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Missing Command Bar at top of Word 11 screen

Anonymous
2014-06-18T05:33:06+00:00

This is on a MacBook Air 11:  In Word 11 for Mac, on the main menu bar at the top of the screen, the one with the Apple logo at the left, and the date and time and Spotlight at the right edge, I have lost all the expected Word commands.   “File” is missing and “Edit”. “View”, “Insert", “Format”, “Font”, “Tools”, “Table” and “Window”, all missing.  Only the Apple logo and “Word” and the symbol for “About this Menu” and “Help” remain. 

When I open Word, the Word Document Gallery appears in the foreground and I can see behind it the old normally  expected Word command menu items on the bar across the top of the screen.  But when I click on any template, or red light the Document Gallery, the menu commands vanish, leaving only “Word” and “Help.”

This happened at the end of several hours of frustration trying to get normal.dotm to retain formatting changes.  I don’t know why the changes didn’t stick, and I don’t know why they finally did stick.  There were several normal.dotm files in different locations, and I had the impression I was modifying the wrong one. 

But when the changes finally worked, I noticed that the layout of the Word Menu bars, not the top line of commands, but the smaller icons above the Ribbon, had changed, and some of the commands were missing, like “file” and “tools”.  In trying to restore them to their original arrangement, I noticed that the commands along the top of the screen had disappeared. 

I tried to open Word with one of the earlier failed versions of normal.dotm which I recovered from the Trash, and although they have the old formatting I don’t want, the Word commands at the top of the screen are still missing.  Please guide me to a solution to this.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-06-18T20:56:10+00:00

    Thanks for the reply, Bob.  I have version 4.2.2 of Office 2011 for Mac, no updates available. 

    I closed all programs and ran Apple's Disk Utility and repaired disk permissions and restarted the MacBookAir 11”.  

    I then opened Word, with the same result as before.  The Word Document Gallery (template icon screen) opens in the foreground, and in the background I can see at the very top of the screen The Apple/Word Menu Command bar, with all the Menu Titles, File, Edit, View, etc.   I can click on the them, but all the menu commands that scroll down are greyed out.   Then, when I click on one of the template icons, or click the red light to close the Document Gallery, it dissappears, and the Word blank Document 1 screen appears in Prink Layout View, but the Appl/Word Command Menu line has reduced to Word and Help alone, with the symbol for “About this Menu” in between, with a statement about AppleScripts and Automator Workflows.  [Throughout, the icons at the right side of the Apple/Word Command Menu bar the date and time and spotlight icon, etc remain the same as always, and as they are in the other Apple Command Menu Bars, Finder, Safari, etc.]

    I then created a new User Account & launched Word while logged in as that User with the exact same result as above.   

    I should note that I now have no Word document commands available, even in the word portion of the screen.  The ribbon is there but I have no Save, no File, no Edit, no View Menus at all.  I have only the Formatting Toolbar, and the ribbon. 

    I have been a Word user going back to Window 98, and have never had this kind of global problem.  I am new to Apple, however, and the bullet-proof ease-of-use sales pitch now seems something of an exaggeration. 

    My concern is that the problem seems to reside within either the normal.dotm files itself, or within the Word documents I have opened and saved and/or created with this version of Word, and that I face a considerable loss of work product.

    I am greateful for your help.

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  2. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.3K Reputation points
    2014-06-19T10:37:54+00:00

    Sorry the preliminaries didn't resolve it. How about a bit more background...

    • Was any other version of Mac Office installed on that Mac?
    • If so, is it still installed? If not, how did you remove it?
    • Was Office 2011 migrated from another Mac or was it installed directly?
    • Is this a new development with an installation that was previously OK?
    • Exactly what "changes" did you make to Normal.dotm & how did you go about it?
    • Are there any other symptoms? Does Word crash or hang? Can you use the Toolbars/Ribbon?
    • Is there a similar issue with other Office apps or other programs?
    • Do you have any utilities installed that interact with Word or modify OS X?

    Since the same condition exists in a new User Account it's not likely that it is an issue with Normal.dotm [although that would otherwise be the most likely suspect] or with a Word Preferences file. Those are user-specific, so new ones are generated for each account. I don't see how it can be related to the documents, themselves, especially since it happens on a fresh launch.

    To help narrow it down do each of the following tests:

    1. Hold the Shift key while you launch Word -- Any difference?
    2. Log out, then hold Shift while you log in -- Any difference?

    It would also be a good idea to track down all instances of Normal.dotm while Word is not running. Delete them all, then empty the Trash & restart the Mac.

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  3. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.3K Reputation points
    2014-06-18T14:10:37+00:00

    One significant factor you did not mention is your present update level of Office :-)

    "Office 2011" (not '11') is the name of the product for marketing purposes. The version is 14 with the current update level being 14.4.2, so the first step is to confirm where you stand. Go to Word's Help menu & select Check for Updates. [You can actually do so from any of the programs in the Office 2011 suite -- it doesn't have to be Word.]

    Regardless of whether any updating is done, Quit all programs then run Apple's Disk Utility to repair disk permissions & restart your Mac.

    If those steps don't resolve the issue create a new User Account & launch Word while logged in as that User to see if you have the same situation. Reply with complete details in order to explore the problem further.

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