Every once in a while when i open or close Scrivener (before i updated to version 1.02), i had an error message saying, that it cant write to MS word’s normal.dot file. Word was not started while this happened.
Yes, we’re tracking this one down. Interesting that you do not have Word started. Most (all?) of the other reports suggest Word needs to be running. Try checking the Task Manager’s processes tab and look for WINWORD.EXE; shut it down, and see if that clears up the problem. We still don’t know what is causing it, but someone has reported that at least gets rid of the error messages in the session.
you are right, it happens when the winword.exe process is still working, although there is no active word application visible anymore (which happens when word was opened before and then closed).
Same problem here!
But only while Word 2010 is running…
Okay, working on this. It appears that Scrivener will start the winword.exe process when importing a .docx file, and once the process is started it often won’t end unless you kill it. This process locks the normal.dot/.dotm file.
Getting from there to the error message about the file being in use is a bit harder.
So, questions! When you say “open Scrivener” do you mean opening the application such that it takes you to the New Project panel or do you have a project automatically opening on launch? If the latter, does the project have any imported .docx files? Do you get the message only either before you do anything in Scrivener or when closing Scrivener (rather than in the midst of working, compiling, importing, etc.)? And finally, when you get this error, could you just confirm for me that the error is titled as coming from Microsoft Word (in the header bar) and not Scrivener?
I had this problem as well. Sometimes I would have multiple instances of winword.exe running in taskmanager WITHOUT having started MSWord. At first I thought it was an issue with the rtf files Scrivener uses also being associated with MSWord causing it to flare up. But re-associating rtf files with WordPad didn’t solve the problem.
A workaround solution was to disable all my plug-ins in MSWord are were a few. I haven’t gone through the process of reactivating them to determine which one/s is/are the cause, but I haven’t had multiple winword.exe showing up nor the normal.dot pop-up.
Still, when ever I start Scrivener and watch taskmanager, I will see a brief appearance of winword.exe and then it disappears from view.
I can confirm similar behaviour (with normal.dotm file), and it still continues in 1.0.3 beta.
I do not have any .docx imported and I have set Scrivener to open the Projects panel on launch. What I observed on Scrivener launch is a brief appearing of winword.exe in the task manager, even with no project opened yet (Win7x64 & Office2007). While editing projects, there may appear a couple of winword.exe processes in the task manager, and they do not exit even if I exit Scrivener, and try to save normal.dotm file with a different name.
This occurs very frequently, regardless of whether I have Word already running or not. I have reinstalled the entire Office 2007 suite to make sure this is not related to my, and it still occurs.
Best wishes,
Ayca
Ayca, thank you for the report. You say that winword.exe pops up when editing–is this just when you’re typing in a document in Scrivener, or is there any particular action when you’re editing that you notice triggers this? Word gets called for certain actions like import and export, but I can’t think what it would be coming up for in the process of just writing in Scrivener, so if you’re noticing this in any particular circumstances that could help narrow the issue. We’re still working on this one, obviously. 
I had the same error.
WinXP SP3
Word 2007
I had Word open first to work on a document saved as .doc and opened Scrivener without closing Word. I got the error msg as soon as Scrivener launched.
Scrivener BTW opened to a project immediately.
Jennifer, you’re welcome. I’ve tested for a day now, to answer your questions, now my findings:
1.
I meant the appearance of winword.exe as a process in windows task manager - the pop-up window is not visible until I exit Scrivener. But also, the pop-up window for this error is designed somehow to be hidden - you don’t get any indication on the taskbar whatsoever, and normally you only see it when you exit Scrivener --that is, when the view is cleared of windows.
- The error seems to be less frequent with 1.0.3beta, but still does appear.
- I set Scrivener to open the project panel at program launch. So when I launch scrivener, it brings me the Project Panel, and: * A winword.exe process ALWAYS appears in the Windows Task Manager,
- This process either disappears-ends in a couple of seconds, until you select and open your project,
- Or this winword.exe process still continues even after you select your project and start writing in Scrivener
- In the second case, if I open another project from Recent Projects list, another winword.exe process starts in the Windows Task Manager
- When I exit Scrivener in this case, I observe a pop-up window (most probably already was running in the background but hidden by Scrivener windows while it was running) prompting me to save normal.dotm as “it is in use by another person” and closing pop-up< brings up the useri2s default word template save-as location (in my case: D:\Users\Ayca\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates)
- I think that when I open a project before Scrivener self-kills winword.exe, and open a second project, this usually (not always) leads to a second instance od winword.exe, triggering the normal.dotm error when I exit Scrivener.
I hope this is helpful, but I have a feeling that you already knew these 
. So please ask if there are any other queries you may have,
Best wishes,
Ayca
Hello, i try to answer your questions:
When you say “open Scrivener” do you mean opening the application such that it takes you to the New Project panel or do you have a project automatically opening on launch?
I got a project opening on launch.
If the latter, does the project have any imported .docx files?
No - but i imported RTF files! The file-extension is linked to the winword application.
Do you get the message only either before you do anything in Scrivener or when closing Scrivener (rather than in the midst of working, compiling, importing, etc.)?
When closing Scrivener.
And finally, when you get this error, could you just confirm for me that the error is titled as coming from Microsoft Word (in the header bar) and not Scrivener?
Well, basically it is a windows-error, because it is coming from the generic file dialog, as it tries to save normal.dot. When i close the dialog, an empty winword-shell opens. Which i have to close.
Marc
I, too, have this problem.
WinXP SP3
Word 2003
My Scrivener is setup to open with a project, and the current project that I am working with is one that I started from the ground up writing in Scrivener. That means no imported documents in it.
My message doesn’t say that it can’t save the normal.dot file, it says, “Changes were made to the normal template. Do you wish to save these changes?” Escaping/Canceling brings up a Save As dialog box, which if I cancel out of then brings up an empty Word shell. When I exit that, it again asks me if I want to save the changes to the normal template, only this time it lets me exit Word without bringing up that Save As dialog box. I can provide more information if needed.
I too have this problem
Windows XP sp3
Office 2010
Grandad8
I too have seen this error.
Windows 7, Word 2010.
If I open Scrivener with Word NOT open then WINWORD.EXE appears for a short time.
If I have Word open and start Scrivener then WINWORD.EXE appears, but comes up saying:
“The file is in use by another application or user.” -> click OK, then CANCEL on save dialog. The process continues to run.
Closing and opening Scrivener will spawn a new WINWORD.EXE process, with the same outcome. Repeating this process just leaves more and more WINWORD.EXE processes sitting there.
Sometimes Scrivener will crash at startup, even if the default project is a recently created new blank project.
I really like Scrivener the way it merges the sections, but I feel uneasy relying on it for my writing.
Paul.
Still running into this error with both the release and current beta.
Windows 7 Pro SP1 X64. Office 2007 Pro SP3.
Scrivener open first. Open Word. No error.
Word open first. Open Scrivener. Error.
Scrivener open first. Open word. Open second Scrivener document. No error
Scrivener open first. Open word. Close Scrivener. Open Scrivener Again. Error.
Word open first. Open Scrivener, but do not open document in Scrivener. Error.
If I do get the error, I find an unclosed winword.exe *32 instance in task manager. The error will recur as logn as this instance is running.
In Scrivener, go to the Import/Export tab in Tools > Options… and deselect the option for using the MS Word converters, then restart Scrivener. This is a bug with the third-party tool Scrivener uses that accesses Word’s libraries; disabling that option should prevent the instance of Word from opening when Scrivener starts.