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
    2023-02-13T12:53:29+00:00

    Yes, the folder is empty. What is odd is that I always use the same template. I suppose it could have been a document I received from someone else. As I mentioned earlier I just found out from my wife she is getting the same error on her computer. We have not exchanged anything recently.

    I guess I will just have to live with it.

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  2. Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2023-02-13T21:25:53+00:00

    If you can rule out that a specific template is causing this, you can always try renaming the Normal template (with Word closed). As you restart Word, the template will be recreated with factory defaults, and any code that references a broken macro (for example) will be flushed out.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-02-13T21:43:03+00:00

    I did that just now. The problem remains. If I rotate the wheel over the toolbar area to run between categories (home, layout, view, etc.) the error still pops up. I will just have to live with it until an update comes out. Maybe it was because of an update as my wife's computer is having the same issue. Thanks for all your advice

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  4. Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2023-02-13T21:59:28+00:00

    If I rotate the wheel over the toolbar area to run between categories (home, layout, view, etc.) the error still pops up.

    OK, that is a new piece of information (or I missed it earlier).

    This may indicate that some third-party ribbon customization is involved. You can troubleshoot COM add-ins, if you haven't already done so. See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshoot/word/issues-when-start-or-use-word#option7.

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