How to find the various macros hiding in my various versions of normal.dot

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Now using Word 2010 and Win 7.
Like some other users, I’ve had problems over the years with Normal.dot. Several times I have searched for all the versions I found on my drive, renamed them, and started fresh. So I now have at least 6 files on my PC (that I can find) that were once “Normal.dot or dotm, or dotx”

Most of these files contain some macros. the macros were pretty constant over the years, so I assume many of these “files formerly known as ‘Normal.dot'” have the same macros inside.

However, I made some useful additions (edits) to one of the macros a few months ago, and now today those additions to that macro now seemed to have disappeared. I do still have the older, original version of the macro.

Any ideas what happened?

Thinking at first that I’d somehow gotten an older normal.dot reactivated, I thought I would survey the 6 files and see which ones had which macros. Quickly realized I am not sure how to do that. Neither do I know how to search for macros, or move them from one template to another if I do find them.

Can anyone offer guidance?

Doug

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Simply double-clicking on any of those template files will create a new document. Pressing Alt-F11 will give access to the VBE so you can see what macros, forms, etc. those templates contain.

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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Lets assume all these copies are still in the User Templates folder. Lets also assume you renamed them by changing their file extension.

So, you can open any of them by renaming them to end with .dotm and not be ‘Normal.dotm’ since the active Normal.dotm is already in the same folder. Then you can simply double-click on the file to open a new document and look in the VBA Editor to see the macros in both the Normal.dotm and the template you want to examine.

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>>Lets assume all these copies are still in the User Templates folder. Lets also assume you renamed them by changing their file extension.<<

Yeah, not/not.

They're in several different places, and I did not try to change any file extensions because I believed one shouldn't. I read somewhere that renaming a .dot file to .dotm or .dotx would screw Word up. Not so?
For example what I did is change normal.dot to normal2.dot, etc.

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To get to the vba editor use Alt+F11.
Recorded macros will be in the Newmacros module of the template.

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I wonder if there wouldn’t be a lot of use for a Word Template utility: a program that could peek inside all one’s templates and read out the Autocorrect, Autofill, & Macro details?
Doug

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By the way, to hijack my own thread: once upon a time Word opened with no document. The user then either created a new one, or opened an old one. I used to have to edit the properties of the Windows shortcut for Win.exe — to add a command switch, if I wanted Word to always open with a new blank document based on Normal.dot.
Today, trying to run Word WITHOUT opening a new document, I discovered that what once needed a command line switch now seems to be default behavior. The Word icon on my desktop has not had a command line switch appended, but Word seems to open in a new blank document. Or am I missing something?

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By the way, to hijack my own thread: once upon a time Word opened with no document. The user then either created a new one, or opened an old one. I used to have to edit the properties of the Windows shortcut for Win.exe — to add a command switch, if I wanted Word to always open with a new blank document based on Normal.dot.
Today, trying to run Word WITHOUT opening a new document, I discovered that what once needed a command line switch now seems to be default behavior. The Word icon on my desktop has not had a command line switch appended, but Word seems to open in a new blank document. Or am I missing something?

Word, when opened in SAFE mode opens with no blank document. Word 2013, by default, opens to the Start screen that lets you pick a template or the blank document. I’ve been using Word since before Windows. A regular start of Word without opening a document/template has always loaded a new blank document until Word 2013.

In earlier versions, it took a command-line switch to open without a blank document.

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Thanks. You and Paul Edstein said the same thing about Alt-F11. When I tried it, I got strange results.
So, I isolate all my normal templates in one folder. I double click on them one at a time. They each open in Word, as they should.
But then stuff gets funny.
For 2 of my template documents, Alt-F11 worked as described.
But for all 5 others, VBE opened with no indications that the document contained any macros.
The documents DID, and the macros were visible on the Quick Access Toolbar and also when I dove down through the document ribbon (View/macro/viewmacro.) Then, once I selected a macro and selected “Edit”, it appeared in the previously-empty VBE window!

Hmmm.

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By default, macros are disabled if they are contained in templates located in non-trusted locations. When macros are disabled, you can’t even view them in the VBA Editor. To avoid this complication, people normally leave templates in their user templates location.

To enable your macros in non-trusted folders, you need to either click on the button that asks if you want to enable (and view) them, or if you don’t see that option, go into your security settings to enable macros in that situation. Have a look at the following link if you need more info https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Enable-or-disable-macros-in-Office-files-12b036fd-d140-4e74-b45e-16fed1a7e5c6

FYI, I don’t recall a version of Word that NEEDED a command line to open with a blank document based on Normal. That has been the default behaviour since I first started using Word. I note that finally, Microsoft have actually re-thought this in Word 2016 as described in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIsWQPbYafo

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Thanks. You and Paul Edstein said the same thing about Alt-F11. When I tried it, I got strange results.
So, I isolate all my normal templates in one folder. I double click on them one at a time. They each open in Word, as they should.
But then stuff gets funny.
For 2 of my template documents, Alt-F11 worked as described.
But for all 5 others, VBE opened with no indications that the document contained any macros.
The documents DID, and the macros were visible on the Quick Access Toolbar and also when I dove down through the document ribbon (View/macro/viewmacro.) Then, once I selected a macro and selected “Edit”, it appeared in the previously-empty VBE window!

Hmmm.

The ones where no modules appear in the VBE for the file have no recorded macros. Period.

What appears on the QAT is whatever is saved on the QAT. When properly organized, QAT modifications will be kept in the same template that contains macros, but that takes planning. If they are stored in the general QAT modification repository, the icons will show up whether or not the macro exists or is present in a particular template.

Macros will show up in a macro list from a number of sources. See the Macros dialog screenshot below. That shows a macro selected that cannot be edited because it is located in an Add-In; the Edit button is not active. When you select a macro, if it is in (1) the active normal template, (2) the template attached to the document, or (3) the open document itself, then you will be able to click on the Edit button. If it is in a loaded Add-In, it will show up, but you will not be able to Edit.

Once you click on Edit, the VBE pops up and you can see the location of the macro. In the title bar, the project and module will show up (1) in screenshot. The active module will also be selected in project list (2) in screenshot. The macro itself will show up in the editing window (3) in screenshot. Again, the NewMacros module will be the repository for all recorded macros. Placement in any other module requires use of the vbe.

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*** the macros were visible on the Quick Access Toolbar***

If the QAT modifications are visible only when a particular template is active, then they (the modifications, not necessarily the macros) are stored in that template.

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Thanks to all for their help. Doug

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