Word may ignore the file on the user’s home folder.

If users have precious cargo in their Normal.dot files, take necessary precautions by renaming instead of deleting.

Reply | Quote