Customizing Built-in Error Messages

How to Activate Custom Error Messages

Custom error messages become active when the correct value settings are entered into the Windows registry. This means that after you have created the Active Server Pages (ASP) file, each computer on your network must be updated to activate custom error messages.

If you have already deployed Office 2000, the System Policy Editor allows you to add, remove, or modify a single custom error message, or to enable or disable all error messages simultaneously throughout your organization. If you have not yet deployed Office 2000, you can modify the registry during Office deployment by using the Custom Installation Wizard.

Enable custom error messages before deploying Office

If you have not yet installed Office 2000, you can use the Office Custom Installation Wizard to enable custom error messages.

Enable custom error messages for all applications

If you want to enable all custom error messages for all Office 2000 applications, use the Office Customize Wizard to modify the URL in the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\General\CustomizableAlertBaseURL

Your new URL must point to the ASP page that you created to handle the custom error messages. The error message number, GUID, and country code will automatically be appended to this base URL for you so that the ASP script can correctly direct users to the defined HTML page. For the ASP page to function properly, you must type a question mark (?) at the end of the URL to allow for these parameters to be defined for use within the ASP page. The following is an example of a base URL:

http://localhost/mypage.asp?

If you have chosen to configure your ASP page to handle any additional parameters, such as the computer name, you will need to add an ampersand (&) to the end of the query string so that the default parameters are added when the link is activated. The following is an example of a base URL:

http://localhost/mypage.asp?ComputerName="Mamabear"&

When you change the URL, you can also update the custom button text by using the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\General\CustomizableAlertDefaultButtonText

Enable a single custom error message

If you want to enable a single error message, add an entry for that error message to the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Application\CustomizableAlerts

Each entry consists of a name and a value. The name is the numeric ID for the error message, and the value is the text you add to change the text that appears on the custom button for the error message.

For example, to add a custom error message for error message number 46 (a printer error) in Word, you can add the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\CustomizableAlerts\46

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Enable custom error messages after deploying Office

If you have already deployed Office 2000 and you want to enable custom error messages, use the System Policy Editor.

Note   When you enable custom error messages by using a system policy, the policy settings override any existing custom error messages registered in the HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Application\Customizable Alerts subkey.

Enable custom error messages for all applications

If you want to enable all custom error messages for all Office 2000 applications, use the System Policy Editor to set the following policy:

Microsoft Office 2000\Customizable error messages\Base URL

Your new URL must point to the ASP page that you created to handle the custom error messages. The error message number, GUID, and country code will automatically be appended to this base URL for you so that the ASP script can correctly direct users to the defined HTML page. For the ASP page to function properly, you must type a question mark (?) at the end of the URL to allow for these parameters to be defined for use within the ASP page. The following is an example of a base URL:

http://localhost/mypage.asp?

If you have chosen to configure your ASP page to handle any additional parameters, such as the computer name, you will need to add an ampersand (&) to the end of the query string, to allow for the default parameters to be added when the link is activated. The following is an example of a base URL:

http://localhost/mypage.asp?ComputerName="Mamabear"&

Enable a single custom error message

If you want to enable a single error message, add an entry for that error message to the List of error messages to customize policy.

For example, to add a custom error message to Word, you set the following policy:

Microsoft Word 2000\Customizable error messages\List of error messages to customize

In the Settings for List of error messages to customize area, click the Show button. Click Add, and then type the name and value for the error message. The name is the numeric ID for the error message, and the value is the text you added to change the text that appears on the custom button for the error message.

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See also

The System Policy Editor is an effective and efficient way to update all of the client computers on your network. To learn how to use the System Policy Editor, see Using the System Policy Editor.

By using the Custom Installation Wizard, you can specify exactly how Office 2000 is installed on your client computers. To learn how to use the Custom Installation Wizard, see Office Custom Installation Wizard.