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How can I make Word open new documents in a certain view (Normal or Page Layout) or at a specified zoom ratio?
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Article contributed by Suzanne Barnhill
To change these settings you must modify the
attached template itself. If you have not specifically attached a template, the
template will be Normal.dot (the “global” template that is the basis for a new Blank Document and that stores many of the default settings in Word), and it is essential that you actually open the template and modify it the same way you would a document.
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1.
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The first thing you have to do is find Normal.dot. The exact location should be specified on the File Locations tab of Tools | Options (the path given for
“User Templates”), but you can also use Windows Find to locate the file.
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2.
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Once you have found Normal.dot, navigate to it using the
File | Open dialog in
Word; click on the file and open it. Alternatively, you can right-click on
it in Windows Explorer and select Open. What you can't do
is double-click on the file in Windows Explorer, because that creates a
new document based on the template, instead of opening the template. Similarly, if you right-click on the template icon in the File | New dialog and choose Open, you are actually opening a copy of the template that can be saved only as a new
template. Neither of these techniques will do what you want. |
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3.
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When you have the template open for editing, change the view and/or zoom to the desired one. |
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4.
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In Word 97 and above, you then need to press Space
followed by Backspace, or make some similar change, in order to make Word
recognise that the file has been changed.1 |
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5.
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Finally, save.2 |
The next time you create a new document based on this template, you should see it in the desired view and zoom ratio. Note that these changes will not affect documents you have already created. In order to change them, you will have to open them individually and repeat the above process (including the vital
“change” to trick Word into saving the document).
You will also need to repeat the process with all other templates you use.
__________________
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1.
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Word 97 and later versions will not allow you to save a file they don't regard as having
changed. If Word doesn't register that a file has changed, the Undo button will
be greyed out. If the button is enabled, you can save.
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2.
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Using Ctrl+S, File | Save, or the Save button on the
toolbar – not File | Save As. If you can't save without giving the file a name, then you have done something wrong in opening the file and are not really working on Normal.dot but instead on a document or template based on it.
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