Discovering Where Word Stores Settings

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 19, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Have you ever looked at the different settings you can configure in the Options dialog box? There are well over a hundred different settings. If you count the secondary dialog boxes accessible from the Options dialog box, there are many, many more settings. This, of course, doesn't count the settings you may make on other dialog boxes in Word.

Suffice it to say that there are many, many different settings you can modify in order to configure the way that Word does its work. With so many settings, you might start to wonder where they are all stored.

There are three general places that Word stores most settings: documents, templates, and the Registry. Settings related to formatting, menus, and toolbars are stored in either documents or templates--most often in the Normal.dot template. The majority of settings that you make in the Options dialog box are stored in the Registry. The exact locations in the registry are too numerous to mention here, but there is a very helpful Knowledge Base article that lays out all the various locations:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;212242

It is important to remember that Word utilizes many tools that are not unique to Word, but are applicable to other programs in the Office suite. Tools such as AutoCorrect, the spell checker, and others have their own settings, and their own files and Registry keys where the settings are stored.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1407) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Adding Many No-Width Optional Breaks

One of the special characters you can add in a document is the no-width optional break. Although originally designed for ...

Discover More

Notification when Recalculation is Done

If you manually recalculate your workbooks, you are probably doing so because of the time it takes to do the ...

Discover More

Limiting the Scope of the Undo Command

As you make edits in Excel, the program remembers your actions so that you can later undo them. If you have multiple ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Working with Document Panes

Need to work with two different parts of a document at the same time? The answer is to rely on Word's ability to display ...

Discover More

Understanding the At and Ln Indicators

Part of the helpful information that Word provides on the status bar is designated by the labels "At" and "Ln." Here's ...

Discover More

Understanding Views

Want to see how your document will look before it's printed? Or, do you want to see what things will look like if you put ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 2 + 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

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.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.