Can’t remove templates (2000 SR1)

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Greetings,

I have several word 2000 templates that I believe were installed by other
software.

Recently word started taking FOREVER to start up. If I start it with the /a
switch it starts immediately.

If I go to tools templates and add-ins I see several templates there;
qword8.dot, PALMAPP.dot, PDFMaker.dot but the remove option is greyed out. They do show up in Tools Macros as global templates.

I’ve searched my hard drive and can’t find these files. I’ve even tried
making bogus copies for word to find, but this only doubles up the
templates. Some portion of these templates must be there as there are a
bunch of auto_open macros and auto_close macros. (I can’t delete these either)

Any help greatly appreciated
Sorry for being so wordy,

Dave

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In Word 97, when you select one of the items in the list in Tools/Templates and add-ins, the full path of the file is displayed below the list. Is that not the case any more in Word 2000 ?

You might have a look at this site in http://www.mvps.org.

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You are correct the path is there…but there are no files in that folder. I tried creating some with the same name but it gave me 2 of each template :-[

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This is probably a stupid suggestion: if the files are ‘hidden’, and your Windows Explorer doesn’t display hidden files (the default setting), you can’t see them.

To make sure that hidden files are displayed (recommended!):

In Windows Explorer:

• Select View/Folder Options…
• Click on the View tab
• Click on the option to display all files (exact location and wording depends on Windows version)
• Click OK
  [/list]Now navigate to the folder where the offending files should be according to Word. Any luck?

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No luck…

Show hidden folders/files is selected, still nothing there.

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Sure enough, I increased the macro security and when the enable maro’s
dialogue came up it showed the path to the templates. (It was different than
the one shown in word) c:program filesmicrosoftofficestartup

Unfortunately this did not solve my initial problem of word taking forever
to startup, and its inability to open a document that is double clicked in
an email or explorer window or desktop icon.

Dave

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Hi Dave:
There may be more than one problem here. Your problems are:
1. Can’t find templates that you “know” exist.
2. Word starts slowly.
3. Can’t open documents from Explorer, etc.

Problem 1:
I’m guessing that you’re using Win98, but these instructions should work in other Windows operating systems (not sure about XP). Click the taskbar, press F3, & type

startup

This should find all your startup folders. Now look inside for the templates & add-ins. Make sure Word is closed & rename all to something like templateName.bad. (where each templateName is the actual template name)

Now restart Word & see if problem 2 is better. If so, add back each template (by renaming bad to dot) one at a time & restarting Word. Hopefully, this will isolate your add-in that’s causing problems. You may have to uninstall & reinstall the application creating these templates, if you need them & they are corrupt.

If the above doesn’t work. Rename normal.dot to normal.bad & start Word. It will create a new normal template. Close Word & save the new template. If that fixed the problem, it was a corrupt normal.dot. You may have to copy or redo custom styles, toolbars, etc. (It’s a good idea to keep a backup of normal.dot for just that reason. Then if it goes “bad”, you have a working copy that you can immediately use. I keep about 4 backups & update them every time I make any changes to normal.dot that I save.)

Problem 2:
The above technique will hopefully solve this problem. If not, it could also be something like Outlook Journalling turned on (although I seem to recall that only made saving a document take forever).

Problem 3:
Unfortunately, I’m running out of time right now. However, there was a recent thread (within the last week) about file associations & if you search for the username of jscher2000, you should see a picture of what your file assocation dialog box for Word docs should look like. You can also search for “@1” & you should find the thread.

Hope this helps.

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Have you checked in the in the Control Panel…Add Remove to see of any of the programs have listed themselves there and can easily be uninstalled?

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Still the same issues

1. Starts slow 1.5-2 min
2. Won’t open double clicked files.

Outlook Journaling is off
I’ve found and removed the add-ins
Renamed all Normal.dot templates
Ran winword /r

Perhaps I should give up…. Start word first thing and never shut it down. Once its started everything is fine, including the double click file open.

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Hi Dave:
If Word starts fine with the /a switch, that almost certainly means that it’s either a corrupt (or bloated) normal.dot &/or add-ins. Are you saying that you removed or renamed all add-ins, renamed normal.dot (all at the same time) & it sill took 1.5 to 2 minutes to start? AND you could still start Word quickly with the /a switch?

If so, the only other thing I can think of is a corrupt Data key in the registry. Information on that is found here. I’d give this a try. One of the symptoms they describe is difficulty opening Word. There is also a link to another article on difficulties with opening Word.

Let us know how this works out.

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Thanks for all the suggestions,

Nothing has fixed the problem of word opening very slowly….

I have removed all the templates, from all startup locations. (no addins
show up in word anymore)

I have renamed normal.dot to normal.old. (Word created a new normal.dot)

I have deleted the Data Key, and Option Key in the registry.

I am not diconnected from my network. (No network printing issues)

I am not running Norton or Winfax…

Word still starts quickly with the /a parameter.

If anyone learns of anything else, please let me know.

Thanks again,

Dave

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Just in case you are not the same David that has been writing on this issue in the word.applicationerrors newsgroup, you may want to look at Problems Starting Word.

Word 2000 and later will have at least two different startup folders, only one of which is listed under file locations. The other is a folder in another folder called Office which will be put somewhere on your hard drive. The somewhere being determined by your operating system and settings. This other folder takes priority, by the way, in that Add-Ins in this folder can override those in the official startup folder.

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