Second Save Overwrites Stationery with Word Document Format

• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, version 6.0, 6.0.1
• Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

In Word for the Macintosh, if you create and save a document in Stationery file format, Word for the Macintosh retains the stationery file name in the document based on the stationery. If you save the document again without changing the file name, the Word document overwrites the stationery file.

This behavior differs from that of earlier versions of Word for the Macintosh, in which Word changes the default file name of the document based on a newly saved stationery. Word does not prompt or warn you that it is overwriting the stationery file format with Word document format.

This does not happen if you first close the stationery file before using it to create a new document in Word.

NOTE: Stationery is a special form of a document that you can use repeatedly as a master for similar documents. When a file is in stationery pad format, you cannot modify it. When you open a stationery pad, a new, untitled document appears that contains the text, styles, and other formatting of the stationery pad. The stationery pad itself does not open, so you cannot modify it.

CAUSE

By design, Word for the Macintosh uses the same file name for both the Word document based on the stationery and the open, newly created stationery file itself. As a result, the new Word document overwrites the stationery file if you do not use the Save As command on the File menu to change the file name.

WORKAROUND

To use a newly created stationery sheet, you must first close the stationery and then reopen it. When you do this, Word opens a new document, named DocumentX, that contains the text, styles, and other formats of the stationery (unlike a Word template, the stationery doesn't store macros, command settings, or AutoText entries). When you save DocumentX, it does not overwrite the stationery file.