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General discussion

Error message when I open a Word document

Jul 23, 2005 8:24AM PDT

Sometimes, not always, when I click on the icon of a Word document that I have in a folder the program opens, but an error message appears saying "The command cannot be performed because a dialog box is open. Click OK, amd then close the open dialog boxes to continue." This happens when no dialog box is open! I click OK and the document opens with no further problem. This never happens when I open Word directly, only when I open an existing document (and not always then). Anyone have an idea about this?

Discussion is locked

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Try this
Jul 24, 2005 4:23AM PDT
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Normal.dot file was corrupted
Jul 25, 2005 3:23PM PDT

Mark, thanks for the useful tip. I located the Normal.dot file, but being the cautious type I also clicked on the link you provided so I could read up on the subject. Somewhere down into that article the author said that his pet peeve was someone telling a user just to delete the Normal.dot file! Instead, he recommended renaming it to Normal.OLD, then opening Word which would create a new Normal.dot file. If that fixed the problem, then nothing more need be done, although he also suggested making one or more backup copies of the new, clean Normal.dot file. I followed his advice (and have you to thank for pointing me in the right direction), and the problem disappeared. Thank you very much!

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About that peeve.
Jul 25, 2005 11:12PM PDT

I've read that and tried to find a way to recover what's in a corrupt normal.dot. It was useless and a waste of time.

As such, I've gone back to just deleting it until someone shows us a way to repair normal.dot.

Bob

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Pesky Normal.dot
Jul 26, 2005 2:30AM PDT

I opened an old Word file this morning, and my useless error window opened again. This time, I went through all the accounts I have listed in Windows Explorer and found Normal.dot files in a couple of others besides the one I am normally signed on as. I did the same procedure in all--copied a version I knew to be clean, then renamed Normal.dot to Normal.OLD. Now my Word files are opening with no interruption. Maybe this time the problem is really fixed.

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(NT) (NT) I'm glad it worked Lelin
Jul 26, 2005 4:59AM PDT
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Check out...
Jul 27, 2005 6:01AM PDT