Changes Saved Automatically to Normal Template

Question

I have asked this before but have not received a useful answer.

Sometimes when my laptop crashes I get a notice that changes were saved automatically to the normal template, whether I want to keep them yes or no, when I start up Word.

I have been advised to say no. However I have not received a clear answer. Are changed that are saved "automatically" including the ones that I manually made? Or are they things that somehow changed the normal template without me knowing (which really shouldn't be happening in the first place but was part of the malfunction when it crashed)? I've been given some notion of documents downloaded from elsewhere having a different normal template and this somehow imposing changes on mine...

I am asking because I suspended my doubt and said no to saving, as it has caused unwanted changes in the past. However today I said no and then found my keyboard shortcuts were deleted.

Should I be saying yes or no?

Answer 1

Word stores some of its default settings in its default template Normal.dotm.

You can change some of these explicitly - for example, in the Font dialog, you can specify that the font you select will become the default for new documents.

Others are more implicit. For example, if you create a formatted AutoText entry, it will be stored in Normal.dotm.

I suggest that you make word ask whether you want to save changes to Normal.dotm (if you have changed anything implicitly or explicitly) when you quit Word. In most circumstance, you'll have a better idea of whether you changed anything that would affect Normal.dotm.

Select File > Options.

Select Advanced.

Scroll down to the Save section.

Tick the check box 'Prompt before saving Normal template'.

Click OK.