Global Templates & Third-Party Add-Ins
Article contributed by Beth
Rosengard
Global templates, also called Add-ins – and also called “haxies” when
installed by independent software vendors
– are stored in Word’s Startup folder. These templates can
provide numerous helpful functions (macros, styles, toolbars, etc.) but
can also cause conflicts with Word. You may have knowingly installed such
Add-ins but they can also be installed withoutyour knowledge.
Those that are well known sources of trouble are Adobe PDFMaker, EndNote’s
Cite While you Write (CWYW) and WindowShade. Once you’ve
identified a problem Add-in, it’s worthwhile to check the manufacturer’s
website for more information.
Troubleshooting Procedure: Quit Word and open Word’s Startup
folder: /Applications/Microsoft Office (X or 2004)/Office/Startup/Word.
Drag the contents to the Desktop. If the problem disappears, add them
back in one by one until you find the culprit.
Note: The Endnote conflict with Word X is one of the
causes of a Red X replacing the display of graphics.
There are others as detailed in the Problem 2 section
of the letter from Microsoft reproduced below. Since both of
these problems are caused by circumstances external to Word,
we have every reason to believe they can affect Word 2004 equally.
To all our MacWord X customers:
We have been receiving reports about the inability of
Word X to display graphics in certain documents, and
instead showing a “Red X”. This is an expected
occurrence when the Word cannot display the graphic,
due to lack of memory, lack of a required graphic converter
or corrupt image.
We have investigated the reports and have identified
2 scenarios where Red X’s would appear unexpectedly:
Problem 1: Documents created or modified in
MacWord X display
“Red X’s” when opened up in Word
version 2002 for Windows (or earlier).
Solution: Word version 2002 for Windows is
currently missing a graphic filter that enables it
to display certain graphics added or modified in MacWord
X. This graphic filter will be available as part of
a Service Pack update from Office Update sometime
after January 2004. This graphic filter is already
included as part of the Word 2003 for Windows install.
Problem 2: Documents opened in MacWord X will
sometimes display graphics as “Red X’s”.
Solution: We have identified a conflict with
certain built-in
& 3rd party components and Word. Plug-ins such
as “Endnote” as well as built-in
items like “Camera and Scanner Plug-in”
will cause this issue when they are loaded. Endnote
is loaded automatically when Word is launched, while “Camera
and Scanner Plug-in”
loads when selecting it from the “Insert | Picture” sub-menu.
This issue can also occur in Mac Word 2001.
In order to work-around this issue one must not load
these plug-ins and disable those that start automatically
by temporarily removing them from the “Microsoft
Office X:Office:Startup:Word” folder. We currently
do not have an update to Word X that addresses this issue
directly.
Another item to note is that if you run into either of
these issues, the integrity of the graphics will remain
and even though Word will be unable to display the images,
they will be saved with the document correctly.
Matt Centurion
Macintosh Business Unit – Microsoft
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