Hung up on "Find Next"

[Carla]

When I'm going through a document in Word with "Find," using "Find Next,"
it keeps getting hung up, stuck on one item, then zooms ahead if I click
"Find Next" again. When it's hung up and I don't click it, it eventually frees
up and moves to the next item, but sometimes it takes a while and really
slows me down (copyediting). I've tried clicking faster and slower and
adjusting the mouse speed, but no luck.

 

[Elliott Roper]

When I'm going through a document in Word with "Find," using "Find Next,"
it keeps getting hung up, stuck on one item, then zooms ahead if I click
"Find Next" again. When it's hung up and I don't click it, it eventually
frees
up and moves to the next item, but sometimes it takes a while and really
slows me down (copyediting). I've tried clicking faster and slower and
adjusting the mouse speed, but no luck.

That is an interesting question. I don't think this is an answer, not
least because it is another question.

Clicking on search panels annoys me. I'd rather leave the mouse alone,
so I know there is a whole bunch of shortcuts for 'find next'. I choose
to use cmd-opt-y because I don't have to reach for a function key.

Then I thought you might be getting stuck in a long document and not
know whether the click on 'find next' had been noticed, and then you
and Word managed to get each other confused. Which lead me to dream up
ways of changing the search direction so I could go back again.

I could not find a keyboard shortcut, so I wrote this silly macro and
assigned it to ctrl-opt-y (geddit?)

I am not very pleased with it, (and this is where the experts are
supposed to rise up and help when they have stopped laughing) since it
probably makes it more rather than less confusing if you are staring at
the screen wondering if the search is over or not. It changes direction
and does the first search in the new direction. I'd rather it just
changed direction, yet without the final execute line, it sits there
with a watch cursor till I do the next search.

Sub Change_search_direction()
'
' Change_search_direction Macro
' Macro recorded 07-05-2004 by Elliott Roper
With Selection.Find
If (.Forward = True) Then
.Forward = False
Else: .Forward = True
End If
End With
Selection.Find.Execute
End Sub

I'd also like to improve the if then else. Is there a way to toggle
..Forward in a less verbose way? It would not let me say
..Forward = !.Forward

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

What version of Word? This may just be a corrupt doc or sketchy settings
manifesting, rather than a problem with Find Next, and the standard
troubleshooting techniques might fix it. Or Word not having the power to
deal with a complex/long doc. Does it happen in all documents?

DM

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word]]

Hi Carla:

Dayo's on the right track here: I suspect you have a corrupt document and
Word is taking a long time to resolve the structure when it gets to a
particular point.

I suggest that you investigate Tracked Changes: if you have lots of tracked
changes in the document, I would accept them and see if that speeds things
up a bit.

Hope this helps

When I'm going through a document in Word with "Find," using "Find Next,"
it keeps getting hung up, stuck on one item, then zooms ahead if I click
"Find Next" again. When it's hung up and I don't click it, it eventually frees
up and moves to the next item, but sometimes it takes a while and really
slows me down (copyediting). I've tried clicking faster and slower and
adjusting the mouse speed, but no luck.

--

Please respond only to the newsgroup to preserve the thread.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Rick Copeland]

I have seen this issue as well. I'm running the latest version of Word X
(from Office 10.1.5) on Mac OS 10.2.8. I've not kept track of whether the
document is long or short, but I don't have Track Changes on (so that
shouldn't be an issue) and the docs don't show other signs of being corrupt
(although that's just a casual observation).

What I have noticed is that it happens if I click "Find Next" too quickly.
I have to pause a second or two between each click, otherwise it hangs and I
get the same behavior described by Carla. It's as if Word doesn't capture
that last click, if I give it too many in a row, too quickly.

Not a major issue for me, so I've not reported it before, but I have
definitely noticed it. I will investigate further the next time it happens.

Rick

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word]]

Ah hah! Yes, I have seen that behaviour in Word X also. That is indeed
because Word's time-out between mouse clicks is set too long in Word X:
fixed in 2004.

However, I do not think that is Carla's issue: I think Carla is getting a
beachball on the next Find: that is likely to be a corruption in the
document.

Cheers

I have seen this issue as well. I'm running the latest version of Word X
(from Office 10.1.5) on Mac OS 10.2.8. I've not kept track of whether the
document is long or short, but I don't have Track Changes on (so that
shouldn't be an issue) and the docs don't show other signs of being corrupt
(although that's just a casual observation).

What I have noticed is that it happens if I click "Find Next" too quickly.
I have to pause a second or two between each click, otherwise it hangs and I
get the same behavior described by Carla. It's as if Word doesn't capture
that last click, if I give it too many in a row, too quickly.

Not a major issue for me, so I've not reported it before, but I have
definitely noticed it. I will investigate further the next time it happens.

Rick

--

Please respond only to the newsgroup to preserve the thread.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]