Stop requesting save changes to document template

Anonymous
2013-06-17T10:47:19+00:00

Word 2013 insists on asking if I want to save the document template, or in the case of a custom template, save that named template.  I have followed the recommendations for turning this "feature" off, but it persists.  I have unchecked the box labeled "Prompt Before Saving Normal Template**"** in both the normal and the custom templates.  No change.  It still prompts me to save.  I worry that there is something wrong with my installation (Word also hangs if I open a folder and double-click on a document to open it.  I have learned that I can right-click and select "Restore" to get the document to open, but this seems to suggest a problem with the program or the installation).

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Charles Kenyon 171K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2014-07-28T04:13:19+00:00

    Following up on Doug Robbins' response...

    1. That it is a new installation does not preclude the presence of Add-Ins. Some come pre-installed on computers.
    2. You are not installing the developer tab. It is there. You are simply choosing to display it. There are other,  more complex, ways of viewing the templates and add-ins dialog.
    3. It is not "my" software, nor Doug Robbins' software. We are both users, like you.

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  2. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-07-25T22:08:26+00:00

    And, if you start Word in Safe Mode by holding down the CTRL key while starting it, does the same behaviour occur?

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-07-25T20:18:15+00:00

    This is the answer. You have to install the developer tab because there's no other way to remove the association to the template.

    Microsoft, this is just another example of terrible software design. I installed a brand new version of Office 2013 just today so you can't blame the add-ons. I created a document from a template, which is the intended use for your product. I saved the document under a new name. I edited the document. I saved the document. And your terrible software constantly bothers me save a template that I don't even have open. This is why Apple and Google are eating your lunch. It's not because they have better marketing than you. It's because your designers have zero respect for your users.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-07-23T13:01:14+00:00

    FWIW...

    Recently I have had 2 customers commenting on this "Save Normal Template" message appearing. One using Office 2010 the other 2013. Both were using one of my add-ins to Word that does have a "dotx" formatting template, which under the control of the VSTO add-in, does update its Styles. The user's Normal template is not accessed or updated by our program and is not attached to any documents that we use.

    During investigation I found that the user's IT department had unwittingly moved the Normal template. One had placed it on a shared Network drive and the other had placed it into the "Read Only" Microsoft Office Templates folder in the Program Files directory on the "C" drive.

    The remedy for eliminating the Save Normal Template message was for us to simply move our template out of the User Template directory and place it into another directory within the user's App Data\Roaming path. By default the User Template directory is ~\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates and this is also the default home for the Normal.dotm template.

    Conclusion... if Word's Normal template has been moved out of the expected /default user template directory and custom user templates are contained within the default user template directory this can cause erroneous messages concerning saving the Normal template when updates to the custom templates are performed.

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  5. Charles Kenyon 171K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2014-07-23T10:59:03+00:00

    Note that you should never replace the Normal template with a custom template named "Normal," because this is going to wipe out customizations saved to the template.

    I concur and would add that if you save any template as the normal template (other than a normal template created by Word) you will lose not only your own customizations, but also some built-in Word functions.

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