Leesa, I'm able to modify defaults and have them reload on startup. I'm using Word 2019. Your modifications, provided you make the changes your Default, should be saved into the file Normal.dotm, located in
Users:USERNAME:Library:Group Containers:UBF8T346G9.Office:User Content.localized:Templates.localized:Normal.dotm
Check to see if this file gets updated after making your changes, it might be a permissions issue. Also, according to this:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/change-the-default-settings-for-new-documents-430b4132-e129-46e4-97d2-19c326352c7f
The best way to ensure your changes are saved is to open normal.dotm directly FROM WITHIN WORD, not by double clicking it in Finder. Thus, when you close the doc, you will be sure to be prompted to save it.
Article also says if this file doesn't exist, Word recreates it on startup using built in Defaults., so check if this file is still there after you quit Word.
Personally I've not ever had to do this, (open normal.dotm directly), i just make my changes then be sure to press 'Default' button, the file normal.dotm gets updated and saved in the folder mentioned above.
As a final workaround, create a document with the defaults you want, save it as a TEMPLATE FILE, then drag that template to your Dock to create a shortcut. Then simply click on that in the Dock, to have Word open on that template with the custom settings.
Users:USERNAME:Library:Group Containers:UBF8T346G9.Office:User Content.localized:Templates.localized:Normal.dotm
Check to see if this file gets updated after making your changes, it might be a permissions issue. Also, according to this:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/change-the-default-settings-for-new-documents-430b4132-e129-46e4-97d2-19c326352c7f
The best way to ensure your changes are saved is to open normal.dotm directly FROM WITHIN WORD, not by double clicking it in Finder. Thus, when you close the doc, you will be sure to be prompted to save it.
Article also says if this file doesn't exist, Word recreates it on startup using built in Defaults., so check if this file is still there after you quit Word.
Personally I've not ever had to do this, (open normal.dotm directly), i just make my changes then be sure to press 'Default' button, the file normal.dotm gets updated and saved in the folder mentioned above.
As a final workaround, create a document with the defaults you want, save it as a TEMPLATE FILE, then drag that template to your Dock to create a shortcut. Then simply click on that in the Dock, to have Word open on that template with the custom settings.
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With the release of macOS 10.15 Catalina, Office 365 for Mac and Office 2019 for Mac supports macOS 10.15, 10.14, and 10.13. To continue receiving the most up to date Office 365 features on Mac, make sure you have one of the three most recent versions of macOS. Mar 12, 2019 For release information for Office 2019 for Mac, see the release notes and update history for Office for Mac. Updates for Office 2016 for Mac are available from Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU). To use Microsoft AutoUpdate, start an Office application, such as Word, and then choose Help Check for Updates.