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Word 2013 defaults.

How do I change the default settings "permanently"? Every time I open Word 2013, I have to reset my preferences. I always click on SET AS DEFAULT, but it always reverts to the OEM defaults. Any ideas? I would appreciate it, thanks.
When the defaults button does not work, I have found that going "old school" and opening the NORMAL.DOTM file for editing and making your formatting changes works.


Find Normal.DOT / Find Normal.DOTM

http://wordribbon.tips.net/T006072_Finding_Where_Templates_Are_Stored.html - Ribbon

http://word.tips.net/T000862_Finding_Where_Templates_Are_Stored.html - Menu

http://word.tips.net/T001668_Opening_a_Template.html

http://addbalance.com/word/normaltemplate.htm 

The links above show a few different ways of finding normal. Here is one more:

In Word, press Alt+F11; the Visual Basic Editor opens. Press Ctrl+G to activate the Immediate window. In that window, type (or paste)

     Application.NormalTemplate.OpenAsDocument

and press Enter. Normal opens, but note that it may not be on top of all windows.

 


This article tells you where all settings are saved in case editing Normal does not work.

How to reset user options and registry settings in Word 2000-2013

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822005/en-us

This article is very thorough. Most people can skip the first section about the Registry and move down to the middle of the article to the “Repair Word (Office)” section. There are 3 “repair techniques listed.

 



Are you working in a corporate network? I worked for a company that downloaded a new NORMAL.DOTM every day when you logged it. It wiped many customizations. I had to work around it.


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To add to what Rohn007 has said:

  1. If you are on a corporate network that "refreshes" your Normal.dotm every day, you can create another global template (saved in the Startup folder), and Word will use those settings (unless your company helpfully resets the Startup folder as well).
  2. There are poorly written add-ins that prevent the Normal template from being saved. One of the most notorious recently is PDF Complete, pre-installed on many HP systems (at least those with Windows 7--don't know about later OS versions). You may want to try disabling add-ins to see if this makes a difference. If so, then reenable them one at a time till you find the culprit.
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
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http://ssbarnhill.com
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com
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Last updated October 17, 2022 Views 990 Applies to: