One or more invalid global template files may cause an out-of-process automation client to throw one of the following error messages:

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The global template file that is used by Word might be corrupt.

Note In Microsoft Office Word 2007, the global template is named Normal.dotm. In Microsoft Office Word 2003 and in earlier versions of Word, the global template is named Normal.dot.

If you are encountering one of the errors described in the Summary section, you can temporarily rename the global template to determine if it is the cause of the problem.

Renaming the global template resets several options back to their default settings, including custom styles, custom toolbars, macros, and AutoText entries. It is strongly recommended that you rename the global template file rather than deleting it, so that you can restore these settings if the template is not corrupt.

Certain installations of Word may yield more than one legitimate global template file. These situations include multiple versions of Word running on the same computer or several user profiles on the same computer. In these situations, pay special attention so that you rename the correct copy of Normal.dot.

To rename the global template file follow these steps.

Note Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.

1.	Quit all instances of Word, including WordMail.
2.	Click Start, clickFind, and then click Files or Folders.
3.	In the Named box, type the global template name for your version of Word.
4.	In the Look In box, select your local hard disk drive (or an alternate user template location if you are running Word from a network server).
5.	Click Find Now to search for the file.
6.	For each occurrence of global template that appears in the Find dialog box, right-click the file and then click Rename. Give the file a new name, such as OldNormal.dot or Normal-1.dot.
7.	Minimize the Find dialog box.
8.	Restart your automation client to start Word.

If Word starts correctly, you have resolved the problem. In this case the problem is a damaged global template. You might need to change a few settings to restore your favorite options. If the global template file you renamed contains customizations, such as styles, macros, or AutoText entries that cannot be easily recreated, you may be able to copy those customizations from the old global template file to the new global template file by using the organizer.

If your toolbar customizations are stored in a custom toolbar, you should be able to copy them using the Organizer. Unfortunately, if the customizations were made to one of Word's built-in toolbars you might need to recreate them after you rename your template because you cannot copy those changes with the Organizer.

(c) Microsoft Corporation 1999, All Rights Reserved. Contributions by Chris Jensen, Microsoft Corporation.

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For additional information about the error messages, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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