Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 12, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Subscriber Dennis Contat wrote about a problem he was having with Word on his work computer and his home computer. He created some macros and assigned those macros to custom icons on a toolbar. He was able to do this on his home computer, and he was able to transfer the macros to his work computer by copying the Normal.dot file. But the custom toolbar buttons did not copy. The buttons were actually on the work computer, but they were blank, with no pictures on them. Further, he could not create any custom toolbar buttons on the work machine.
Word stores macros in template files; this is well known. If you stored your macros in the Normal.dot template, and then copied that template to another machine (running the same version of Word), then those macros would be available on that other machine.
Changes to toolbars are also stored in templates, but it appears that the custom icons that appear on the buttons are not stored in templates, however. They are stored (for some reason) in the Registry. Thus, they are not so easily transferred from one machine to the other.
The way to try to fix this problem is to copy the Normal.dot file to the work computer, then reset the toolbar completely. (This is done from the Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog box.) Then, try to add the three buttons from scratch and customize their icons. If this does not work, it could be because you don't have the proper permissions on your work computer to write to the Registry. If this is the case, a check with your company's IT department should determine how to fix the situation.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1341) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!
All those little ScreenTips bug you when moving through Word's toolbars? You can turn them off by following the steps in ...
Discover MoreSometimes it seems that no matter what you do, you can't display Word on your screen. If this is the case, it could be ...
Discover MoreThe ubiquitous ruler appears at the top of every Word document. It is so common place, that you may forget that it is ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2024 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments