Word 2010 Macros disappear when Word is closed

Anonymous
2011-01-17T14:38:14+00:00

Hi folks,

I've been using Word since the beginning of time and using simple macros in Word to increase efficiency.  I recently upgraded (or downgraded) to Word 2010 and now the macros disappear when I close Word.  I've checked everywhere to fix this annoyance and changed the Trust Centre settings to enable macros, made sure I'm saving them in the correct template, even checked the add-ins.  What was once a simple and elegant little function has morphed into a complicated labryinth of settings.  I thought software upgrades were to make the process more intuitive and simple but here I've spent over an hour trying to find a solution.  The 90 days of support for Office is a joke. After phoning in to 1-800-668-7975 I went through 10 questions with the 'electronic host. ' Finally you get a person who refers you to the Word Professional support person who then tells you to go to a website and search the forums. I've been a support of Microsoft products for years but I think this is the beginning of the end for Microsoft. Windows 7 is certainly a big improverement over the last two OSs but Office Word 2010 is a pain.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2011-01-17T15:24:33+00:00

Word 2010 stores macros in the same manner as earlier versions - in templates, documents and by default the normal template.

If you have an old normal.dot file with your macros from an earlier Word version, rename the Word 2010 normal template (normal.dotm) to oldnormal.dotm with Word closed.

Put the old normal.dot file in the same folder as oldnormal.dotm and restart Word. Word will read the old template and create a new normal template. From Word Options > Advanced > Save - Check the option to prompt to save the normal template (and preferably the option to create backups). Close Word and you should get a prompt to save the normal template. Save it!

Remove the old normal.dot from the folder and restart Word. Your macros should be available. Whether they will work correctly in Word 2010 rather depends on what they do.

If you don't have an old normal.dot file - just complete the other steps. You will have to add macros to the resulting template.

By default the Word Startup and User Templates folders are trusted folders. If you have moved those locations from the default settings you will need to add the folders to the trusted folders list.

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

www.gmayor.com

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-11-24T12:19:50+00:00

    I agree that there is a problem with normal.dotm not saving on its own, but this seems to be a bug in Word itself.  The only active add-in I have is Microsoft Contact Manager for Outlook and Instant Messaging Contacts and both are Microsoft add-ins. There is no network login script.

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  2. Charles Kenyon 170.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2011-11-24T06:31:51+00:00

    This achieves the immediate goal. However, the question of why normal.dotm isn't saving on its own remains to be answered. That takes detective work to figure out the Add-In causing the problem, if that is the problem.

    This also does not deal with the situation where normal.dotm is being overwritten by some sort of network login script. That problem is best addressed by creating a separate global template or perhaps discussing the problem with the network IT guru.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-11-24T01:40:05+00:00

    I had the same problem with Word 2010 and I used this to save keyboard shortcuts I created and which would not save to Normal.dotm.  Should work for macros as well:

    File/Options/Save – Prompt before saving changes to Normal template

    Go to:  C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates

    Rename Normal template to Normal2

    This is the key step:  Click on Normal2 to open Word.

    Make your keyboard shortcuts and click Save to Normal2.

    When closing Word, you will be prompted to Save.  Click Yes.

    Then copy and paste Normal2 to Normal2 – Copy.

    Rename Normal to NormalOld

    Rename Normal2 – Copy to Normal.

    Open Word and your keyboard shortcuts should work.

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  4. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2011-11-16T16:24:29+00:00

    If you have read the entire thread, you will realize that this is almost always (I might even venture to say "always") caused by an add-in. These third-party add-ins are beyond Microsoft's control, so the blame should not be laid at Microsoft's door.

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