![]() Type this into it and hit Enter: %appdata%/Microsoft/Templates Here’s the fastest way to find it: click on the Windows Start menu. (So they say.) Second, it’s in a different folder depending on which version combination of Windows and Microsoft Office you’re using. First, they hide it from you to keep you from screwing it up. We’ll just open up the Normal template itself and make direct changes in it. Well, if all that didn’t do the trick (or you’re looking for a more direct method), save and close all your other Word documents, because we’re goin’ nuclear. No? Changing the Normal template the brute force way Just one of those weird Microsoft recommendations.) Start a new document (again, I suggest CTRL-N) and see if your changes were permanent. (If you’ve got a couple of minutes, re-start your computer altogether. Click on the File tab (in versions 20) or the Office Button (in version 2007) and go to Options. Now’s your chance to make that change once and enjoy it from now on.įirst, though, you’ve got one other setting to change. ![]() Say, for example, that you’re always changing the font in your documents to something more readable than Calibri. Unless you know how to reveal hidden folders in Windows, even doing a search for Normal.dotm can yield nothing.įortunately, you don’t have to find the Normal template to make some minor changes. To “protect” the Normal template from changes, Microsoft puts it and the rest of the Office templates in a nested series of hidden folders. Changing the Normal template the Microsoft-approved way It’s got groups of settings already embedded for things like your default font, margins, paragraph spacing, etc., as well as a group of Styles that control the display of your text in various situations (“normal” text versus headings and footnotes and numbering and all sorts of things). What’s the “Normal” template?įor those of you not so well versed in Microsoft Word lingo, the “Normal” template is what’s invoked every time you start a blank document (by pressing CTRL-N or clicking the blank document icon on the toolbar or clicking File > New). Here’s your chance to tell Microsoft (figuratively speaking) what you think of their settings by making the Normal template work your way. You know how your documents are supposed to work. And who decided that the left and right margins ought to be 1.25″, not 1 inch all the way around? Firing is too good for whoever came up with that. No, Microsoft, 1.15 is not the new single spacing. That Calibri font looks cool on the screen, but not so readable on the printed page. At least not from a law office perspective. I’m just going to say this out loud: Microsoft’s idea of “normal” … isn’t. So why does this happen, and what can you do about it? ![]() (I say “sometimes” because whether or not a setting sticks seems to be pretty random.) I finally fixed that but I cannot remember how I did it.ĭolores hits on an important point: clicking the radio button next to “new documents based on this template” in the Modify Styles dialog box doesn’t always make the change “stick” to the Normal template, so you’re sometimes stuck revising settings like default paragraph spacing and margins repeatedly. I work in academia and they still always want 1″ margins all the way around and I got so frustrated with Word’s default left and right margins of 1.25. I was able to change my default font and that ridiculous 1.15 line spacing. I also clicked on “new documents based on this template” and it did not stick on future documents. I am so tired of having to fix with every document.
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