Format settings changes are not saved

Question

Original title: Microsoft Office 2010 Professional, Word

When I change the default font style, font size or paragraph settings in Word 2010 the changes I make are not saved by Word.  I follow the instructions to the letter but when I load Word again after having made the changes tha default settings are still there. My changes have not been made.

Answer 1

The usual reason for this is that an add-in is preventing the Normal template from being saved when you quit Word. Ultimately, it will be most productive to find out what add-in that is and, if possible, remove it. As a temporary stopgap, however, you can make the changes directly in Normal.dotm and save it explicitly. The easiest way to open the Normal template for editing is as follows:

In Word, press Alt+F11; the Visual Basic Editor opens. Press Ctrl+G to activate the Immediate window. In that window, type

     NormalTemplate.OpenAsDocument

and press Enter. Normal opens, but note that it may not be on top of all windows. You can close the Visual Basic Editor. Make the desired changes to the Normal file, and then save and close it. If the changes you have made have not been recognized as changes (the Undo button is not activated), press Spacebar, then Backspace to "dirty" the file, thus ensuring that the template will actually be saved.

All of the above assumes that you have your own copy of Normal.dotm, stored locally, and that it is not blown away at startup by some evil script. If you are on a corporate network, your ability to make changes in Normal.dotm may be limited by the way your IT admins have set this up. If you find that you are forced to use a bog-standard Normal template, then your only recourse (aside from expressing your dissatisfaction to the Net Nazis) is to create a personal template with your desired settings and base documents on it instead of Normal.

Answer 2

Are you saving as a template?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291291