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Note: While the steps below work in Word 2002 & 2003, each of these versions has a troubleshooting tool that automates the process (except for deleting temp files). You can read about & download the Word 2002 and 2003 Support Template. My thanks to Rebel for pointing out these tools.
Systematic Method of Fixing Common Problems & the Data Key
I've seen a number of questions in Woody's Lounge, Word Forum that require the same systematic approach to solving. The usual symptom is some strange behavior in Word that hasn't occurred before & occurs with most documents. I've replaced my Data key about a dozen times. Here's some more detailed info on how to do it: The problem that the MRU doesn't update correctly tends to be a sign that the DATA key in the registry is corrupt. However, weird behavior from Word can often be caused by temp files, a corrupt normal template or an add-in that is corrupt or incompatible, so these should be checked first, since they are much easier to do.
FIRST STEP: If you haven't done so already, delete all your temp files.
1. Do the following, after closing all open applications:
2. Click an empty spot on the taskbar & press F3.
3. Make sure that the look in box is your primary hard drive & that "include subfolders" is ticked.
4. Type
*.tmp;~*.do?;~*.wbk
in the "named" box & search.
5. Then delete all these temp files.
I actually delete
~*.*,*.tmp
but warning, there are some programs that actually create & use files that start with a tilde. And some people name files to start with ~ so that it brings it to the top of the list. If so, you could be deleting important files.
SECOND STEP: If that doesn't correct the problem, try this next step:
1. Start Word from the Start/Run menu & type
winword.exe /a
Then press "enter". Note that there is a space before the /a. This starts Word without any add-ins, global templates, or normal.dot. Does the problem go away? If not, then neither renaming normal.dot nor the third step should help either. You can then try the fourth step. If the problem did go away, then:
2. Close Word.
3. Use Windows Find to locate normal.dot
a. Click an empty spot on the taskbar & press F3.
b. Make sure that the look in box is your primary hard drive & that "include subfolders" is ticked.
c. Type normal.dot in the "named" box & search.
4. Right click normal.dot & rename to normal.old
5. Restart Word
If the problem goes away, you had a corrupt normal.dot. If not:
THIRD STEP: Disabling Add-ins (Global Templates & COM Add-Ins)
1. Use Find again to locate both your Word & Office startup folder by typing "startup" (no quotes) in step c. above. For an alternative way of finding all the add-ins & coms that are currently loaded, insert the field
{ddeauto winword system topics}
into your document, select it, & press F9 to update the field. Note: the curly brackets are inserted by pressing Ctrl+F9, not by typing. This field was discussed by Woody in WOW-MM#3.24, WOW #7.49, & WOW# 7.51.
2. Drag everything out of the folder onto your desktop & restart Word. If this corrects the problem, it's one of the add-ins that you dragged onto your desktop.
3. Close Word & drag each add-in back into the startup folder, one at a time, opening Word & testing after each one, & then closing Word. When the problem reappears, you will have located the add-in causing the problem.
NOTE: It is possible for a COM Add-In to be loaded without it showing up in the COM Add-Ins... dialog box. (You can find this box by going to Tools/Customize/Commands tab/ & click the Tools menu under Categories & you'll see COM Add-Ins... on the right. Drag it to any menu or toolbar.) You can use the following macro from http://support.micro...kb;en-us;307479 to view such COM Add-Ins
Sub ListAddins()
Dim MyAddin As COMAddIn
Dim i As Integer, msg As String
For Each MyAddin In Application.COMAddIns
msg = msg & MyAddin.Description & " - " & MyAddin.ProgID & vbCrLf
Next
MsgBox msg
End Sub
FOURTH STEP: Delete the Data Key
If this didn't work, you should delete your Data key & let Word rebuild it. I would use the following steps:
1. Back up all your options. Go to Tools/Options & make a change...any change, preferably on each tab. Go to Tools/AutoCorrect/ & make a change on each tab. I usually change the first checkbox on each tab. Don't worry! Your not going to leave it this way. Now record a macro (name it, e.g. MyOptions) & then go to each of the tabs & change it back the way you want. Then stop the recording & save the macro in any template. By the way, I would do this even if you don't have any problems. Any time you want to restore all your options, you can run the macro.
2. Back up the registry. (I don't, but everyone says to do this. Besides, I do a lot of things I later regret <G>.)
The easiest way to backup your Registry is from the Start Menu, choose Run and type "scanregw" (no quotes). Keep in mind that Windows makes backups of the Registry automatically every day when you boot your PC. Last 5 backups are kept, overwriting any previous copies. If you backup using scanregw, the file will be replaced in five days. As an alternative, you can use the "Export Registry File" option in Regedit.
If you need to restore your registry later, go to:
Start/Shut Down, click "Restart in MS-DOS mode", when in dos type SCANREG and hit enter, it will probably tell you there is nothing wrong and you don't need to restore, but you can override it by clicking VIEW BACKUPS, highlighting the backup that you wish to restore (by the time/date stamp), and click the RESTORE button, after it restores your registry, it will reboot into MS-DOS mode again, this time type EXIT and hit enter, this will take you back to Windows.
3. Close Word. Go to Start/Run & type REGEDIT. With Word 97, navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice8.0WordData
OR, if you're using Word 2000, go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice9.0WordData
& either rename or delete the key. Restart Word & the key will be rebuilt. You will lose your customized options, but that's why you recorded a macro first. You can run the macro & restore your options easily.
AFTER YOU'VE REBUILT THE DATA KEY:
1. There are five other changes that take place. Your standard & formatting toolbars will share one line. If you use these two toolbars & don't like that option, click Tools/Customize... & untick "Standard & Formatting Toolbars share one row".
2. Clipit may reappear (sometimes it doesn't). If you don't like to use clipit, you also have to press F1, choose Options on Clipit, then the Option tab, & untick "Use the Office Assistant".
3. The third change is that you lose all your MRU files on the Files menu.
4. You will lose all your files on the Work menu.
5. Lastly, all your non-global add-ins (the ones that aren't in the startup folder) are removed from Tools/Templates & add-ins.
What I've done is after I restore my Work menu & my Tools/Templates & add-ins, I go back to the registry, select the Data key, & export it. Hopefully, it's not corrupt at this point & I can restore it the next time it corrupts.
Thumbs-up points: 
MultiQuote
I'm aware that Tools/Options/File Locations will locate the normal.dot path--problem is they still have to open Explorer to rename normal.dot, so using F3 will be a little faster--unless they have more than one normal.dot. I'll will try to edit that step to reflect this.
Why is it when Microsoft makes a feature harder to use, it sticks? I still don't like the fact that I have to click "more" in the Find/Replace dialog box to get to stuff I could easily use in Word 6. 
Ah well, thanks for the information.
