MS Word - how to change default settings

[Star-Com]

Hi,

whenever i open a MS Word document, the default Font type is Arial;

any idea on how to change that default Font type to something else, say, Courier New?
So as whenever i open a MS Word document to be in Courier New.

Similarly with the text size and other things, how can i configure them, from which dialog can someone adjust those?

[formerjudge]

haven't done this for a long time but IIRC make change that you want then safe it as normal.doc should over write the default file

[HyperTF]

This was on Microsoft help...

Set the default font
If your document already contains text formatted with the properties you want to use, select that text.


On the Format menu, click Font.


Select the options you want to apply to the default font. If you selected text in step 1, the properties you want will appear in the dialog box.
For Help on an option, click the question mark , and then click the option.

Click Default.
Any new document you open will use the font settings you selected.

Tips

In previous versions of Microsoft Word, the default font setting was 10 pt Times New Roman. For easier reading, the default font setting in Word 2000 has changed to 12 pt Times New Roman. Note, however, that if you open a document in Word 2000 that was created in a previous version of Word, your document will retain the default font size of the previous version (that is, 10 pt).


The default font applies to new documents based on the active template. Different templates might use different default font settings.

[pillainp]

Star-com,

A far better way for you to set the default font for any new document you open in Word is to directly edit the global template.

Search your system for the file <b>Normal.dot</b>. It will be in the folder <i>C:\Documents and Settings\%Username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates</i> in Windows XP/2K. You may have to make this folder visible first by enabling <i>Show Hidden Files and Folders</i> in Explorer's options (Tools>Options>View tab).

Now open this file from Word. Do not double click the file to open it in Explorer, as all that will happen is that a new document will be created. Remember, you want to edit the template itself.

Once the template is open in Word, set the font, justification, margins, and any other attributes you want. Now save the file (CTRL+S) and close it.

The next time you open Word, your new blank document will look exactly the way you want it to.

To create a new document Template such as a letterhead, simply start a blank document and make whatever changes you want. Then save it as a <b>Document Template (.dot)</b>. Word will automatically save it to the templates folder, and you can create new documents from it using the File>New command and selecting that template.

Hope that helps

NPP