Word 1997 normal dot error

Question

Running WORD 1997 under Windows 8.1... Recently when exiting WORD I get an error message about updating the NORMAL.DOT file.  I've tried renaming and/or deleting the NORMAL file, but the error keeps coming back.  It does NOT affect my Word documents.  If I hit IGNORE, I exit Word successfully.

WORD 1997 under Windows 8.1 had been running without this problem until about 6 months ago.

How can I get rid of this error message.

Answer 1

Word 97 does not have guaranteed compatibility with Windows 8.1, however all Word versions behave in the same way with respect to the normal template.

You can (and should) allow Word to prompt to save changes to the Normal template on exit. In this case, did you allow it to save the changes?

One change that will require saving is related to daylight saving time, so at the end of that, about 6 moths ago, there would have been a change that required saving, and it would nag until you did save. If you delete or rename the normal template, again it will prompt you to save the replacement Word creates, until you do.

There are several reasons why the normal template may not be saved correctly, and the first of those to investigate relates to orphaned lock files - see http://www.gmayor.com/what\_to\_do\_when\_word\_crashes.htm