Special Edition Using Microsoft® Word 2000

The Normal Template: Crucial to All Documents

No matter which template you choose for a specific document, one template is always open: the Normal template, stored as Normal.dot in Word 2000's template folder. Although the Normal template doesn't include any text, it does include the following:

• The 90+ built-in Word styles you learned about in Chapter 6.

• Word's built-in AutoText entries for letters and other business documents (see Chapter 8).

As you work, your new styles, AutoText entries, macros, and many other customizations are stored in the Normal template, unless you deliberately choose to save them elsewhere. Therefore, the longer you work with Word, the more valuable your Normal.dot file is likely to become.

Caution

This file is so important, ...