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General discussion

Office Problem with font change

Oct 30, 2005 7:14AM PST

I'm having serious issues with all forms of Office. I thought it might just be Office 2000, but I upgraded to XP, and I'm still having this issue.

When I open a Word (or Excel or Powerpoint) document, I can edit it just well, provided I use the same font that it comes in. When I go to change the font, Office freezes, and I receive an error that states, "Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." I've re-installed Office 3 times, but the same message comes up every time. Can anyone here help me?

I can't paste the error report it gives me, as it is VERY large and would just cause headaches. Has anyone had this problem before, and if so, can I fix it easily, without flattening and re-installing Windows? Office had worked fine prior to this problem, for some 2 months.

Discussion is locked

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Try the usual cure.
Oct 30, 2005 7:58AM PST

Delete the NORMAL.DOT file and try one more time.

Bob

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nope
Nov 1, 2005 6:40AM PST

No luck. A search for the "normal.dot" file yields nothing, even when I search only for the name "normal". Is there another possible cause? I would hate to have to flatten and re-install after only 2 months.

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If you don't have a normal.dot then you don't use Word.
Nov 1, 2005 7:20AM PST

Word (by Microsoft) does use this file.

Since you didn't find it then either you didn't find it or you don't use word.

Bob

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Re: normal.dot
Nov 1, 2005 7:33AM PST

Miotch,

Normal.dot should be somewhere in your Documents and Settings. And you can always use a command like Tools>Options>File locations (might be version dependent) to find the folder it's in. That's a handy tool for people not versed in the use of Windows Explorer to look for files.

But this is a typical Word file. I really wonder if it influences anything in Excel and Powerpoint. But then, I wouldn't expect those programs to give an error message starting with "Microsoft Word has encountered a problem" so your post seems to be a little bit self-contradictory in this respect, if I may say so.

Hope this helps, and tell more if necessary.

Kees

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oy
Nov 1, 2005 9:05AM PST

I consider myself quite skilled in Microsoft Word, as well as Windows. The other programs give me their respective error messages, Kees. Sorry I was not more clear on that point.

I do also use OpenOffice, as I need something to edit my documents while Microsoft Word is giving me this problem.

Believe me, I'm far from stupid when it comes to these kinds of things, but this particular problem has me stumped, especially with more than one forum telling me that "Normal.dot" should exist. I don't know what to say, other than it does not show up in a search, and I've looked far and wide through all the sub-folders in "/%Root%/Documents and Settings"

Given this, I'm pretty sure I'm using Microsoft Word Office XP. And I know its a legal copy. If anyone doubts me, I can send you a HT log when the programs are running.

Any help that anyone can offer is greatly appreciated, please. My family is getting restless, and while I personally don't mind using OpenOffice, they are all attached to the Word that we've all come to know.

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hidden
Nov 1, 2005 9:08AM PST

Ok. I can add another thing to the list of why I hate XP. The default is to not look in Hidden Files and Folders for my search. I found "Normal.dot" and deleted it with high hopes, and i still get the same message.......

Nothing seems to work. Sad

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After you delete it...
Nov 1, 2005 10:35AM PST

Be sure Word was not running at the time and then start Word (it will make a new one).

If it hangs on a font change, my next items would be to:

a. Add/remove Office and select repair.
b. Run CHARMAP and see if it complains as you review your installed fonts.

Bob

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font change problem
Nov 2, 2005 12:34AM PST

hi
I am having the same problem which I suspect started after a windows update...

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run office repair
Nov 2, 2005 12:52AM PST

I tried the office repair.
It seems ok now.

you can do the same...

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nothing
Nov 4, 2005 10:44AM PST

Nothing seems to work. Even after I run Office Repair, I'm still getting the same error message.

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Re: nothing
Nov 4, 2005 5:56PM PST

Then, as suggested by Bob above, go and look beyond Office.

- Does the error only occur when you select a different font, or also when you select a different font size in the same font?
- Try charmap on a view fonts. What happens?
- What happens if you do a font change in Wordpad?
- Try Insert>Symbol (the inbuilt Word version of charmap) to select characters from other fonts. What happens?
- Does the error occur if you try to change the font of selected text? Or if you try to change the font of a profile (such as Header 1)? Or without selection to change the font of the text you're gonna type later on? Or in all cases?
- Can you change the default font in Normal.dot?
- Can you use all fonts you like in a small html-page? Or does Internet Explorer give errors then?

Just things to play with, if the obvious things (delete normal.dot and repair office) don't work. Not sure it leads to a conclusion, of course. You might need to do a clean install of the OS to recover.

Kees