WD97: Error Message When You Click "Exit", "AutoCorrect", or "Increase Indent"

When you do one of the following:

• On the Tools menu, you click AutoCorrect.
  
  -or-
• On the File menu, you click Exit to quit Microsoft Word.
  
  -or-
• On the Formatting toolbar, you click Increase Indent.
  
  -or-
• On the Standard toolbar, you click either Bullets or Numbering.

Microsoft Word may stop responding (crash) with the following error message.

In Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows 98: When you click Details, one of the following messages appears: NOTE: The actual memory address may vary.

In Microsoft Windows NT 4.0:In Microsoft Windows 2000: To view the error log in Microsoft Windows 2000, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.
2. In the Search for files or folders named box, type Drwtsn32.log.
3. Click Search Now.
4. Right-click the file, and then click Open.
   
   By default, the Drwtsn32.log file is located in the following folder:
   C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\DrWatson

This problem may occur when you turn off all of the following options (clear the check boxes):

• On the Tools menu, click Options. On the Edit tab, the Tabs and backspace set left indent check box is cleared.
  
  -and-
• On the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect. All of the check boxes on the AutoCorrect, AutoFormat As You Type, and AutoText tabs are cleared.

To resolve the problem described in this article, obtain and install the latest Microsoft Word 97 update from the following Microsoft Web site: IMPORTANT NOTE: Microsoft Word 97 post-service release fixes are cumulative. The latest update contains all of the fixes since Service Release 2. If you install the latest update for Word 97, you do not need to install any other updates after Service Release 2.

For additional information about the fixes included in the latest update for Word 97, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To temporarily work around this problem, delete the Word Data key in the Windows registry. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Quit all Windows programs.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type regedit.
4. Click OK.
5. Select the following Windows registry key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Word\Data
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
7. Click Yes to the following question in the Confirm Key Delete dialog box:
   Are you sure you want to delete this key?
8. On the Registry menu, click Exit.

NOTE: Deleting the Data key resets several options back to the default settings, including the most recently used file list on the File menu, and many settings that you customize in the Options dialog box (on the Tools menu, click Options).

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. The fix for this problem is included in the latest Microsoft Word 97 for Windows patch. Please see the "Resolution" section of this article for more information.