Word issue

[ale52]

I have a client that has an issue with M$ Word (v.2000 or 2003).  Seems she gets dependable crashes...Winword.exe... when using templates for her job.  She's uninstalled 2000 and installed 2003.  Her boss came over and recreated her templates (she's a medical transcriber).  About 2 weeks after the install and template creations the problems returned.

My understanding of Word is limited but the research I've done tells me that all her templates are based on the Normal.dot template. If that template is deleted Word will recreate another.  Problem is if you delete it then the templates based on it will go to. I know, I had her remove it not knowing this would happen.  Fortunately it went into the Recycle Bin and she was able to recover her templates.

Seems to me that the problem didn't go away:
1. uninstalling or upgrading the Office suite
2. recreating the templates

Therefore, does it make sense that maybe the OS is causing the problem?  RAM issue?

I've asked her to use msconfig to turn off everything and see if it's something in the background running that's interfering with Word.  She hasn't done that as of today 8/23.

I'm soooo confused  

Alan <><  

[soybean]

But, the problem did go away after you deleted Normal.dot, so why do you say that did not work?  Granted, the problem re-occurred after about 2 weeks, but that suggests a user issue.  In other words, I suspect PEBKAC here.

Also, you said "templates".  That's plural.  How many templates are we talking about?

[ale52]

"But, the problem did go away after you deleted Normal.dot, so why do you say that did not work?"
I stand humbly corrected   :-/  

You are absolutely right, deleting Normal.dot DID correct THAT problem. However, it creates another problem in that she loses her templates when deleting Normal.dot.  

"Also, you said "templates".  That's plural.  How many templates are we talking about?"
I believe she has about 5 or 6.

I thought that a) M$ suite being newly installed b) new templates created c) the problem not appearing for 2 weeks may lend itself to a quirky OS problem or possibly RAM.  Didn't consider the operator  

Alan <><  

[soybean]

I believe each template must be saved as a .dot file.  Therefore, deleting Normal.dot would only delete one template, Normal.dot.  Any other templates would not be affected by deleting Normal.dot.  

[ale52]

Soybean said:
"I believe each template must be saved as a .dot file.  Therefore, deleting Normal.dot would only delete one template, Normal.dot.  Any other templates would not be affected by deleting Normal.dot"

You are right  

I created a template, closed Word, went to the default location of the templates & deleted the normal.dot file, reopened Word, went again to the template I had created and volia...opened like a charm.  

I believe you are right...this is a PEBKAC situation.

Thanks for your help  

Alan <><