Error: The last time you opened BasicSimple.dotx, it caused a serious error

Anonymous
2023-01-28T14:48:37+00:00

When I am typing in Word, I will hover the mouse over the toolbar and spin the wheel and as it goes back to the right toolbar (Home for example from view) I get this error: Error: "The last time you opened BasicSimple.dotx, it caused a serious error. Do you still want to open it?"

I do not understand why it keep popping up only when i spin the scroll wheel when i am trying to switch between toolbar menus. Any advice?

Moderator's note: BasicSimple.dotx is a built-in [Quick] Style Set.

[Quick] Style Sets and Word Themes in Microsoft Word

[Quick] Style Sets

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Windows

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Anonymous
2023-07-24T15:55:25+00:00

Can you please give me a step by step description of what you did. I am the one who created this thread and so far nothing I have tried or seen here has worked. I still get the same error.

Hi sidscrat,

Your Normal.dotm file should be at this locaition: C:\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates.

Rename Normal.dotm to Normal.dotm_old or something similar. After that, restart the computer.

That process seemed to fix the issue for some of us.

James

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-07-23T06:38:15+00:00

    Magic! Same issue. I had to move all the templates. Problem fixed.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-07-12T19:54:26+00:00

    I have not seen the error since I moved the template so guessing that was the problem

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-07-12T17:23:08+00:00

    When I try to use the PowerFaids system and send a specific document I get the same error message...

        [![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/d349930f-35e6-4fb8-a68e-5fcb1db1c7af?platform=QnA "filestore.community.support.microsoft.com")
    

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-07-08T14:25:24+00:00

    Now July 2023. I have been having this problem for a while, but recently got worse. Located the basicsimple.dotx template here:

    C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\1033\QuickStyles

    I moved it out of that folder and we'll see if the problem goes away. I suspect a corrupt file is getting distrubuted with installation.

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