Updated: 2009-05-29

In this article:

Overview

Normal.dotm is the default template for Microsoft Office Word 2007 that includes the settings that determine the basic look of a document. If you customize a Normal.dotm file and then include this template in the Office Word 2007 installation for a group of users, every new Office Word 2007 document opened by a user in that group will include the customizations.

This article provides the following process for setting the default font and page margins in Office Word 2007 for a group of users:

  1. Set the default font and page margins in Normal.dotm.

  2. Use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to deploy Office Word 2007 with the customized Normal.dotm to a group of users.

Set the default font and page margins in Normal.dotm

Font attributes

Font attributes that you can set in Normal.dotm include the following:

  • Font type (for example, Courier New)

  • Font style (for example, Regular, Italic, or Bold)

  • Size (for example, 10-point)

  • Font color

  • Underline style

  • Underline color

  • Effects (for example, Strikethrough or Shadow)

  • Scale (this applies to scale/size of fonts)

  • Spacing (this is spacing between fonts, horizontally)

  • Kerning for fonts (this enables Office Word 2007 to automatically adjust horizontal spacing for fonts proportionally)

Page margin attributes

Page margin attributes that you can set when you choose to create custom margins in Normal.dotm include the following:

  • Margins (this is margin settings at each position; for example, top, bottom, left, right, gutter, and gutter position)

  • Orientation (for example, portrait or landscape)

  • Multiple pages (for example, Normal, Mirror margins, 2 pages per sheet, Book fold)

  • Paper size

  • Paper source

  • Print options (this opens the Word Options dialog box, which provides more options for how documents are displayed on screen and printed)

  • Section start (this lets you specify where you want margin settings to start; for example, New page, or Odd page)

  • Headers and footers

  • Vertical alignment (this aligns the entire text for the whole page)

  • Line numbers (this lets you add and then specify numbering scheme)

  • Borders (this lets you add and choose the border style)

In the following example procedure, you set the default font to Times New Roman, 12-point, and the top, bottom, left, and right margins are set to .75" in Normal.dotm. At the end of the procedure, you prepare the Normal.dotm file for distribution to users by removing all personal information from it.

Set the default font and page margins in Normal.dotm

  1. Open Normal.dotm. (Typically, Normal.dotm is located in the %AppData%\Microsoft\Templates folder. By default, %AppData% is C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\AppData).

  2. On the Quick Access Toolbar, on the Home tab, click the Font Dialog Box Launcher.

  3. On the Font tab, perform the following:

    1. Under Font, select Times New Roman.

    2. Under Size, select 12.

    3. When done, click Default.

  4. When the confirmation dialog box appears, click Yes.

  5. On the Page Layout tab, click Margins, and then click Custom Margins. (Note the built-in margin settings and their values: Normal—the default, Narrow, Moderate, Wide, Mirrored, and Office 2003 Default.)

  6. On the Margins tab, under Margins, perform the following:

    1. In the Top box, type: . .75".

    2. In the Bottom box, type: .75".

    3. In the Left box, type: .75".

    4. In the Right box, type: .75".

    5. When done, click Default.

  7. When the confirmation dialog box appears, click Yes.

  8. Close Normal.dotm.

  9. In Windows Explorer, right click Normal.dotm, and then click Properties. (Typically, Normal.dotm is located in the %AppData%\Microsoft\Templates folder. By default, %AppData% is C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\AppData).

  10. In the Normal Properties box, on the Details tab, click Remove Properties and Personal Information.

  11. On the Remove Properties box, click Remove the following properties from this file.

  12. Select the Authors, Last saved by, Revision number, and Version number options.

  13. Click OK, and then click OK again to close the Normal Properties box.

NoteNote:

  • You can set or customize many more formatting options in Normal.dotm to standardize the corporate look of your Office Word 2007 documents. For example, with styles and themes you can specify or customize sets of fonts, color schemes, and graphic effects for your documents. For more information about styles and themes, see Style basics in Word (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=146888) and Apply, customize, and save a document theme in Word or Excel (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=146890) on Microsoft Office Online. Although these articles are targeted to users who are working in an individual Office Word 2007 document, you can perform any of the procedures that are described in these articles inside the Normal.dotm file.

  • If a user changes language settings for 2007 Microsoft Office system, Office Word 2007 creates a new Normal.dotm for that user (and renames the originally installed Normal.dotm), which causes the user to lose any customizations derived from their original Normal.dotm file.

Use the Office Customization Tool to deploy Office Word 2007 with the customized Normal.dotm to a group of users

After you have customized the Normal.dotm file, you can add it to your Office Word 2007 installation source files and then use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to deploy this customized version of Office Word 2007 to a group of users.

Deploy the new default settings to a group of users

  1. Open the Office Customization Tool (at a command prompt, type <Path to 2007 Office system installation folder>\setup.exe /admin, and then press ENTER).

  2. On the Select Product dialog box, select Create a new Setup customization file for the following product, or Open an existing Setup customization file if you want to add to an existing Setup customization file, and then click OK.

  3. In the console tree, click Add files, and then click Add.

  4. Select Normal.dotm, and then click Add. (Typically, Normal.dotm is located in the %AppData%\Microsoft\Templates folder. By default, %AppData% is C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\AppData).

  5. In the File Destination Path dialog box, in the Destination path on the user's computer list, select %AppData\Microsoft\Templates, and then click OK.

  6. In the console tree, click Remove Files, and then click Add.

  7. In the File Path dialog box, under Path and file name of file to be deleted, enter %AppData%\Microsoft\Templates\Normal.dotm, and then click OK. (This will remove any Normal.dotm file from the users' computers that is from a previous installation of Word.)

  8. From the 2007 Office system installation point, run Setup.exe, and follow the prompts to install Office Word 2007.

See Also