[Use your browser's BACK button to return to the PRIME FAQ Page or click here if you came directly to this page.]

We wrote this FAQ to answer the many questions we receive on this topic from our clients and other inquiring minds in the many electronic communities we frequent.

Rescuing Lost AutoCorrect Entries When You Upgrade from Word 6 to Word 7 (Office 95)

If in the process of upgrading to Word 7 (Office 95) you somehow misplaced your Word 6 AutoCorrect entries (or perhaps Office itself misplaced them for you), here’s a series of steps that will help Office rediscover them. On the other hand, if you haven’t upgraded yet, stop everything and read our discussion of the dance steps Office 95 goes through regarding AutoCorrect entries when you upgrade from a prior version (see our article What Happens to AutoCorrect Entries When You Install Office 95 Over Office 4.x .) By following that article’s advice you can avoid these precious AutoCorrect entries being led astray.

Here we go. We’re now assuming that you have already installed Word 7 (Office 95). In so doing you either uninstalled Word 6 first or you did a Word 7 install "on top" of Word 6. In either case, it appears that Word 7 hasn't transferred your AutoCorrect entries (even though Microsoft has officially stated that in the latter case -- an "on top" install -- AutoCorrect entries should be transferred).

Warning — if you're trying to maintain a "side-by-side" configuration of Word 6 and Word 7, no telling what might happen (there are just too many variables at work here and we strongly advise against this type of configuration).

To get your AutoCorrect entries transferred and retain your Word 6 Normal.dot customizations, follow these steps:

1. Before closing Word, select Tools / Options / File Locations; write down the current folder path for User Templates (by default C:\MSOffice\Templates but of course this may be different on your PC).

2. Close Word, and if you're using WordMail, shut down Exchange to close a hidden instance of Word.

3. Rename Word 7’s Normal.dot to Normal.w7 as a safety copy. Word 7’s Normal.dot should be located in your User Templates folder (see step 1 above).

4. Make a safety copy of Word 6’s Normal.dot to Normal.w6.

5. Move Word 6’s Normal.dot into the User Templates folder you noted in step 1.

6. In order to return your PC to a state most resembling the first-ever execution of Word 7, restart Windows 95 at this point so all Office DLLs are running in a fresh operating system session. Also, before restarting we recommend you go so far as to temporarily remove Exchng32.exe (or any Shortcuts to it) from your StartUp folder (typically C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp). Why? Because this removes one additional point of failure.

7. Start Word.

8. Your personalized Word 6 AutoCorrect entries should be available. If not, try closing and reopening Word once.

9. At this point you've got all your Word 6 Normal.dot customizations preserved (styles, AutoText, toolbars, and macros), including your AutoCorrect entries both plain-text and formatted. If you had previously made any changes to your Word 7 -- yes, Word 7 -- Normal.dot relative to your Word 6 Normal.dot, you can now manually make those changes to the current Normal.dot. Or you can use Organizer to copy any of Normal.w7's customizations into the now-upgraded-to-Word-7-from-Word-6 version of Normal.dot.

   Note: Any Word 6 macros in Normal.dot that call the Win16 API or 16-bit DLLs will not function properly under Word 7, but that’s another story and totally unrelated to your rescued AutoCorrect entries. In any event, you should remove these 16-bit macros and install their 32-bit upgrades.

10. If you temporarily removed Exchng32.exe (or any Shortcuts to it) from your StartUp folder, change everything back now.

Happy AutoCorrect-ing!

The Naked PC Subscribe to our free electronic newsletter. Get the latest on all things PC, updates to PRIME Freeware page, and more. Type your email name and click Subscribe.