I have Word 2003 Student Teacher Edition and my OS is Windows 7. Here's my issue...each time I go into Word, it opens up an existing document. I expect that each time I close it down and open it up, that it would open a NEW blank document...but it doesn't. The actual document which opens consists of a random bunch of letters (key strokes). I remember a while back typing them b/c I was having issues with my keyboard. I don't recall saving anything, but now those letters are there every single time I open Word. I guess I would equate it to a recovery mode but I don't see anything telling me that Word recovered the file. Anyone have any ideas what I did to cause that or what I need to do to make them go away??? Thanks!

Hi oneway,

It seems someone (you?!) has saved the random bunch of letters to Word's 'Normal' template, which defines how each new document should be configured. To fix it, go to Tools|Options|File Locations and see where the user templates are stored. Then, using File|Open, select the templates option for the file type, navigate to the templates folder and open the 'Normal' template. Delete the unwanted content, then save. From now on, new documents should be 'clean'.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Macropod,
Thanks for the assistance. I went through the steps and now the new Word files are clean. I was able to figure out that "someone" changed the normal template back in July 2010. If I ever get ahold of that "someone" person, I'm going to really tell him off!!!

Have a safe and Happy New Year!!!