WD97: How to Rebuild User Preference and Options Settings

ID: Q196020

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SUMMARY

This article describes how to rebuild user preferences and user option settings in Microsoft Word 97.

Word stores user preferences and option settings in the following Registry keys:

User Preferences


      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Word\Data

User Options


      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Word\Options

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

To rebuild the Word Data and Options Registry keys, do the following:

Quit all applications.

Click the Windows Start button, and then click Run.

In the Open box, type "regedit" (without the quotation marks), and then click OK.

Go to the following Registry key:
User Preferences
```
             HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Word\Data 
```
NOTE: The Status bar will display the following:


         My Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office
         \8.0\Word\Data

User Options


         HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Word\Options


         My Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office
         \8.0\Word\Options

Click the Registry key to select it.

On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File, type a file name, and then click Save.

On the Edit menu, click Delete.

Close the Registry.

NOTE: Repeat steps 4-7 to export and delete both keys, as necessary.

When you restart Word, new settings will be stored in the Data and Options registry keys.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q121709 WD: How to Ignore User Settings When You Start Word

Additional query words: 8.0 Word8 rename delete restore rebuild options tshoot troubleshoot troubleshooting refresh registry regedit register howto

Keywords : kbdta winword word97
Version : WINDOWS:97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto