BUG: Suggestions Greyed out word 07 spell check defaults to undo e

J

jsabin69

I am moving this to this location from this other location

http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...mmar&mid=d2d2d262-d73f-467e-9415-732a8c6b757c

We have not been able to find any luck

A basic description of the problem is that when spell/grammar check is ran
in word 2007 or outlook 2007, it automatically greys out the suggestions like
something has been edited. However, the text has not been changed in anyway
.... if you click undo edit it will promptly default back to grey and undo
edit again within 1-2 seconds. This has made spellcheck practically
unuseable as you have to quickly click undo edit and try to pick the desired
change or manually edit everything, ...Several People apparently share this
problem and have tried reinstalling and etc to no avail. I hope someone
here has an idea for a solution
 
T

Terry Farrell

What happens in Word Safe Mode? From Start, Run, type in

winword /a

and press enter, Word should now start in Safe Mode. Open a document and try
the spell check again. Does it work correctly?
 
J

jsabin69

Same problem...additionally I have deleted the registry keys before for word
as well as the proofing tools and the problem has persisted. I have shutdown
nearly all active processes on my computer and uninstalled my virus
protection and the problem persists. Others who have posted regarding this
post have reinstalled office and had no luck as well. I have vista but
others with the problem have had it occur under xp as well. I have all
updates from microsoft update for vista as well as office.

Thanks for your help
 
J

jsabin69

Problem persisted after removing graphics drivers, regediting to prevent
apps from stealing focus. Also i noticed that it also affects foot notes.
when you hover over the superscript the foot note flashes instead of being
displayed. Does anyone have an idea how to fix this vexatious problem. I'm
at a loss.
 
B

bilbo

I am working several identical issues.

The only solution i have been able to identify has been the format and
reinstall Windows with RETAIL bits, not the OEM bits and then only install
the required Ethernet/Video/Modem drivers to get rid of all the question
marks in Device manager.

We believe there is a problem with the OEM OS, or OEM drivers, or the
Sequence of the OEM driver installation.

Please, for the benefit of qualifying this for our records, identify your
system for us.
Make:
Model:
Year:
OS:
OEM or Retail OS (Y or N):
Office Version:
OEM or Retail Office (Y or N):

Have you contacted Microsoft Support (Y or N):
If yes, do you have the case number:
 
J

jsabin69

I will have to check my drivers to answer your questions

Make: Dell Inspiron
Model: 1501
Year: 2007
OS: Vista 32 bit ultimate with all updates
OEM or Retail OS (Y or N): Retail,
Office Version: 2007 enterprise
OEM or Retail Office (Y or N): Retail office Yes
Have you contacted Microsoft Support (Y or N): N
 
B

bilbo

jsabin69,

Somehow, I knew you were going to say it was a Dell Laptop.

You remark that this has Retail Vista.
This model was originally intended for Vista, but would have had an OEM
Vista unless specified to be shipped with XP.

Can you please clarify what this Inspiron cam with originally and what path
you have taken with it.

We have made a special task effort to identify the cause and create a
solution for this issue, but to be clear, we are still in the "discovery"
phase.
 
J

jsabin69

It came with vista home premium I think, But i stripped that and then put
Windows XP on it, I then reformatted and put Vista Ultimate on it, and it
worked fine for over 6 months but the problem then started, but I'm not sure
why. I'm in the middle of a semester or I would just do a complete system
restore which I have on an external harddrive. Unfortunately, I do not
currently have the time to do the back up and restore.

Since i noticed the problem, I have tried removing my graphics drivers, my
mouse pad drivers, my antivirus solution, as well as running in safe mode
with nearly every process shut down. the problem persists.

I have checked my device manager and have no question marks currently for
any drivers.


In a side note that might be helpful in identifying the problem; on
facebook messenger messages automatically scroll to the bottom of the
conversation even if you scroll up. I have confirmed this under firefox as
well as under Internet Explorer under scrabulous on facebook a blank tile
will be placed if you click on the board

Thank you Kindly for your assistance
 
J

jsabin69

I'm sorry it is OEM Vista Ultimate. I had put retail xp on it, I forgot that
it was an OEM version of Vista Ultimate
 
B

bilbo

Hi jsabin69,

I'm not sure of the flashing footnotes issue.

As for the busted Spelling and Grammar Dialog box (SGDB), I would like to
see if you could try a few things for me.

I just got work back from a NY customer that I have fixed one of his Dell
laptops but I am not certain exactly what did it.
He purchased 5 identical Dell laptops for his sales team and only 1 of the 5
demonstrated the issue.
I performed and Easy Assist session and confirmed the issue and then I
detuned ALL of his touchpad settings.
I hoped to see some difference in performance when I went back to word,
however the SGDB was still busted.
HOWEVER, I have since heard back from him that after the system was
restarted and checked again, the issue is now gone.
Therefore, it appears possible that the issue is caused by one or more of
the touchpad settings being set too high or too sensitive, and it also
appears that to cause the changes to take effect, the laptop has to be
restarted.

So, what I'd like to ask is that you open your touchpad utility and
detune/desensitize the setting(s) and then restart the laptop and check
performance of the SGDB at each restart.

Unfortunatley, since the other customer's laptop is fixed,m he gave it back
to the sales person and it is not in the office for me to check. He will get
it back in later this week, but I'd hope to find the answer before that.

Thanks and good luck!

PS. conceivably, an overly sensitive touchpad could also be responsible for
your flashing footnotes, but I am primarly focused on the SGDB.
 
J

jsabin69

This is not the source. I have just verified it the drivers are whql
certified for vista (brother hl 2070n) and installed locally. additionally
the drivers were present long before this problem started. OH but i wish
this was the problem. I would love for this problem to be solved.
 
T

Terry Farrell

Have you actually tried a different default printer - say the Generic Text
driver from the Vista installation - just to make absolutely certain?

Terry
 
J

jsabin69

I actually deleted the printer and tested it then reinstalled the printer and
tested it and just now i tried different default printers inculding the
generic text driver and it did not make a difference the problem persisted.

I don't know if flashing footnotes is the best way to describe it. when you
hover your mouse over the superscript the footnote will appear in the bubble
for less than a second and not reappear unless you move the mouse to be more
clear about the problem. the footnote will never display for more than a
brief moment no matter how many times you move the mouse over the
superscript. Of the myriad of things i have tried nothing has fixed this or
the spell check issue. Thank you for your time and patience
 
B

bilbo

hi jsabin69,

Did you see my reply to your earlier thread above?
I think we may have a solution to the busted spell checker, and possibly to
both.

Thanks
 
B

bilbo

I would bet that your laptop has a Synaptics Touchpad utility.

If so, I wold like to suggest one or two steps.

It may be possible to de-sensitize the Touchpad by opening the utility and
decreasing the sensitivity and other settings.
That may fix the busted spell checker ( I know it seems like an odd
solution), but you have to restart for the changes to take effect.

If that does not work, I'd suggest visiting the Dell Support site and
downloading the most current Synaptics Touchpad Driver/Utility and install
it.

Techs that have followed the traditional troubleshootig on this issue are
missing some VERY critical observations.
1. If the proofing tools were broken the Spelling and Grammar Dialog Box
(SGDB) would not open at all.
2. If the Dictionary and or language settings were wrong or missing, it
would not be making suggestions.
3. If the "Undo Edit" button is visible, then the SGDB believes there has
been some traffic through the dialog box because the undo edits button is
ONLY visible once the mis-spelled word has been changed INSIDE the SGDB.
4. If the "Undo Edit" buttong returns on its own after being clicked by the
user, AGAIN this can ONLY happen if the SGDB senses a change to the
mis-spelled word inside the SGDB.

We believe it is possible that numbers 3 and 4 are happening due to system
traffic related to an overly sensitive/overly active touchpad.

I have already fixed one Dell Vostro by detuning the touchpad.
 
P

Princessallison

I posted this back in February of 2008 but I am having the same problem with
Microsoft 2003.

It was working fine until one day in February my spell check in MS word 2003
stopped working properly. It will have the green & red squiggly lines for
spelling & grammar problems, but when the box comes up with the suggestions
for the correct spelling, the words are black for less than a second and then
turns grey so I
am unable to click on them. The weird thing is that when I don't go through
spell check and I just right click on the word that is underlined with the
red or green squiggly line, it DOES give me options that have the correct
spelling and it inputs the correct word that I choose. I have tried
everything that I have found on the other posts, everything in the
Tools-options-spelling & grammar is properly
checked.

My other question from my research is that it is a shared office file, and
spell check works fine in Office Publisher, Powerpoint, and Excel. I do not
use Outlook or Access.

Back in April I backed up all of my personal files, took in my original
operating system disks that I received from Dell and my computer to Circuit
City and had them wipe everything and reinstall windows. When I came home I
reinstalled Office 2003, and everything was back to normal!! Yay! About a
month later, I wrote a document and saved it. About a half hour later I was
going to email it to my dad to proof read before I turned it in, and I made
another correction and pressed the spell check button. IT WAS BACK TO GREY!!!
During that half an hour I was not using my computer at all. It was sitting
on the desk.


PLEASE HELP!
I have school reports I need spell check for!! Thank you all for your help!

Based on what other posts have said for my settings, here is what is checked:
- MS Word... Tools... Language
- English (US) is the default; this is my language
- The following is checked: Detect language automatically (but have tried
with both boxes checked and unchecked)
- MS Word... Tools... Spelling & Grammar
The following are checked:
- Check spelling as you type
- Always suggest corrections
- Ignore uppercase, numbers, Internet and file addresses

Also under MS Word... Tools... Spelling & Grammar
- Custom dictionaries... Custom.dic is my default; no other dictionaries
are listed

Make: Dell
Model: Vostro 1000
Year: December 2007
OS: XP Home Edition 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OEM or Retail OS (Y or N): Asked for XP instead of Vista before they started
charging extra
Office Version: Microsoft Office 2003 Professional
OEM or Retail Office (Y or N): Retail (Have had it since it came out and
have used on my 3 prior computers with no problems.
 
B

bilbo

Hi Princessallison,

Although I am currently lacking complete evidence to prove it, I have become
convinced this is a hardware issue.

I know, it seems hard to imagine, but none the less, I have worked on
several of this issues and performed dozzens of fresh installs.

The only one that was fixed without a clean install of retail software, was
fixed when I turned the touchpad sensitivity down and restarted the laptop.

We have ONLY seen this on Laptops with touchpads.

Have you tried to install a fresh touchpad utility driver?
 
J

jsabin69

I will check the touch pad, but I want to give a small update as to what i
have tried in the mean time. I have reinstalled vista completely and found
that the problem is present on a fresh install with nothing but vista and
office installed. The problem is present before and after service pack 1 is
installed. Have you found anything out in the mean time. I'm sorry it took
me so long to respond I had final exams I had to deal with in the mean time.
I will mess around with the touch pad settings now, but I highly doubt they
are the issue.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

spell check- auto spell check and undo edit 0
Spell Check NOT WORKING, please Help! 0
Spell Check Options Are Grayed Out 0
Spell Check Issues - MS Word 2003 5
Word 2007 Spell check not "checking" 9
Spell Check Suggestion Box cant highlight word 5
Word 2003 spell check will not allow selection of suggestions.... 0
Word 2000 Spell Check Problem 0

Top