New Word Document – Compatibility Mode

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When I open a new document, it always comes up in compatibility mode.

How do I fix this?

Lou Sander

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Compatibility mode means that you’re working with a .doc file instead of a .docx file (docx being the newer format). To get rid of Compatibility mode for all new documents you will open in the future, you need to recreate Word’s “Normal” template.

To recreate the template, use File Explorer to navigate to C:\Users\<b>username</b>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates username is your Windows account name and C is the partition where Windows is installed). AppData is a “hidden” file, so you have to display hidden files in File Explorer to find it. If you need help with THAT, let me know.

There are only a few files in this folder and you’re looking for Normal.dotm (or, if you don’t display file extensions, then just Normal). Rename the file to something like NormalOld.

Then, reopen Word and you won’t see Compatibility mode.

I say “rename” because you might have stored macros or styles or other Word stuff that will be missing when  you reopen Word. If you keep the old template around, you can copy stuff from it to the new template.

1 user thanked author for this post.

doriel

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Well done. Worked like a charm. Thank you!

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worked for me

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I dont have the “Normal” in my templates?

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