I Can't Transfer My AutoText Entries

Subscriber Rebecca Reyes recently wrote with a problem she was having transferring her AutoText entries from Word 97 to Word 2000. She tried to copy the Normal.dot file (where the AutoText entries are stored) to the new installation of Word, but the AutoText entries were not there.

There are several possible reasons for this problem. First of all, it could be that when the old Normal.dot was copied to the new installation of Word, it wasn't copied into the proper folder expected by Word 2000. Beyond that, it could be that there is some sort of compatibility glitch between the Word 97 Normal.dot and what is acceptable to Word 2000.

The best solution for transferring information from an older template (such as the Word 97 Normal.dot file) and a new Normal.dot file is to use the Organizer. Simply follow these general steps:

1. Use Windows to copy the older version of Normal.dot to a known location on your hard drive, such as My Documents or to the root directory of drive C:.
2. Within Word choose Templates and Add-Ins from the Tools menu. Word displays the Templates and Add-ins dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Click on the Organizer button. Word displays the Organizer dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
4. The right side of the dialog box should show the contents of Normal.dot. Leave this area alone; in the left side of the dialog box click on Close File.
5. Click on Open File and find the Normal.dot file you set up in step 1.
6. Use the controls in the dialog box to transfer styles, AutoText entries, toolbars, and macros from your old Normal.dot file to your new one.
7. Close the Organizer when finished.