How do I fix Paste Special in Word 2008?

[libbyh]

Hi,

I'm using Word 2008, and when I click "Paste Special" on the Edit menu, nothing happens. I used to use Office 2004, and I created a macro that remapped "Paste Special" to Edit-Paste Special-Unformatted text, and I'm wondering if that macro interfered in some way. It still works in 2004 on the same machine. How can I remove that macro from 2008 so that I can use the Paste Special feature with all its options?

Thanks!

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Libby -

The macro shouldn't make any difference since Office 2008 doesn't support
VBA, so even if you're in a doc that was created in 2004 based on a template
that housed the macro it just plain wouldn't work.

Try this first: Go to the Customize dialog's Toolbars page, select the Menu
Bar (by name), tehn click teh Reset button. See if that sets it rght. If not
give a shout back.

 

[libbyh]

Hi,

Thanks for your help! I tried resetting the Main toolbar, but that didn't help things (even quit and restarted). Paste Special doesn't do anything when I select it from the Edit menu (new document, old document, same result).

I'm getting this error over and over in my console: 3/7/08 5:05:41 PM Microsoft Word[3284] CGBitmapContextGetData: invalid context

Is that at all related?

Libby

 

[CyberTaz]

Ehhh, let me guess - you're on an Intel Mac running Leopard 10.5.2... If
not, please fill me in on the specs & whether this is certain types of
content in particular [and if so, what?] or is it with literally *anything*
you copy & try Paste Special.

 

[libbyh]

Yep, I'm on an Intel Mac running 10.5.2. Am I just SOL? I've gotten the "error" with everything I've tried to paste using Paste Special.

Libby

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Libby:

Since Bob has now done all the hard work, let me see if I can sail in here
and take the credit

When I installed 2008, it first tried to suck in my Word 2004 Normal
template. This contained MY "PasteUnformatted" and "PasteSpecial" macros


Of course, Word 2008 stripped the VBA. But it left the customised
keystrokes and command customisations pointing at where the VBA container
used to be, within the template.

That's a bug!

But it produces precisely this symptom. You try any of the commands that
used to run VBA, and they either error, or silently do nothing.

The trick is to track down all instances of Normal template, including
Normal.dotm, and Zip them up on your desktop, or otherwise get them out of
sight. Then blow away your 2008 preferences. Then let it create a clean
Normal.dotm.

Then it should work (for small values of "work" ...

Then you can put your 2004 Templates back where they came from (but NOT the
preferences!!!).

The procedure is roughly:

1) Quit all Microsoft applications.

2) Track down all instances of pre-2008 Normal template on your computer,
and drag them to your desktop. The file is called simply "Normal" and has
no extension.

3) Find and drag the file Normal.dotm to your desktop. Unless you have
moved it, it should be in
/Users/ ~ /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/My
Templates/

4) If the following files exist, Remove or rename them:

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Word Settings (10)

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Word Settings (11)

User/Library/Preferences/com.Microsoft.Word.plist

User/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008 (the whole folder!)

5) Now re-start Word 2008 and it should be OK.

Hope this helps

Yep, I'm on an Intel Mac running 10.5.2. Am I just SOL? I've gotten the
"error" with everything I've tried to paste using Paste Special.

Libby

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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]

 

[libbyh]

Thanks John and CyberTaz! I followed the last set of instructions, and now Paste Special works. Normal.dotm didn't show up in any searches, but I finally tracked it down in ~/Users/<user>/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office.

Thank you!