Changes have been made that affect the global template

[Sundog]

When I open Word 2007, and type anything, then close it, I get the Microsoft Office Word warning that "Changes have been made that affect the global template, Normal.dotm. Do you want to save those changes?" Help gives me "This message can appear if you made changes to items, such as macros, toolbars, or AutoText, that are stored in a global template that is attached to your document. The most commonly used global template is Normal.dotm, which comes with Word."

However, I have made NO changes to macros, toolbars, AutoText, or anything else; I just typed a few characters, then closed Word.

How can I avoid this nag? If I save changes, it still nags.

[HansV]

The most likely explanation is that Normal.dot is changed by an add-in. The PDFMaker add-in from Adobe is a notorious example.

See You are prompted to save the changes to the global template every time that you exit Word 2007. I would *not* use Workaround 1 mentioned there, since it merely hides the problem, it doesn't solve it. And although I can't rule out a macro virus, it doesn't seem very likely these days, so Workaround 3 probably isn't necessary. I'd concentrate on the steps in Workaround 2, which has to do with add-ins.

[Sundog]

Thanks. Will try 2 and report back.

[Sundog]

I have 5 COM Add-Ins:

• Acrobat PDFMaker Office COM Addin
  EndNote Cite While You Write
  Microsoft Office Live Add-in
  Nitro
  Word 2007 Redaction Tool

On my networked computer at work, I can only uncheck the Redaction Tool. After unchecking it, Word still produces the Changes message. The other COM Add-ins require Admin privileges to uncheck. Oh well.

[HansV]

The Acrobat PDFMaker Office COM Addin is almost certainly the culprit - it is known to cause this behavior. If you can't disable it yourself, or get your IT Helpdesk to do so for you, I fear you're out of luck...

[Sundog]

I fear you are correct. In Workaround 2, Method 1, both Startup folders are empty. Method 2 was reported above. Method 3, there are no auto macros, or any other macros in any template, except for a bunch of EndNote macros in the EndNote template and the Word macros in the Word Commands list.

My IT Tech gave me this tip: Start Word by holding down the Shift key and right-clicking it, then select Run As..., then click Continue at the User Access Control panel. This seems to give me Admin privileges, and I was able to uncheck the Acrobat PDF COM Addin. But I still get the Changes message. I will now start unchecking each of the other COM Addins, one at a time, and will report.

[Sundog]

If I uncheck all 5 COM Addins at once, Word crashes. Oh well, one at a time.

Unchecking just the MS Live COM Addin causes Word to crash. Unchecking the others, one at a time, I still get the Changes.

There are 11 combinations of the other 4 COM Addins taken 2 at a time, then 3 at a time, then all (2C4+3C4+4C4). Do you suggest that I try all 11?

[HansV]

I wonder why unchecking the MS Live add-in crashes Word. Since unchecking the others doesn't solve the problem, it seems that MS Live is the cause.

Can you edit the registry? COM add-ins are listed in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft Office\12.0\Word\Addins, so you could quit Word, delete the relevant registry entry, then start Word again.