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mgross333

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Restore Menu Bar in Word 97 or 98

I fix PCs for a living; this is for my customer. I am not onsite yet.  Windows 98 OS, Word 97 or 98.

Menu bar (File Edit Tools etc) is missing. Customer does not know how this happened.

How do I restore it?
I will aceept any answer EXCEPT

(1) Drag it back into the MS Word window from somewhere else on the screen,.

Customer claims it is NOWHERE on the screen,. If it is dragged out of the Word Window it can NOT be completely dragged off screen (in Word 2003 on Windows XP OS where I tested on my Office PC) so I doubt this will work BUT I will look for it.

I will ALSO increase resolution in case a lower res caused it to disappear from where it was outside the MS Word window.

(2) Exit Word. Delete or rename the normal.dot file in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Microsoft\Templates folder. Restart Word and see if the Menu bar is returned.

(3) Go to Word>Tools>Options etc. BECAUSE the Tools menu is IN the Menu Bar and the Menu Bar is missing.

AGAIN, Please post SOME OTHER ANSWER than (1), (2), (3) above ONLY. I already know about (1) and  (2) and will try them. I am posting here to find other solutions to try if (1) and (2) fail. Why might they fail. One reason is I can find NO confirmation that Normal.dot controls whether the menu bar shows up or not.

EXCEPTION TO THIS REQUIREMENT: IF you have encountered this problem and solved it FOR ANY VERSION OF WORD, please post here.the solution EVEN IF it is (1) or (2) above. And for other versions of Word normal.dot is NOT in the full path specified above; I KNOW THAT ALREADY. But if deleting it and restarting Word fixed it, please SAY THAT. OR STATE WHATEVER SOLUTION WORKED FOR YOU.

NOTE: I am posting this in the Windows 2000 EE Zone because EE has NO Windows 98 Zone and Windows 2000 is the closest Zone to Window 98. And also posting this in the MS Word Zone.

Mike
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Ingeborg Hawighorst (Microsoft MVP / EE MVE)
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mgross333

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teylyn,

Thanks for your suggestions.  However, we are NOT THERE YET.

In order of importance

(A) (a) Regarding your 4)-
(a) It appears (from a test of Alt-F11 in my Word 2003 window) that the Visual Basic Editor and MS Word are closely related. Hence if the Menu bar does not show up in Word, how can we assume it will show up in the Visual Basic Editor . And if it does NOT show up, then I can NOT click View - Immediate Window !!

WILL ALT-V WORK IN THIS CASE (no menu bar in the Visual Basic Editor) ? I tried that and it DID work in a case where the menu bar DID appear in Visual Basic on my office PC. Nonetheless I would appreciate a reply here.

(b) Also I would appreciate a "10,000 foot view" of your 4)- noting I am NOT a Word expert OR a Visual Basic expert. Do your Visual Basic Editor instructions EDIT the normal.dot file using an easy to use Visual interface ? Is that the idea here ?Or something else?

(B) Regarding your 2)- and and your 3),

(a) I do not have ALL the details yet but this is a business and I very much doubt they have left a computer sitting there with Word covering the entire screen and done nothing further with that computer, particularly since he scheduled my visit the day AFTER he called me at HIS choice. I also doubt the customer would NOT have mentioned that Word was covering the entire screen.

HOWEVER, If Word is covering the entire screen then I will take your advice BUT I doubt that it is the case.

(b) ALSO REGARDING your.2)- and your 3)-- please go to

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/showthread.php?t=83721

and review the 4 short forum posts. Note that from the first post Esc did NOT work to leave Full Screen Preview mode and the FINAL solution in the 4th post is to rename normal.dot.  NOW I AM AWARE THAT THE THREAD MAKES NO SENSE. If Word was covering the entire screen how did he rename normal.dot in Explorer etc etc ?? Maybe he used Ctrl-Alt-Del to Task Manager and then killed Word and then renamed normal.dot but that is speculation.

(C) Regarding your 3)- (which may work EVEN if not in Full Screen Preview mode BUT WITH the menu bar missing) how sure are you that in Word 97 or 98, under the Tools menu there **IS** a Templates and Add-ons sub menu ? There IS one under Word 2003 but IS there one in Word 98 ?Maybe in Word 98 Add-ons are under the Tools> Options menu?? Maybe Word 98 does NOT HAVE add-ons ? Please reply here if you know the answers for Word 97 or Word 98.

(D)
(a) I ALSO want to point out the following. If in Word 2003 (the only thing I can test on my Office PC) to the right of the various bars at the top of the Word window, if I Right Click>Customize> Scroll Down and click the check box to the left of Menu Bar my PC beeps at me and the box does NOT uncheck. Meaning that Microsoft does NOT allow the Menu bar to NOT appear in Word (unless he IS IN Full Screen Preview mode and as stated I WILL CHECK THAT). Hence this may not be so easy to solve via the kind of replies you have posted. Some file or Registry Entries MAY BE CORRUPT.

Now if you know a MS SUPPORTED way to turn off the menu bar, then please reply HOW that can be done because reversing that procedure would be the first thing I would try.

Regards,
  Mike
teylyn,

Clarification of (D). I mean a MS Supported way to turn off the menu bar (noting my comments in the the first paragraph of (D) BY CLICKING THINGS . Not by editing normal.dot or any other file. The customer is an Investment Consultant. He does not know what Normal.dot is !! That is not how this happened (although your Visual Basic idea may work and I will try that).

Clicking things is the kind of reply I seek in (D) above IF there is such a reply.

Regards,
  Mike
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teylyn and other EE Word Experts

teylyn:  I appreciate this part of your latest post
---------------------------------------------------------------

In my version(s) of Word (2000 - 2010), the VBE had all the Menu items intact, even if the Word instance had the menu bar hidden.

If you cannot access the Immediate window via the menu in the VBE, hit Ctrl-G to show the Immediate window in the VBE ( remember, first you bring up the VBE by hitting Alt-F11 in Word)
------------------------------

As for the rest I do not agree with its content or its tone.

Regarding
> sorry, but I can't follow all your descriptions above. The formatting and bolding is just too much

There is NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER reading the rest of my long post above. It is absolutley clear and well described. The bolding is to make sure you (and other EE experts) notice the important parts if they only have time to skim it. i.e the bolding was intended to HELP YOU reply.

And some answers to those OTHER CLEARLY STATED questions WOULD HELP. If other EE experts can answer them, it would be appreciated.

If you don't want to take the time to reply to the rest of that post, fine, fair enough, but don't tell me it is because of the "formatting and bolding ".

Regarding the last third of your latest post, this is NOT an interactive situation once I get onsite. I can not post anything and wait for your reply onsite. I am expected to know the solution or several possible solutions BEFORE I arrive. Furthermore I have solved HUNDREDS of malware problems in the last six years and Word missing the Menu bar has never been a malware symptom NOR does it FEEL LIKE a malware symptom to me.

Mike



The actual solution was (1) in my own original question: Customer had accidentally dragged the menu bar out of the Word window and into a screen margin so only part of it was visible. I dragged it back into the Word window,

Points are ONLY being awarded to teylyn because his post may be useful for future reference. I believe (but am not sure as he dd not reply to my question about this) that his VBE approach edits normal.dot. The advantage of this over simply deleting normal.dot (the other potential solution in my original question) and letting Word recreate it is that approach wipes out customization done in normal.dot  (if any). And his appraoch just fixes the menu bar problem. Again I am guessing about this as teylyn did not reply as to exactly what his VBE approach was doing or editing.

Letter grade is B as teylyn did not provide the solution that actually fixed the problem in this case.

Mike