Microsoft KB Archive/291013

= Description of the Office Safe Mode for Word 2002 =

PSS ID Number: 291013

Article Last Modified on 9/8/2004

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Word 2002

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This article was previously published under Q291013





For a Microsoft Office Word 2003 version of this article, see 827706.





SUMMARY
Microsoft Office Safe Mode allows you to safely use Microsoft Word after it has encountered certain startup problems. When a problem is detected at startup, the Automated Safe Mode feature of Word either fixes the problem or isolates (disables) it, allowing Word to start successfully. You can also manually start Word in User-Initiated Safe Mode by using the /safe switch.



Automated Safe Mode
During startup, Word checks for problems, such as an add-in that will not start, or a corrupted resource, file, registry key, or template. If Word encounters a problem the next time it is started, a message appears that identifies the problem and asks if you want to disable the part of the program that has a problem. The error messages are similar to the following:

Word has detected a problem with some of the current preferences. Would you like to restore these preferences to their default values?

-or-

-or-

Word has detected a problem with the existing Normal.Dot. Would you like to create a new Normal.Dot?

The Office Safe Mode options vary depending on the cause of the error. Some of the possible temporary solutions include:
 * Disabling add-ins, templates, or documents by placing them in the Disabled Items list.

-or-
 * Resetting Registry keys and/or Normal.dot to default settings.

If you receive an error message that an add-in or file caused a problem, you can choose to disable the feature by clicking Yes. The error message will be similar to the following:

Word has determined that a recent problem occurred while using the &quot; &quot;.

Would you like to disable this &quot;?

where  is the add-in or file that caused the problem.

A list of disabled items is accessible through the Disabled Items dialog box (click About Microsoft Word on the Help menu). From this dialog box you can enable the disabled items. Enabling some items may require you to reload or reinstall an add-in program or reopen a file. Enabling an item does not necessarily fix the root problem; an item that you enable may be placed back on the Disabled Items list the next time you start the program.

If an add-in or file is added to the Disabled Items list, the next time you attempt to access the item, an error message similar to the following appears:

The &quot; &quot; caused a serious error the last time it was opened. Would you like to continue opening it?

You can choose to continue or not. If you continue, the item may again cause a problem.

To enable items that were disabled by Office Safe Mode, follow these steps.

Note Enabling a disabled item may cause the problem to reoccur, either when you start Microsoft Word again, or when you attempt to use the item (for example, open a document that was disabled).
 * 1) On the Help menu, click About Microsoft Word.
 * 2) Click Disabled Items.
 * 3) Select the items you want to enable.
 * 4) Click Enable.

If your Normal.dot file was renamed during Office Safe Mode, your old Normal.dot file will be renamed Normal.bak. If the Normal.dot file that was renamed during Office Safe Mode contains customizations, such as styles, macros, or AutoText entries that cannot be easily recreated, you may be able to copy those customizations from the Normal.bak file to the new Normal.dot file by using the Organizer.

For more information about using the Organizer, click Microsoft Word Help on the Help menu, type organizer in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned. Back to Top

User-Initiated Safe Mode
When you start Microsoft Word in &quot;user-initiated&quot; Office Safe Mode, the following restrictions apply:
 * Templates cannot be saved.
 * The Office Assistant is not automatically displayed.
 * Toolbar or command bar customizations are not loaded and customizations cannot be saved.
 * The AutoCorrect list is not loaded and changes are not saved.
 * Recovered documents are not automatically opened.
 * Smart tags are not loaded and new tags cannot be saved.
 * All command line options are ignored except &quot;/a&quot; and &quot;/n&quot;.
 * User preferences (on the Tools menu, click Options) cannot be saved.
 * Additional features and programs (add-ins) will not automatically be loaded.

You can open Microsoft Word in Office Safe Mode by pressing CTRL while you start the program or by using the /safe option when you start the program from the command line. To start Microsoft Word in Safe Mode using the /safe option, follow these steps:  On the Windows Start menu, click Run. In the Run dialog box, do one of the following:  In the Open box, type Winword.exe /safe.

-or- Point to the Winword.exe file and add the /safe switch to the path. To do this, follow these steps:  Click Browse.</li> In the Browse dialog box, change the Look in box to the folder containing the Winword.exe file. By default, the Winword.exe file is located in the following folder:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\

</li> Select the Winword.exe file and click Open.</li> In the Run dialog box, click in the Open box and move the insertion point to the end of the path statement. After the closing quotation mark, type a space and then type /safe. The path statement in the Open box should now look similar to the following example:

&quot;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Winword.exe&quot; /safe

</li></ol> </li></ul> </li> Click OK to start Microsoft Word in Safe Mode.</li></ol>

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Additional query words: inf

Keywords: kbSafeMod kbstartprogram kbhowto KB291013

Technology: kbWord2002 kbWord2002Search kbWordSearch

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