Word Cannot Open the Existing NORMAL.DOT

ID: Q58891

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.1a, 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Word for Windows you may receive the error message:

   Word cannot open the existing NORMAL.DOT.

-or-

   Cannot open existing NORMAL.DOT.

MORE INFORMATION

The following are possible causes for this problem:

There is not enough available memory to open the NORMAL.DOT file. Close all applications you are not currently using. Remove any memory-resident programs loaded.
The file NORMAL.DOT may be corrupted. Try renaming NORMAL.DOT and reloading Word for Windows.
NORMAL.DOT has been saved as a document file and is no longer a template.
NORMAL.DOT is located on a network file server.

NOTE: Word must be closed when renaming.

   For For additional information about using NORMAL.DOT on a network
   server, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge
   Base:

      ARTICLE-ID: Q115717
      TITLE     : 21st User Cannot Open Shared, Read-Only File on Novell
                  3.11

KBCategory: kbusage KBSubcategory: kbtemplate Additional query words: 1.x 2.0 2.0 winword2 word6 winword 6.0 6.0a 6.0c

Keywords          : kbtemplate 
Version           : 1.x 2.0 2.0a 2.0a-CD 2.0b 2.
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: October 14, 1998