I don't get an error message. Previously my autotext and styles lived in normal.dot. Now, every time I open a document and type (command)+F3, nothing happens. I have to go into Word Options > Add-Ins> Manage - Templates > Go, and check Building Blocks.dotx in order to get my functionality back. Then I lose it again when I close the document. I repeat those steps all day long on multiple documents.

So the fuss is that normal.dot does not work the way it used to. (How long have you used it, that you believe nothing has changed? Perhaps that's where we're having our disconnect.) It used to be a file you could load to anyone else's Templates folder, and they'd immediately have all your macros, styles and autotext. So would their Outlook.

Now I don't even have my macros, styles and autotext without reapplying the building blocks file. Forget sharing the file - who'd want it? Each time I create a new document, all the styles are wonky - margins shift, numbering is broken, and bulleting always ends up way off to the right - and I have to go back in and reapply the attributes.

And according to this board Outlook apparently now has its own, separate building blocks file, so I can replicate my dozens and hundreds of commands in two separate programs, when I used to only have to do it once.

I haven't repaired it because I presume this is how it's supposed to work. Nobody is telling me otherwise, and I expected it because I've lost something I used and needed with every upgrade for the past 20 years.

So how does YOUR building blocks work? Do you have all your commands every time without having to reattach the file? Do your styles always appear just as you set them weeks - even months - ago? If it's supposed to actually work and is broken in my case, I might try to repair it.