Ask a new question

Microsoft Word 2013 read only compatibility

I have absolutely no idea how this problem came to be but every person who works for Microsoft should be ashamed of themselves for creating such a terrible product. People choose this product out of convenience and fear. People are afraid to use another product because of compatibility fears. I just want to do basic word processing nothing fancy and I have had nothing but bother since I got this. Why can't Microsoft not make things easier for people? 
Look at the following image and tell me how to sort this mess out. I have scoured forums, tried solutions and nothing works. Every time I want to save a document it wants to save in 1997-2003 or something like that. I select Word Document and it seems to save but when I open it it says the below.


For love of Christ why?


* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

If your **** is about Word saving a document as a Word 97-2993 Document (*.doc) you can set your preference by selecting Options from the File tab of the Ribbon and then go to Save and select the format that you want to be used as the default from the Save files in this format drop down. If you select Word Document (*.docx), the Compatibilty Mode will not appear when you open documents saved in that format (unless your Normal.dotm template was created in an earlier version of Word).
Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - MVP Office Apps & Services (Word)
dougrobbinsmvp@gmail.com
It's time to replace ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ with ‘Excellence, Opportunity & Civility’ - V Ramaswamy

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I went to Options then to Save select .docx to the format I want Word files to be saved in and the problem still exists. 

I apologise to anyone reading this about my rant but it baffles me how something so easy can be so complicated. 

Doug, you refer to "Normal.dotm" - I don't know what that is. You see this is part of the problem with computers and software, the people who created them are talking a different language to the rest of the population. I appreciate that is a problem with most professions. I am lawyer and often we are accused of the same problem. I searched the internet for solutions but none have worked, most are hard to follow and some just looked scary. 

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

See the part about Creating a new Normal.dot from scratch in the article "Why is my "Blank Document" not blank?” at:

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/BlankDocNotBlank.htm

Note, the above article was created before the advent of Office 2007 from which point the Normal template had a dotm extension rather than dot, but everything else remains unchanged.

Assuming that you are using Windows 7 or 8\8.1, you will find the Normal.dotm template in the following folder

C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates

Note, the AppData folder and those below it are hidden folders so in Windows Explorer or the File Explorer in Windows 8, it will be necessary to go to the Folder Options dialog and on the View tab, turn on the display of Hidden Files, Folders, and Drives.

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - MVP Office Apps & Services (Word)
dougrobbinsmvp@gmail.com
It's time to replace ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ with ‘Excellence, Opportunity & Civility’ - V Ramaswamy

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Hi Doug,
 
First of all thanks for your help, even if I don't solve the problem with your help. I appreciate you taking the time to help me.

I found the folder easily but what do I do now?

Which one of these is the file I am looking for? 

Lawrence

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

The file that you want to rename is the that with the name of Normal.


The instructions will make more sense if in the Folder Options dialog you uncheck the box for "Hide extensions for known file types"  If you do that, you would see Normal.dotm rather than just Normal.

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - MVP Office Apps & Services (Word)
dougrobbinsmvp@gmail.com
It's time to replace ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ with ‘Excellence, Opportunity & Civility’ - V Ramaswamy

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Hi Doug,

Sorry for bothering you again about this but now that I have located the file; what do I do? 

You said I had to rename it; what do I rename it to?

Basically, what is the next step? I read the guide you referred me to earlier but it is not clear.

Thanks for your help.

Lawrence.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

One usual suggestion is "Normal.dog." The purpose is to use a name that you will recognize as being the former Normal.dotm if you need to change it back but that Word will not recognize as the Normal template, forcing it to generate a fresh copy. You do need to have file extensions displayed. Otherwise you're likely to get Normal.dog.dotm, which might or might now serve the purpose. You will know you are doing this right if Windows warns you that changing the file extension may cause problems.       

 

You may wish to see the section on renaming the Normal template at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541/en-us.

Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://ssbarnhill.com
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com
Screen shots captured with TechSmith's Snagit

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks for taking the time to try and help Suzanne but that really did not help. You have to realise I am am complete idiot. 

I renamed the file "Normal.dog" and no warning came up when I went to 'okay' it. I've opened Word files and nothing has changed.

Maybe I have not explained my problem well enough to anyone. 

Microsoft 2013 opens fine, I can create a file fine but when I go to save the file it says 

When I select "Word Document" it saves but when I go to open aforementioned file it says 

It also seems to be forcing the files be saved in some "temp" folder. I have no idea what that is. 

When I open any Word file now it says at the top of the page

This forces me to select the View tab and select Edit Document to be able to work on the document.
This 'heading' persists after I have selected Edit Document.

When I go to save the document this shows up
and then I am back to the Microsoft 97-2003 format selection problem.







Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Hello Lawrence,

Let's try the following methods and verify the result:

Method 1

Let's run 'Fix it' from the following KB link and check if you're able to work in Word 2013 as expected:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541

Method 2

If issue still persists, repair the Office suite following instructions mentioned in the link below and verify the result:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/repair-office-programs-HA010357402.aspx

Hope the above information helps. Reply with the result and I'll be happy to help you further.

Thank you.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Go to File>Options>Save and from the "Save files in this format" dropdown, select Word Document (*.docx)


Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - MVP Office Apps & Services (Word)
dougrobbinsmvp@gmail.com
It's time to replace ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ with ‘Excellence, Opportunity & Civility’ - V Ramaswamy

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

 
 

Question Info

Last updated October 5, 2021 Views 1,353 Applies to: