Whenever I launch Microsoft Word, I get a message that says "An error occured while trying to launch the Remove Hidden Data tool. Try reinstalling."
I've tried uninstalling the tool and reinstalling it, and I've also tried repairing it. Each time, I'm told it has been successful.
But when I go into Microsoft Word, the same message comes up.
Can I stop this happening?
Yes - that looks as though it addresses the problem. Thanks for the link.
However, I don't quite understand the instructions. It says:
"The fix is to reinstall the add-in from the Microsoft site and from the Word Menu use Tools | Templates & Add-Ins | Templates to add that dot file. [rhd.dll should be in the same directory as the dot file.]"
But once I launched Word, I went to Tools / Templates & Add-Ins, but I couldn't see how to do the next step.
Am I being thick?
EDIT: Enable RHD as shown on screenshot.
Also, you may know this but ... the RHD tool does not delete data entered in File Properties > Custom.
This is harmless and useful ... nothing automatically goes on this tab but, if you want info such as version number or revision date to survive RHD, manually enter it.
I've just tried that, but there is nothing to enable.
I've now uninstalled and reinstalled the Remove Hidden Data tool several times, but the same error message crops up every time I start Word.
Check C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Remove Hidden Data Tool. It should contain OFFRHD.EXE, PROPFIX.EXE, RHD.DLL & RHD.DOT as well as folder 1033 which contains offrhdreadme.htm & rhdResDll.DLL
If not, that would be the problem.
Another possibility is a damaged Normal.dot
Default location is C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates but check Tools > Options > File Locations > User templates to confirm.
Close Word and check the template folder. If you have any temp files starting with a ~ while Word is closed. delete them. Rename Normal.dot , e.g., OldNormal.dot. A new Normal.dot will be created when you re-open Word. You'll lose any customizations embedded in Normal.dot but if this doesn't fix the problem, you can reverse that by deleting the new Normal.dot and restoring the old one.
EDIT: Just to eliminate the obvious ... this is Office XP/2003 with Word 2002/2003 ?
Microsoft Word, doesnt even support the OpenDocumentFormat (ODF) which is a ISO standard!
Maybe you should considering trying out OpenOffice, it's free.
Glenn,
I've followed your advice and deleted everything that starts with a ~, but it hasn't sorted the probel out, I'm afraid.
When I went into "Tools > Options > File Locations > User templates", the file was empty. Should there have been anything in there?
(And yes - this is Office XP with Word 2002/03.)
You should see a path specified (see screenshot) but if you click Modify, you'll get a window that looks like an empty folder because the window is only used to specify the folder location.When I went into "Tools > Options > File Locations > User templates", the file was empty. Should there have been anything in there?
Ah - I see what you mean now.
Anyway, I've deleted the file that started with a ~ and I've renamed Normal.dot, but the Remove Hidden Data tool message is still popping up whenever I open Word.
Do you, or does anyone else, have any other ideas?
There's something else.
There are two administrators on this computer, but it is only me who gets the message.
BUT . . . I don't know if this is linked, but the other adminstrator has, bizarrely, lost the word count from her Tools menu in Word.
So I get the Remove Hidden Data tool message and a word count option, whil the other administator gets no such message but no word count!
What's going on?