Recovering Macros and AutoText Entries from Normal.dot

Walt Otterson keeps running into a problem trying to transfer macros and AutoText entries from his old version of Word to his new version. The old version of Word (2000) is no longer available, but he has the Normal.dot file from that version, and he's trying to use the Organizer in Word 2002 to transfer the macros and entries. Every time he tries, Word hangs and he needs to reboot.

There are a couple of things you could try in order to recover what you need. First of all, you could locate someone else with a Word 2000 system who would let you run some tests. Find their Normal.dot file and, outside of Word, rename it to something else. Then, copy your old Normal.dot into the same folder where their renamed Normal.dot resides. Start Word 2000, and see if you can view the macros in the VBA Editor. If so, you can export the macros (File | Export Files) to save the macros as a .BAS file.

As for the AutoText entries, on your friend's system use Organizer to copy the entries to a brand new template file. (AutoText entries cannot be attached to documents; they must be moved in the Organizer from one template to another.)

Now, copy the .BAS file and the new template file to your new Word 2002 system. Use the VBA Editor to import the macros (File | Import Files) to the new Normal.dot file. Use the Organizer to transfer the AutoText entries to the new Normal.dot file.

Another thing to try is to make a copy of the old Normal.dot file (the one from your Word 2000 system) and rename the file as a regular document. Open the file and use the Organizer to copy the macros to the new Normal.dot file. You won't be able to copy the AutoText entries in this way, but if you are successful in copying the macros, you can delete the macros from the document (the one that used to be Normal.dot), save the file, and then rename it back to a template file. Start Word 2002 and try, once again, to transfer the AutoText entries from the modified template file to the new Normal.dot file.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (210) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.