M
Manny
hi i open word but cannot type or open any doc ..any help ?
thanks
thanks
C
CyberTaz
Hi Manny -
I'm sure someone can & will help, but first you have to do the helping.
What version of Word/Office?
What type of Mac?
Which version of the operating system?
What happens when you try to open a file or try to type?
Nobody here can look over your shoulder. The only thing we can work with is
what you tell us about the situation, which so far isn't much
Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
I'm sure someone can & will help, but first you have to do the helping.
What version of Word/Office?
What type of Mac?
Which version of the operating system?
What happens when you try to open a file or try to type?
Nobody here can look over your shoulder. The only thing we can work with is
what you tell us about the situation, which so far isn't much
Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
M
Manny
hi ..thanks for helping ..
ibook g4
word 2004
os x
i open word .. cannot type any words ..i can paste text ...if i open a doc
i cannot edit ...
thanks
ibook g4
word 2004
os x
i open word .. cannot type any words ..i can paste text ...if i open a doc
i cannot edit ...
thanks
C
CyberTaz
I'm afraid this is still not *specific* - both Word/Office & OS X have gone
through several updates. Where you are in regard to actual version numbers
(10.4.8, 11.3.5, etc.) often can make a big difference.
Also this last post contradicts the first, which stated that you cannot
*open* Word docs. Here you state that you *can* open them but can't edit
them. Which is it?
Unless you can provide accurate & consistant information we can't do much
other than refer you to general troubleshooting guidelines available here:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/TroubleshootingIndex.html
through several updates. Where you are in regard to actual version numbers
(10.4.8, 11.3.5, etc.) often can make a big difference.
Also this last post contradicts the first, which stated that you cannot
*open* Word docs. Here you state that you *can* open them but can't edit
them. Which is it?
Unless you can provide accurate & consistant information we can't do much
other than refer you to general troubleshooting guidelines available here:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/TroubleshootingIndex.html
M
mnatter
I have a client who just ran into this problem as well.
Here is the breakdown:
- 1.9GHz PowerPC G5 iMac
- 512MB of RAM
- OS 10.4.9
- Office 2004 (a fresh install of the WHOLE folder)
- Word version 11.3.5
Here is the story:
Client copy a chunk of text from a website and pasted it into a Word
document. Word froze up and had to be restarted. Upon restarting there
seems to no longer be ANY keyboard input in the Word app. You can't
type. You can't use keyboard shortcuts. You can copy and paste if you
use the mouse and the File Menu.
All other Office apps work perfectly fine. It is just Word that is not
allowing typing of any sort.
Here are the steps I have taken:
- Repaired Permissions
- Uninstalled (using the uninstaller included) Office and reinstalled
- Checked the Input Manager for the OS
- Confirmed that typing worked in all other Office Apps
- Cleared the clipboard on the OS
Any help is greatly appreciated. I am kind of stumped.
'til then,
michael
Here is the breakdown:
- 1.9GHz PowerPC G5 iMac
- 512MB of RAM
- OS 10.4.9
- Office 2004 (a fresh install of the WHOLE folder)
- Word version 11.3.5
Here is the story:
Client copy a chunk of text from a website and pasted it into a Word
document. Word froze up and had to be restarted. Upon restarting there
seems to no longer be ANY keyboard input in the Word app. You can't
type. You can't use keyboard shortcuts. You can copy and paste if you
use the mouse and the File Menu.
All other Office apps work perfectly fine. It is just Word that is not
allowing typing of any sort.
Here are the steps I have taken:
- Repaired Permissions
- Uninstalled (using the uninstaller included) Office and reinstalled
- Checked the Input Manager for the OS
- Confirmed that typing worked in all other Office Apps
- Cleared the clipboard on the OS
Any help is greatly appreciated. I am kind of stumped.
'til then,
michael
M
Michelle
I've occasionally noticed something similar. Only I often notice it in
Entourage Calendar Events most often.
Sometimes it simply stops responding to keyboard input. In Entourage,
hitting keyboard arrow keys give no response, but it will respond to mouse
input. For example, I might not be able to type in a digit to change an
event time. Also might not be able to use the keyboard arrows to
increase/decrease a number--but I CAN click the up/down arrows with my mouse
and have it change the number.
Word--in print dialogue--won't respond to keyboard #'s, but hitting the
dialogue arrow buttons to increase # works. However, for cells that don't
have arrows to change the number, it won't allow keyboard # input.
In both programs, quitting the program and restarting them fixes the problem
temporarily--Last time in Word, it happened each time I went into print
dialogue for the 2nd time. Would work the first time, but if I went back
into it again (same document), it wouldn't work.
I haven't noticed it happening in a while, but I had made a note of the
issues, because I was eventually going to post an inquiry about the problem.
Entourage Calendar Events most often.
Sometimes it simply stops responding to keyboard input. In Entourage,
hitting keyboard arrow keys give no response, but it will respond to mouse
input. For example, I might not be able to type in a digit to change an
event time. Also might not be able to use the keyboard arrows to
increase/decrease a number--but I CAN click the up/down arrows with my mouse
and have it change the number.
Word--in print dialogue--won't respond to keyboard #'s, but hitting the
dialogue arrow buttons to increase # works. However, for cells that don't
have arrows to change the number, it won't allow keyboard # input.
In both programs, quitting the program and restarting them fixes the problem
temporarily--Last time in Word, it happened each time I went into print
dialogue for the 2nd time. Would work the first time, but if I went back
into it again (same document), it wouldn't work.
I haven't noticed it happening in a while, but I had made a note of the
issues, because I was eventually going to post an inquiry about the problem.
J
John McGhie
Hi Michael:
Close Word and re-name the Normal template.
In your excellent summary of what you have already done, that seems to be
the only one you have missed
Hope it helps
--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/
Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
Close Word and re-name the Normal template.
In your excellent summary of what you have already done, that seems to be
the only one you have missed
Hope it helps
--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/
Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
C
CyberTaz
Hi Michael -
Although I can understand why you get that impression, I'm not _certain_
that the problem is entirely Word's fault In fact, I'm not sure the two
issues are even related.
The crash may very well be due to the limited amount of RAM - 512 MB by
today's standards is a minimal requirement. Current OS X is memory intense,
& I figure the user had to have been running both Word & a web browser at
the time - possibly other programs as well. Lack of sufficient resources may
very well be the cause - clipboard activity is more demanding than it seems.
The lack of keyboard response may simply be coincidental. It sounds like
you've taken most of the appropriate steps to troubleshoot/fix any thing at
the Word end with the exception of what john suggested re Normal. However,
it's also possible that some system file may have been affected by the
crash. I'd further add that you might download & reapply the OS X 10.4.9.
COMBO updater, repair permissions, and see if that makes a difference.
I honestly don't know, but find it hard to understand how any one program
can "refuse" to accept keyboard input. To my way of thinking there is some
sort of interference in the mix. Are there any add-ins or utilities
installed that might possibly be involved? Third-party software can
frequently be the source of such behavior.
If no success, try creating a new User Account & see if the problem persists
there.
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
Although I can understand why you get that impression, I'm not _certain_
that the problem is entirely Word's fault
In fact, I'm not sure the twoissues are even related.
The crash may very well be due to the limited amount of RAM - 512 MB by
today's standards is a minimal requirement. Current OS X is memory intense,
& I figure the user had to have been running both Word & a web browser at
the time - possibly other programs as well. Lack of sufficient resources may
very well be the cause - clipboard activity is more demanding than it seems.
The lack of keyboard response may simply be coincidental. It sounds like
you've taken most of the appropriate steps to troubleshoot/fix any thing at
the Word end with the exception of what john suggested re Normal. However,
it's also possible that some system file may have been affected by the
crash. I'd further add that you might download & reapply the OS X 10.4.9.
COMBO updater, repair permissions, and see if that makes a difference.
I honestly don't know, but find it hard to understand how any one program
can "refuse" to accept keyboard input. To my way of thinking there is some
sort of interference in the mix. Are there any add-ins or utilities
installed that might possibly be involved? Third-party software can
frequently be the source of such behavior.
If no success, try creating a new User Account & see if the problem persists
there.
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
P
Phillip Jones
CyberTaz said:Hi Michael -
Although I can understand why you get that impression, I'm not _certain_
that the problem is entirely Word's fault
issues are even related.
The crash may very well be due to the limited amount of RAM - 512 MB by
today's standards is a minimal requirement. Current OS X is memory intense,
& I figure the user had to have been running both Word & a web browser at
the time - possibly other programs as well. Lack of sufficient resources may
very well be the cause - clipboard activity is more demanding than it seems.
This point I agree on my G4-500 has 1.5.GB of System RAM
And my G4-1.67GB 17" PowerBook 17" has 2 Gb.
the G4-500 is getting long in the tooth and when I replace it I will
probably go with 3 or for Gb.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!
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<http://www.vpea.org>
M
mnatter
Hello again.
Thanks for the quick responses...all of you.
I actually have tried trashing the Normal template file a few times
(sorry I didn't list that originally). And then when I did the full
uninstall/reinstall of the Office Suite it trashed and created anew
again.
I will try to create a new user and see if that entity suffers the
same non-typing fate. Also the "reapply the Combo Updater" sounds like
a good idea too.
I will keep you all posted as to the results.
Any other ideas or thoughts in the meantime is always greatly
appreciated.
'til then,
michael
Thanks for the quick responses...all of you.
I actually have tried trashing the Normal template file a few times
(sorry I didn't list that originally). And then when I did the full
uninstall/reinstall of the Office Suite it trashed and created anew
again.
I will try to create a new user and see if that entity suffers the
same non-typing fate. Also the "reapply the Combo Updater" sounds like
a good idea too.
I will keep you all posted as to the results.
Any other ideas or thoughts in the meantime is always greatly
appreciated.
'til then,
michael
M
mnatter
***Follow-up***
- Quit all running apps and Repaired Disk Permissions
- Reinstalled the OS10.4.9 Combo PPC Update (downloaded from
apple.com)
- Restarted
- Opened Word...still no response from any keys.
- Went to Input Manager and brought up an on-screen keyboard...still no
go.
- Created a new user account with admin privileges and logged in to
it.
- Opened Word and it went through it's first time opening dance
(installing fonts into the user folder and whatnot)
- Excitement built at this point...but still a no go.
- It is a 1.9 GHz PowerPC G5 iMac with 512MB of RAM
- As an interesting side note...even the shortcut key commands don't
work. Command N for a new window and whatnot. The only ones that DO
work are any of the commands accessed through the Word name in the
File Menu (Hide, Hide Others, Quit, Preferences). None of the other
File Menu items are triggered by keyboard shortcuts.
This is baffling. if I weren't so stubborn I would surrender it to a
clean install.
But I fear that is in the very near future for these clients.
Any ideas my wise new friends?
Someone mentioned increasing RAM a few posts ago...not sure how that
would make a difference. And hesitate to have them buy anything for
just the experimental factor.
Thanks in advance for any further help you can provide.
'til then,
michael
- Quit all running apps and Repaired Disk Permissions
- Reinstalled the OS10.4.9 Combo PPC Update (downloaded from
apple.com)
- Restarted
- Opened Word...still no response from any keys.
- Went to Input Manager and brought up an on-screen keyboard...still no
go.
- Created a new user account with admin privileges and logged in to
it.
- Opened Word and it went through it's first time opening dance
(installing fonts into the user folder and whatnot)
- Excitement built at this point...but still a no go.
- It is a 1.9 GHz PowerPC G5 iMac with 512MB of RAM
- As an interesting side note...even the shortcut key commands don't
work. Command N for a new window and whatnot. The only ones that DO
work are any of the commands accessed through the Word name in the
File Menu (Hide, Hide Others, Quit, Preferences). None of the other
File Menu items are triggered by keyboard shortcuts.
This is baffling. if I weren't so stubborn I would surrender it to a
clean install.
But I fear that is in the very near future for these clients.
Any ideas my wise new friends?
Someone mentioned increasing RAM a few posts ago...not sure how that
would make a difference. And hesitate to have them buy anything for
just the experimental factor.
Thanks in advance for any further help you can provide.
'til then,
michael
J
John McGhie
Hi Michael:
I think you had better go through the Clean Install.
It is possible to customise keyboard shortcuts for an individual application
in Mac OS X. But I think that applies only to the Function keys.
Let me summarize:
1) You can type in any other application
2) You can't type in Word.
3) You replaced the Normal Template (make sure of that: a macro could do
this)
4) You can't type in the blank document.
5) You can't type in any other Word document.
6) A new UserID makes no difference.
7) You have scoured the system for any Haxies that might be running:
particularly things such as SpellCatcher or clipboard extender haxies.
8) You have made sure that the document is NOT "Protected for forms".
9) You have made sure that the document is not consisting entirely of a
large bitmap picture.
10) You have worked slowly and painfully through the suggestions on the Word
troubleshooting page at http://word.mvps.org/Mac/TroubleshootingIndex.html
IN SEQUENCE?? The sequence matters in that page. The whole thing is an
extended procedure. Even if you have done some of the things already, do
them again in the sequence listed there. I'm not very hopeful that this
will have any effect: I think you've done them all.
If you have done all of that, then yep: it's a system-wide preferences file
problem. I don't know enough to tell you anything more. I think you need
to nuke the thing and start again.
The reason for the discussion about memory is that we're all clutching at
straws here. If the system is critically low on memory, it may not have
things such as fonts or keyboard drivers loaded. But I don't believe it.
With 512 MB of memory it should "work". It may be painfully slow, pause and
stutter and crash a lot. But it should work...
Cheers
--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/
Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
I think you had better go through the Clean Install.
It is possible to customise keyboard shortcuts for an individual application
in Mac OS X. But I think that applies only to the Function keys.
Let me summarize:
1) You can type in any other application
2) You can't type in Word.
3) You replaced the Normal Template (make sure of that: a macro could do
this)
4) You can't type in the blank document.
5) You can't type in any other Word document.
6) A new UserID makes no difference.
7) You have scoured the system for any Haxies that might be running:
particularly things such as SpellCatcher or clipboard extender haxies.
8) You have made sure that the document is NOT "Protected for forms".
9) You have made sure that the document is not consisting entirely of a
large bitmap picture.
10) You have worked slowly and painfully through the suggestions on the Word
troubleshooting page at http://word.mvps.org/Mac/TroubleshootingIndex.html
IN SEQUENCE?? The sequence matters in that page. The whole thing is an
extended procedure. Even if you have done some of the things already, do
them again in the sequence listed there. I'm not very hopeful that this
will have any effect: I think you've done them all.
If you have done all of that, then yep: it's a system-wide preferences file
problem. I don't know enough to tell you anything more. I think you need
to nuke the thing and start again.
The reason for the discussion about memory is that we're all clutching at
straws here. If the system is critically low on memory, it may not have
things such as fonts or keyboard drivers loaded. But I don't believe it.
With 512 MB of memory it should "work". It may be painfully slow, pause and
stutter and crash a lot. But it should work...
Cheers
--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/
Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
M
mnatter
***UPDATE***
Let me start by thanking everyone who chimed in on this rather
perplexing problem.
So I have gotten it to allow me to type in Word again. Here are the
most recent set of steps and problems:
- Backed up the entire HD onto a separate LaCie FireWire drive using
Silverkeeper.
- Inserted my perfectly legit (read "purchased") Tiger Install DVD.
But the iMac would NOT boot off of it. Strange.
- Held down the option key during start-up and the boot option screen
appeared showing both the internal HD and the Tiger DVD. (Note...the
iMac fan was whirring like a Vornado in July)
- When I selected the Tiger DVD icon it got to the grey apple screen...
hung for a while...and then the grey apple disappeared and turned into
the circle with a line through it. Strange.
- So I target booted the iMac into my PowerBook and ran Disk Warrior
on it. It found many overlapping files but could not complete the
recreating of the directory.
- So I booted from the Tiger DVD on my PowerBook with the iMac still
in Target Mode. The full clean install to the iMac drive went smooth
without a hitch. I could boot from that drive using my PowerBook but
not if I booted up the iMac machine by itself. Now that is very very
strange.
- At this point I am convinced that the Logic Board has gone farewell
or something. It still has the original installed "Apple RAM" so
unless that went goodbye...that couldn't be the reason.
- My final thought was to run a hardware test using the original iMac
Install Discs. But my client could not find them. Luckily I have
another client with an identical machine. So I used their discs.
- Hardware Test found nothing (obviously...has it ever?) so I figured I
would try doing yet another clean install using those discs.
- HAZAH!!! It worked. Ran every update I could. Then installed the
full Microsoft Office Suite.
- HAZAH!!! It worked. Ran every update I could. I could type my heart
out in Word.
- Moved all of the personal files and very select Library info (not
bringing any of that old Office prefs or anything over) and everything
still works.
- Note I did not use Migration Assistant (I don't believe in it)
- I also went into Word's Preferences to alter the way it pastes text.
I hope this will help Word handle when my client highlights large
chunks of text from website and pastes it into Word. Did this in the
Smart Cut & Paste Settings. Any suggestions on meddling around in
there?
- I am also adding an applescript to the Services menu that will allow
them to print highlighted text from within a web page or other
document. Print Selected Text type of thing. That should minimize the
need to do a lot of pasting into Word just to print selected
paragraphs.
That is the end of my story. The clean install worked. But it was
still a wacky journey.
I tried to go into as much detail as possible as thanks for all of
your help/advice.
Thank you all kindly.
'til then,
michael
Let me start by thanking everyone who chimed in on this rather
perplexing problem.
So I have gotten it to allow me to type in Word again. Here are the
most recent set of steps and problems:
- Backed up the entire HD onto a separate LaCie FireWire drive using
Silverkeeper.
- Inserted my perfectly legit (read "purchased") Tiger Install DVD.
But the iMac would NOT boot off of it. Strange.
- Held down the option key during start-up and the boot option screen
appeared showing both the internal HD and the Tiger DVD. (Note...the
iMac fan was whirring like a Vornado in July)
- When I selected the Tiger DVD icon it got to the grey apple screen...
hung for a while...and then the grey apple disappeared and turned into
the circle with a line through it. Strange.
- So I target booted the iMac into my PowerBook and ran Disk Warrior
on it. It found many overlapping files but could not complete the
recreating of the directory.
- So I booted from the Tiger DVD on my PowerBook with the iMac still
in Target Mode. The full clean install to the iMac drive went smooth
without a hitch. I could boot from that drive using my PowerBook but
not if I booted up the iMac machine by itself. Now that is very very
strange.
- At this point I am convinced that the Logic Board has gone farewell
or something. It still has the original installed "Apple RAM" so
unless that went goodbye...that couldn't be the reason.
- My final thought was to run a hardware test using the original iMac
Install Discs. But my client could not find them. Luckily I have
another client with an identical machine. So I used their discs.
- Hardware Test found nothing (obviously...has it ever?) so I figured I
would try doing yet another clean install using those discs.
- HAZAH!!! It worked. Ran every update I could. Then installed the
full Microsoft Office Suite.
- HAZAH!!! It worked. Ran every update I could. I could type my heart
out in Word.
- Moved all of the personal files and very select Library info (not
bringing any of that old Office prefs or anything over) and everything
still works.
- Note I did not use Migration Assistant (I don't believe in it)
- I also went into Word's Preferences to alter the way it pastes text.
I hope this will help Word handle when my client highlights large
chunks of text from website and pastes it into Word. Did this in the
Smart Cut & Paste Settings. Any suggestions on meddling around in
there?
- I am also adding an applescript to the Services menu that will allow
them to print highlighted text from within a web page or other
document. Print Selected Text type of thing. That should minimize the
need to do a lot of pasting into Word just to print selected
paragraphs.
That is the end of my story. The clean install worked. But it was
still a wacky journey.
I tried to go into as much detail as possible as thanks for all of
your help/advice.
Thank you all kindly.
'til then,
michael
C
Clive Huggan
Hello Michael,
Speaking only as someone who has been watching this thread (because I had
nothing I could contribute): thank you for so comprehensively describing
what happened. It is very useful.
Cheers,
Clive Huggan
============
Speaking only as someone who has been watching this thread (because I had
nothing I could contribute): thank you for so comprehensively describing
what happened. It is very useful.
Cheers,
Clive Huggan
============