Bloating Normal.dot (OfficeSP SP-1)

**phasr** · 2002-01-31 13:10

<img src=/S/heavy.gif border=0 alt=heavy width=40 height=34>
Normal.dot grows....and grows....and grows! I finally rename it and start over to keep Word from taking over a minute to execute, but then the growth once again begins. You may ask, ...am I adding programs which link themselves to Word, ....or macros, ...or anything else that would cause this bloat? No, I am not. In fact if I open Word to check info in a document....normal.dot grows by 40-90 bytes. Whooeeeeee! If anyone has a suggestion to reign in this ever expanding couch potato file, I sure would appreciate it. Thanx!

**kaplinb** · 2002-01-31 14:06

Are you running out of room on your hard drive?
Let your normal.dot alone and consider another solution - for about $ 100 you can buy 20 GB or even 40 GB hard drive - it will be enough for more than 209,168,282 additional copies of 90 kB normal.dots (or two times more on 40 GB hard drive)...
You can also clean your existing hard drive - I bet it will bring you additional 20 MB or so.

**phasr** · 2002-01-31 14:28

I have two HD's with a little over 60GB. They are both a little less than half full. I guess I did not explain my problem very well. As an example, let us say that I rename my normal.dot and let Winword rebuild it fresh. Then I add several macros, and change the font formatting, page setup, etc. and set that as default. I end up with a normal dot of about 1200 Kb. Subsequently, I open Word ....say 4-5 times to simply retrieve info from an existing document, and do NOTHING else. The normal.dot at this point is around 1500+ Kb. My question is WHY, and what can I do to halt this growth/expansion?

**edsmalley** · 2002-01-31 17:15

Sounds to me like one or more of your Macros are replicating <img src=/S/shrug.gif border=0 alt=shrug width=39 height=15>

**phasr** · 2002-01-31 17:28

If my macros are replicating, they are also hiding. I only have three macros which I generate using the macro recorder, and they are nothing fancy or complicated. I still have the original number, and I am still baffled by this.

**TonyE** · 2002-01-31 18:49

My normal.dot was also doing the same (fast approaching 3MB). The cause in my case appears to be Woodys Office Power Pack XP.

I uninstalled WOPR and normal.dot stopped growing, but as soon as WOPR was re-installed normal.dot started growing again.

**phasr** · 2002-01-31 18:59

Sigh!
Thanks Tony. I was afraid that someone would have that same experience with WOPR. I only use two features in WOPR. The enveloper and the Zip+4. I really like them and won't do without them for now, but may get tired of swapping in a smaller normal.dot and remove the program. I wonder if anyone from WOPR ever reads these posts. I know their newsletters always complain of "Office bloat." Now they seem to be part of the problem.....

**Howard Kaikow** · 2002-01-31 21:39

Disable "Allow fast saves"

**Howard Kaikow** · 2002-01-31 21:40

Yes, add-ins can cause changes in the Normal template.

**Howard Kaikow** · 2002-01-31 21:43

I make my Normal template read-only.
I make the template RIGHTible only when I wish to add general macros. In most cases, macros belomg in global templates other than Normal anyway.

**phasr** · 2002-01-31 22:13

Howard, "allow fast saves" had already been disabled, however your suggestion to make the normal.dot a read only file is an absolute GEM!! The only hassle that doing that is my being presented with a dialog box when closing Word which informs me that the file is a read only and do I want to save the changes (??) made. A quick click on no and all is well. Wahoo! Thanks....a LOT.

**Howard Kaikow** · 2002-02-01 02:36

Making the file read protects Normal.dot, but it does not solve the problem. You do NOT want to allow Normal.dot to be changed without knowing why it is being changed.

You still need to find out what is causing changes.

**phasr** · 2002-02-01 03:08

Howard, I do know what has been causing the change in normal.dot. As Anthony pointed out, and I strongly suspected, the problem lies with WOPR tools, I did un-install the WOPR pack and the unwanted change in normal.dot ceased. However, I was quick to re-install the program because I like the Enveloper and the Zip + 4 features. Sometimes you just have to have a work around to keep what you like and need. Thank you for you concern, I do appreciate it.

**TonyE** · 2002-02-02 14:31

I have been experimenting and have found a possible solution for you.

You will have installed an add-in that causes normal.dot to be saved every time that Word quits. In my case it turned out to be the Microsoft Reader add-in which converts Word documents to MS Reader format. When I uninstalled this and installed WOPR normal.dot is no longer saved every time Word quits so normal.dot no longer grows in size.

Hope this helps.

**phasr** · 2002-02-02 15:56

Tony, you done good! Actually, you done REAL: good! I removed the MS Reader add-in, and the problem is gone. I use WOPR far more than I ever used the MS Reader add-in, and can do without it. My apologies to Woody & Co. for thinking that their macros were the cause of this problem. I greatly appreciate your efforts toward determining a solution. <img src=/S/fanfare.gif border=0 alt=fanfare width=31 height=23>

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