Template Crashes Word (Word97sr2 (win2000))

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I created a template that includes custom toolbar buttons tied to custom paragraph styles. I can create and save documents using the template, but when I try to close the document, Word quits.

I sent the template to the “expert” at my IT department, who said documents based on it also made Word crash on her machine. Her advice was that the template was probably corrupted and that I should create a new one.

So I did. But the brand-new template also causes the same problem under the same conditions (Word crashes when documents based on the template are closed). This makes me think that the corruption idea, although credible, was not correct.

When I created the second template, I used format-painter to pick up the styles from a document (based on the original template). I didn’t use copy-and-paste at all, so no text, paragraph symbols, or anything else was brought over from the “corrupted” document. But could format-painter capture and move the corruption? Should I totally re-create all the styles?

Anybody got any ideas what might be causing the crash? Is there a limit to the number of user-defined styles and/or toolbar buttons?

Thanks!

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Hi Anne.

Two things.

1. I am not a fan of the format painter in any circumstance–it’s behaviour has always seemed unreliable to me. I would use the Organizer to copy styles.

2. Do you have any code in your template? Specifically, is it trying to do something when the document closes?

As far as I know, there is no limit on the number of styles; if there *is* a limit, it’s pretty high.

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There is no code in the template (that I know of, anyway). The only difference between the problem template and “Normal” is the additional styles and buttons. And “Normal” doesn’t seem to crash Word.

Thanks for the tip about Organizer. I’ll make another attempt at re-creating the template, using Organizer instead of format painter.

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I created a brand-new template, then used “Organizer” to move the stypes to the new template, then made new toolbar buttons for easy access to the new styles.

So far , I’ve been able to create and close documents based on the new template, without crashing Word.

Thanks for the idea! It looks like my problem may be solved.

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Cool! I’m glad that it worked/is working. This just confirms my intense dislike for the format painter…*g*

Jen

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I’m afraid I spoke too soon. The new template just crashed Word on me. Perhaps one of the styles is the corrupt critter. Or maybe there’s something in the header. Or who the hell knows.

I blame Bill Gates.

Anyway, thanks for trying.

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Hello Anne
There is a similar behavior in Word 2000, if you do have a custom toolbar enabled and close Word. It might be a similar problem in Word 97 – try to hide the toolbar before closing your document. Does it still crash?
hedgehog

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Oh shoot. I’m sorry…I was really hoping that would work.

Do your templates have any VBA code behind them that might be getting tied up when the document is closed?

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To Jen and Hedgehog:

I thought you might be interested in the “resolution” to my problem. I upgraded to Word 2000, after which I totally re-created the template from scratch (not copying ANYTHING). I re-created all of the styles, then re-mapped them to their own toolbar. And yes, documents created with the template still sometimes crash Word upon closing the documents.

Deep sigh.

So my solution is to NOT use the toolbar at all, instead using the more cumbersome method of choosing the style from the toolbar button that’s a drop-down list of styles. Not much of a solution, but I comfort myself by repeating “I get paid by the hour” as my mantra.

Thanks again! Your suggestions were most helpful.

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I had this problem too. I added some code that automatically closes the toolbar when the document closes, and automatically turns on the toolbar when a document based on the template is opened. (If the custom toolbar is not open, it will not crash Word.)

If you want to try this code, let me know.

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There is a known bug in Word with customized toolbars. I had this problem too. When I added code to close the toolbar when the document based on this templates closes and opens the toolbar when any document based on this template opens, Word quit freezing!

You can test this to see if it works. Close your toolbar. Save your document and then close the document. (I also prefer closing Word to flush out the temporary files.)

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