Annoyance with startpage in Word 2003

Whenever I start Word 2003 the cursor is at the upper left corner - (at least almost) 0 cm from the top - and, therefore, in the header field, showing the blank page for a new document in print view.
To get the normal print view I am used to from earlier versions of MS Office I have to either choose "Show header and footer" and then click close, or I have to insert page numbers (anew, since they are actually there already, see below). Then the cursor is in the upper left corner of the text field (and no more in the upper left corner of the paper), 2 cm below the top - as it should.
I have set normal.dot for the page layout I want, which includes 2 cm margin at the top AND page numbering, and after choosing "Show header and footer" and closing it, the blank start page in print view appears as it should, with the settings stored in normal.dot - with page numbers showing and with the 2 cm margin at the top.
It was OK in the beginning, but then for some silly reason I under Tools > Options > Compatibility > Options clicked "Default", and after that this annoying start page view appears each time I start Word.

Whatever I tried didn't return the view to the normal one. Why is it and what can I do?

Thankful for your help
allesok

Hi
Close word
Find and rename normal.dot to something like oldnormal.dot.
Restart word - fixed it? If not, remove and reinstall.

Thanks for your reply. I tried that already, but it didn't work.
If I can avoid reinstalling and spending a lot of time updating, I would be happy...
Kind regards
JE

I am not sure I understand the problem exactly - but have you made any changes in the tools > options > view and general tabs? I don't think there is a way to reset these all to default but maybe it has to do with one of these parameters? I don't have a default option under compatibility so cannot replicate your problem. Sorry!

If you go to Tools > Options > Compatibility tab (not General) you can at the bottom right click Default. But if you do, you may have the same problem...

It will have something to do with an alternative view that shows the pages one after the other without showing what is in the header or footer. Just the text leaving header and footer out - their contents are simply not displayed. If I (again, since they are already there, just not shown) insert page numbers, these then do appear, since now header and footer contents are displayed.

The view setting I have is Print Layout.
JES

we are barking up the wrong tree here - I set mine to default and it changed nothing despite a restart, so mine was set to default anyway.

It seems that we are... yet I hope that there still is another solution but to reinstall...
JE

I have a horrid feeling that even a restart might not fix this. Some settings are stored in the registry and the uninstall routine does not always remove them so that when you put it all back again those same values are still there.
If you do a reinstall I would run something like CCleaner - after uninstalling but before reinstallation - which is supposed to remove elements in the registry that are associated with programs no longer installed. Worth a try unless someone has a better idea??

This may be so, but I hope not. We'll see what replies I get from another forum, where I just started a thread.
Thanks anyway for taking your time with this.
Kind regards
JE

I found it out with the help of another board! It is an issue of "White space between pages". Go to Tools > Options and the tag "View". Unmark "White space between pages (Print view)" and you will get what I had (and don't want). Mark that box again and you are back to normal...

So how did it happen? Accidental clicking... Put the cursor right at the top edge of the "paper" (the white field) and you will see two opposing arrows. Left click and the view will toggle between the one lacking the white space above and the one having it. I must have clicked accidentally while the cursor was just at the top edge, and then it changed, and I didn't know why.

Kind regards
allesok (JE)

I've been there with this one before but not with these syptoms - thanks for the solution tho - good of you to come back with it!
cheers

I found out more! Compared registry snaps before and after changing. The "white field" setting is stored in HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1715567821-963894560-839522115-1000\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Data\Settings, and not in normal.dot. I exported this key, changed the setting, reimported the key and the setting was back to what it was before. This key has an enormous amount of numbers in it...

That should mean that if you have decided on the settings you want to have, you could export that reg file and write a little batch file that runs at every start of Windows to reimport that reg file. Thus the settings are kept as you want and any accidental change, or maybe a change by someone else, is automatically reversed when starting. And if you do want to change the setting you just again export the new reg file.

All the best to you
JE

I really admire your diligence on this - and thanks for letting me know. As you probably know, you can export the contents of the registry in case it all goes pear-shaped - the batch tool is a good idea but I would like to find out what and why it changes!
Cheers

Sure, export that entry in the registry is what I did.
The batch tool idea would not really change anything, but each start restore a default you define yourself just in case you might accidentally have altered something (like I did) - or someone else has done it, who used your computer.
Kind regards
JE