Drawing Text Box and Shapes: Cursor won't change to Cross-Hair

[Chick]

In Word 2000 on my Windows 2000 computer, when I clicked
a shape button (e.g. arrow, basic shapes, line, etc) on
the drawing toolbar, the mouse cursor then changed into a
cross hair form that allowed me to precisely position my
drawing on the page. I recently exchanged that computer
for a newer model with Windows XP Pro (both are Dell
laptops) and installed Office 2000. I also copied all
prefs, styles, dictionaries, etc from the older computer
to the newer computer.

On the new computer,in Word 2000, when I click on a
button on the drawing toolbar (or draw a text box), the
cursor remains as a text cursor (and I-beam), and it is
difficult to determine where, within the I-beam my
drawing will be positioned. Interestingly, in Excel 2000
on the newer computer, pressing a button in the drawing
toolbar causes the cursor to change to a cross hair, as
it did on the old computer. The problem(s) is only in
Word. It is very frustrating. I haven't found anything in
any of the help files though I have searched extensively
within Microsoft Office 2000 and also on the Office
website. Why is word behaving this way, and how can I
recover my cross-hair after I press a button on the
drawing toolbar (or when I draw a textbox), as it is
works in Excel on the same computer?
..

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Chick,

If you start Word from Start=>Run and use
Winword.exe /A
do you get the same behavior in a new document and
use an Autoshape other than a textbox?

Are you using any of the Accessibility options or high
contrast color settings in the Windows Control Panel?

======
In Word 2000 on my Windows 2000 computer, when I clicked
a shape button (e.g. arrow, basic shapes, line, etc) on
the drawing toolbar, the mouse cursor then changed into a
cross hair form that allowed me to precisely position my
drawing on the page. I recently exchanged that computer
for a newer model with Windows XP Pro (both are Dell
laptops) and installed Office 2000. I also copied all
prefs, styles, dictionaries, etc from the older computer
to the newer computer.

On the new computer,in Word 2000, when I click on a
button on the drawing toolbar (or draw a text box), the
cursor remains as a text cursor (and I-beam), and it is
difficult to determine where, within the I-beam my
drawing will be positioned. Interestingly, in Excel 2000
on the newer computer, pressing a button in the drawing
toolbar causes the cursor to change to a cross hair, as
it did on the old computer. The problem(s) is only in
Word. It is very frustrating. I haven't found anything in
any of the help files though I have searched extensively
within Microsoft Office 2000 and also on the Office
website. Why is word behaving this way, and how can I
recover my cross-hair after I press a button on the
drawing toolbar (or when I draw a textbox), as it is
works in Excel on the same computer? >>