Where can I find troubleshooting help for MS Word 97?

Question

On my computer, when I use MS Word 97, it no longer will save input nor will it print out. It just gives me an error message saying it will report it to Microsoft. Whew! Anybody know what I can do to fix this matter?

Answer 1

If you can't fix it. Try OpenOffice. It's free and up to date office suite that's compatible with MS and other office suites.

Answer 2

I doubt if there is any online help for Word 97 any more. The previous answer suggested the Open Office suite, which I recommend you get. It's free and compatible with any Microsoft word documents.

Answer 3

Basically, there are five things you need to understand in order to troubleshoot and fix most of your Word problems.

1. Word stores most of its format settings and global macros in your global template, called normal.dot.

2. Word has a Startup folder, which holds add-ins and macros that start automatically when Word is launched.

3. Toolbars and some other macro settings are recorded in a Registry key called "Data".

4. Proofing Tools, like the spell checker and grammar checker, are stored in a Registry key called "Proofing Tools" and also in a Microsoft Shared folder on your hard drive called "Proof"

5. Within a document, paragraph formatting is stored in the paragraph marker at the end of that paragraph and paragraph formatting that pertains to the entire document is stored in the final paragraph marker at the end of the document.

So, let's talk about Word crashes, out of memory errors, freeze-ups, and blue screens of death. How do we know where the problem is originating and how to fix it?