Microsoft Word for Mac - Document Template

Question

Folks,

Ever since we got updated to the 16.30 version of Microsoft Word, we keep getting asked if we want to save changes to the document template. It's in a loop no matter what we select or try:

We've tried all the usual troubleshooting tricks to try and kill it, but can't seem to get it to stop popping up. Anyone else seeing this? What are you doing to stop it?

Answer 1

Please disregard the Windows-based response from PanyongT. If you've attempted to do what was suggested you've already found that none of those steps can't be followed on a Mac.

The key question is whether there actually has been a change that would cause the prompt. Even if that's the case the prompt shouldn't appear repeatedly but this is something that does happen from time to time for some users. Not having any idea what may be included in "all the usual troubleshooting tricks" there may be some that you haven't tried.

Add-ins are one possibility: There are some that may affect the template, especially if they are not fully updated. Have you determined that no add-ins are being used? If there are, either update them of remove them to see whether that resolves the issue.

One procedure that often remedies this is to open the Normal.dotm template in Word using the File> Open method, type a character or two, backspace to delete them... Do Not use Undo, then Save & Close the template. Restart Word afterwards, then check to see whether it continues. If not, it may be that there is a problem with the template, itself. The next step would be to have the program replace it. Let us know before you attempt to do so.

There is a Preference in Word> Preferences - Save to prompt before saving Normal template which is in effect by default. In most cases it should be left in effect in order to prevent unwanted changes from being saved, but it can be turned off as a temporary fix.

Answer 2

Hi monaronyc! I'm Stephen, an Independent Advisor here in the Microsoft Answers Community.

This issue is largely due to Word’s add-ins. Some of the application’s add-ins temporarily modify the document templates. As such, switching the add-ins off is the best way to resolve this issue.

To disable add-ins,

1. open MS Word, click the File tab and select Options to open the software’s settings window.
2. Click Add-ins on the left of the Word Options window. That will open a list of your active and inactive application add-ins.
3. Each add-in has a type category, such as COM, Template and Action. Click the Manage drop-down menu and select a type from there.

4 Press the Go button to open a window that displays all the add-ins which fit within the type selected from the drop-down menu. Now you can deselect the check boxes for the active add-ins to disable them.

5. Press the OK button to close the window.

Please feel free to reply to this message. I'm willing to help you with your concern.

Answer 3

By any chance are you trying to run version 16.30 in Mac OS 10.12? The 16.30 build requires 16.13 or later Mac OS.

Answer 4

Thank you for responding to this! We've narrowed it down to a couple of 'internal' configurations which we'll need to iron out on our end. But FYI, these anomalies started with the 16.30 update. So unless something changed with the dev on this version of Word, anyone who is not on 16.30 in our environment is not affected.

Answer 5

That's an "interesting" development, which from a user point of view is frustrating. It's unlikely that any actual changes are being written to the template, which is what this message is intended for. (I've only seen this problem in Word for Windows previously). I know you wrote "It's in a loop no matter what we select or try" but I must ask, what happens of you just click No? Perhaps repeatedly.