Freezes when I click Format Font/Toolbar Font-HELP (Word 97)

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When I am in a document and click on Format then Font and when I click on the toolbar and then try and change the font, Word 97 freezes. Also Im unable to open some .rtf and word documents, ie. nothing happens, and I have to press control/alt/delete, doing this then closes down Word and when I try and open up the same document, I get a load of codes at the end of the document and all the formatting (ie. fonts) disappear … Can anyone help, Im pretty worried as Im trying to complete my thesis (biting nails). Ive uninstalled and reinstalled Office 97 (and even used Microsoft’s Eraser programme to get rid of any last traces of Office 97 before reinstalling) but when I reinstalled Office 97 Ive still got the same problem of freezing up. PLEASE HELP!!! (BTW thanks in advance).

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I’m not sure I can help, but let’s take things one at a time.

1. You say that after you go to Format/Font, Word freezes when you click on the toolbar. It may be a matter of terminology, but while the dialog box is open, you can’t click on any toolbar. Do you mean when you change to another font & click OK, Word freezes? Does the same thing happen if you use the font toolbar to change the font?

If your unable to open certain documents, do the following, after closing all open applications:
1. Click an empty spot on the taskbar & press F3.
2. Make sure that the look in box is your primary hard drive & that “include subfolders” is ticked.
3. Type *.tmp;~*.do?;~*.wbk in the “named” box & search.
4. Then delete all these temp files.

Also, in opening documents, make sure that in the dialog box, where it says “Files of type”, that it is NOT set for “recover text from any file”.

You also may have an add-in or a corrupt normal.dot that is causing problems. Try these steps:

1. Start Word from Start/Run & type

winword.exe /a

This starts Word without any add-ins, global templates, or normal.dot. Does the problem go away? If so, then:

2. Close Word.
3. Use Windows Find to locate normal.dot
a. Click an empty spot on the taskbar & press F3.
b. Make sure that the look in box is your primary hard drive & that “include subfolders” is ticked.
c. Type normal.dot in the “named” box & search.

4. Right click normal.dot & rename to normal.old
5. Restart Word
If the problem goes away, you had a corrupt normal.dot. If not:
6. Use Find again to locate your Word startup folder by typing “startup” (no quotes) in step c. above.
7. Drag everything out of the folder onto your desktop & restart Word. If this corrects the problem, it’s one of the add-ins that you dragged onto your desktop.
8. Close Word & drag each add-in back into the startup folder, one at a time, opening Word & testing after each one, & then closing Word. When the problem reappears, you will have located the add-in causing the problem.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks for responding so quickly! What I meant to say was that Word freezes when I click on “Format” then “Font”. Word ALSO freezes when I click on the (formatting) Toolbar (when I click on the little black down arrow on the right of the box) ….ie. “Times Roman” is the default but it freezes when I click on the down arrow to try and change the font). I have tried all your suggestions but I still have the same problem. //This is an example of the code at the top of one of my corrupt documents (saved in .rtf) {rtf1ansiansicpg1252uc1 deff0deflang1033deflangfe1033{fonttbl{f0fromanfcharset0fprq2{*panose 02020603050405020304}Times New Roman{*falt Monotype Sorts};}{f1fswissfcharset0fprq2{*panose 020b0604020202020204}Arial{*falt Helvetica};} (Any advice would be appreciated!)

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‘One of my corrupt documents’ — does this mean that only some of your files give you the crash? Can you start a fresh file and everything is fine?

Have these corrupted files been opened and saved in a later version of Word? Does saving back to a much earlier version remove the problems? Does selecting all and pressing Ctrl-Q and Ctrl-Space leave you with the same crashes happening?

If only some files are corrupt, try opening one using the ‘Recover text from file’ filter and see if it still crashes and burns. You will lose your formatting and pick up a bunch of junk but it should show us whether the font/file is corrupt or the application is.

Let us know the outcome and we can post some suggestions.

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It sounds like you may have already opened the document in “recover text from any file” mode. In addition to what Andrew suggested, does it help if you delete the codes & then save the document?

The following is a compilation of tips on troubleshooting corrupt documents, much of it taken from the MS Knowledge Base:

Corrupt Document: Troubleshooting
To rule out other factors, use the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Check for similar behavior in other documents.
2. Check for similar behavior in other programs.
3. Take the file in question to another computer and attempt to duplicate the behavior.
4. Use a different printer driver and attempt to duplicate the behavior.
5. Rename any templates attached to the document and attempt to duplicate the behavior.

Hope this helps,
6. Change other system components (such as video drivers or fonts) and attempt to duplicate the behavior. For example, if you are using an OEM version of a video driver, switch to a Microsoft Windows video driver using the Windows Setup program.
7. Disable any third-party programs that are running (such as terminate- and-stay-resident programs [TSRs], font managers, screen savers, and system shells), and then attempt to duplicate the behavior.

If the problem occurs only with a single document after you perform these steps, your document
has probably been damaged.
Things to Try If the Document Will Open
Convert the File to Another Format, Then Convert It Back to Word
This is the easiest and most complete document recovery method; always try it first. Save the file in RTF file format; this format preserves the formatting in your Microsoft Word for Windows document. After you save the file in RTF format, re-open the document in Word for Windows, and convert it from RTF. If this method succeeds, the file corruption is removed during conversion. If the corruption persists after you save the file in RTF file format, try saving the file in the following file formats:

Other word processing formats
Text Only

NOTE: Saving files in Text Only format frequently corrects the document corruption problem; however, all document formatting is lost. This method requires more reformatting; therefore, use it only after other file formats fail to correct the problem.
Copy Everything Except the Last Paragraph Mark to a New Document
Copy the Undamaged Portions of the Document to a New Document
Sometimes you can determine the location of file corruption in your document. In such cases,
copy everything except the damaged portion to a new file, and then use the following steps to
reconstruct your document:

1. After you copy the undamaged portions of your document to a new file, save a copy of the damaged document in Text Only format.
2. Open the Text Only file. Copy the text from this file and paste it into the file that contains the undamaged portion of your document.
3. Reformat the sections you pasted in step 2, and then save the recovered document.
Things to Try If the Document Will Not Open
Open the Damaged Word Document in Draft Mode
To switch to draft mode in Word, use either of the following procedures:

On the View menu, click Normal. On the Tools menu, click Options, select the View tab, and select the Draft Font option.

-or- For Word 6.x and 7.x, run the following macro to turn off screen updating, open your damaged document, switch to draft mode, and then reactivate screen updating:

Sub Main
ScreenUpdating 0
FileOpen .Name = “Filename.doc”
‘ include the path and substitute your file name
ToolsOptionsView .DraftFont = 1
ScreenUpdating
End Sub

NOTE: In this macro, substitute the name of your damaged document for the “Filename.doc” argument text.

Using this macro may enable you to open documents that you cannot otherwise open due to damage that affects printer setup, page layout, or screen updates in Word. For example, if a general protection (GP) fault occurs in Word before the document is opened, you may be able to avoid the GP fault by opening the document using the above macro.
Insert the Document as a File in a New Document
The final paragraph mark in a Word document contains information about the document. If the document is damaged, you may be able to retrieve the text of the document if you can omit this final paragraph mark.

You may need to reapply some section formatting to the last section of the document.
Open the File by Linking to It
This method works for Word 2.x and 7.x (not 6.x) For more information see the note at the bottom of this method.

If the “Insert the Document as a File in a New Document” (Method 2) doesn’t work, try this method. This method allows you to access the document without bringing over the final paragraph mark. In addition, when you create a link, part of the header information is not read.

This method allows you to open the file if this part of the header or if the final paragraph mark is in the damaged area of the document.

Use the following steps to link to a “good: file (a file that has not been corrupted) and then change the link to point to the damaged file:

1. Create a new document. In the new document, type “This is a Test.” & save the document.
2. Copy the text to the clipboard.
3. Open a new document & click Edit|Paste Special.
4. Select either Unformatted or Formatted text, and click Paste Link.
5. On the Edit menu, click Links. The Links dialog box is displayed.
6. Select the file name of the first linked document and click Change Source. The Open dialog box appears and asks which document you want to change the link to.
7. Select the document you can no longer open and click Open.
8. Click OK in the Links dialog box. The data/text from the damaged Document will appear (provided there was any recoverable data/text).
On the Edit menu, click Links, and click Break Links.

You can now reformat and save the recovered text.

NOTE: If you are using Word 6.x, try the following steps:

1. Create a new document. In the new document, type “This is a test” & save the document.
2. Select the text and click Copy on the Edit menu.
3. Press the right arrow on the keyboard to deselect the text. This will put your insertion point on the next line & click Edit|Paste Special.
4. Select either Unformatted or Formatted text, and click Paste Link.
5. To display the field codes, press Alt+F9. The field code will resemble the following: {LINK Word.Document.6 “C:MYDOCSTEST.DOC” “DDE_LINK3” a r * MERGEFORMAT}
6. Modify the path to the document in the field code to be the path to the corrupted document.
7. Delete the “DDE_LINK#” from the field code (including the quotation marks).
8. Position insertion point inside the LINK field.
9. Press F9 to update the field.
10. Press ALT+F9 to view the results of the field.
11. To unlink the field and to convert the field to text, press CTRL+SHIFT+F9.
Open the File in WordPad or Microsoft Write
When you cannot open a damaged document in Word for Windows (usually because of corruption in the file header), you can strip out the file header and open the file as Text Only. When you strip the header information, all formatting is lost. This method strips out the file header information.
1. Start Microsoft WordPad or Write. (In Windows 95 click Run on the Start menu, type “WordPad” [without the quotation marks], and click OK; in Windows 3.x, from Microsoft Windows Program Manager, click Run on the File menu, type “write” [without the quotation marks], and click OK).
2. In WordPad or Write, open the corrupted document.
3. A dialog box prompts you to specify how you want to convert the file. Click the No Conversion button.
4. The Word for Windows document is now open as a text file. You may see binary (foreign) characters at the beginning and end of the document. Delete these characters.

NOTE: In Windows 95, the file may be opened intact without further conversion or cleanup necessary. If this is the case, save the file with a new name and open the file in Word 6.x or later.

5. On the File menu, click Save As. In the File Name box, type a new name with a .doc file name extension. Before you click the OK button, note the directory where the file is being saved so you can easily find it when you restart Word for Windows.
6. Close Wordpad or Write.
7. Restart Word for Windows and open the file you saved from WordPad or Write (the file will have the name you gave it in step 4).
8. In the Convert File dialog box, Text Only should be selected.
9. On the File menu, click Save As, and save the file in Word format.

The file is now in Word for Windows format. You can reopen it and replace any necessary
graphics, fields, and formatting.

NOTE on Tables: Microsoft WordPad 1.0 can read and write Word 6/7 file format, automatically converting the file and retaining such formatting as WordPad itself supports. A Word 6 or 7 document that cannot be opened will often open in WordPad. Tables will be converted to tab-delimited text but will retain the basic tabular structure of the table; this is often the only way to recover a corrupted table.
Strip Out the File Header Information
NOTE: This method works with MS-DOS versions 3.0 to 6.2 only.

Use this method only if all other methods fail. When you cannot open a damaged document in Word for Windows (usually because of corruption in the file header), you can strip out the file header and open the file as Text Only. When you strip the header information, all formatting is lost.

1. At an MS-DOS prompt, type the following, then press ENTER

copy con+FILE NAME.DOC NEWNAME.DOC

where “FILE NAME” is the name of the Damaged file, and “NEWNAME” is the name of the new file. (This causes the word “CON” to appear and the insertion point to blink on a blank line.)
2. Press the SPACEBAR twelve times.
3. Press F6, and then press ENTER.
4. Start Word for Windows and open the new file.
5. Delete the odd characters at the beginning and end of the file. The text of the file is usually intact in the middle of the file.
6. Reformat the document and save it in Word for Windows format.

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I’m not the right person to tell you how, but maybe you need to verify that none of your font files is corrupted. If no one volunteers an answer on that soon, you could ask on the appropriate Windows forum how to do that. I hope it’s easy, but I have no idea.

Or it may be related to the printers you have set up on your computer. If you have any funny (peculiar) printer issues, that might also help with the diagnosis. Also, if you are editing the document on different systems with different printers, this definitely will mess with Word’s ability to render the document and what fonts it thinks are available.

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STILL NEED HELP WITH THIS!
What Im really concerned with is that when I open a new word document and click on Format then Font, word freezes up. It also freezes if I click on the font name in the toolbar in an attempt to try and change the font name. The computer is not connected to a printer and am using Windows 95 and Word 97.

Thanks. Lin

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lyndy4, This post repeats some points from earlier posts.
1. Can you tell us what printer is installed (chosen as the default printer). Even if you are not connected to a printer, you still have to choose a printer so that Windows can tell what fonts are printable. This is accessed through “Settings”…”Printers” or maybe “Control Panel”…”Printers”. Have you tried picking a different printer (which will install a different printer driver)?
2. Can you use the fonts OK in Wordpad or Notepad, with a new document?
3. If you have MS Excel, or another part of MS Office, can you use the fonts in that program?
…..J.Till

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Thanks for reply JTill.
I clicked on Settings then Printer (took ages for icon to come up) then I clicked on “Add Printer” icon. Then clicked on “Next” and tried to chose a printer but it froze up (tried this several times with different printers to no avail). Other problems are as follows: Word 97 freezes when I click on the following: (1) File, Format, Font; (2) File, Print; (3) File, Page setup; (4) File Print Preview. I cant open up Wordpad because I get the following error message “Illegal operation” kernel32.dll at 0217.bff711be. A similar message to this appears sometimes when Im searching in Explorer 5.5 and it causes the programme to crash. The message is: “Iexplore caused an ivalid page fault in module kernel32.dll at 0.217:bff711be. ALSO, Word will not open .rtf documents: – get a “doc is corrupt” message after pressing Alt/Cnt/del. Phew …..

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Unfortunately, I have no further suggestions. It does appear that your problem is not a MS Word problem but perhaps a Windows operating system problem. I can only repeat J.Scher’s suggestion to post this problem in another Woody’s Lounge forum, perhaps for your version of Windows. You can click on “Main Index” at the top of the page to see a list of forums. …J.Till

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