In Jaguar 10.2 Classic, Command key fails in MS Word 5

[John Hupp]

Under Jaguar 10.2 fully updated, MS Word 5.0 seems to run just fine in
Classic mode except that the Command key options don't work. We first
noticed it trying to enter Typesetting special characters with
Command+Option+\ but now notice that even general-duty commands like
Command+Q and Command+W don't work.

Other Classic apps (Quicken and Pagemaker) do not have this problem. So it
seems to be a problem with Word or between Word and Classic.

Anyone have some ideas about this problem?

This is on an iMac G3 slot-loader with 256MB, all recently set up from
scratch, on which everything seems to be normal except for this problem.

--John Hupp

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello John,

I've looked up my notes on Word 5.1a but can't come up with an answer. I
must admit I don't have a good memory for detail more than a year or so
back, so trying to recall something relevant is beyond me -- except to say
that I *definitely* never heard of loss of Command-key functionality in Word
5.1a. I never used Classic, though; I just waited till OS X had shaken down
adequately (Jaguar, in my case) and went across cold turkey -- and from Word
2001 to 2004 at the same time.

That all amounts to no real help at all, I'm afraid. I *hope* someone can
help, but there are not a great many hardy souls still using Word 5 on
Classic or otherwise, hence not much information for troubleshooting.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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[CyberTaz]

Like Clive, my exposure is very limited on that combination & is so far in
the past that I can't offer much either. The one thing I do see in your post
which I would first address is the lack of RAM - 256 MB is seriously
inadequate for running Office within Classic within OS X - especialy so if
there are more than one program running at the same time. What you describe
is symptomatic of memory shortage so for overall performance I'd strongly
recommend boosting up to 512 MB as an absolute minimum - 1 GB would be even
better. I can't guarantee that will resolve the problem, but I believe it
might - and will help avert others which will eventually surface.

 

[John Hupp]

I solved the problem by copying an installation of Word 5.1 to the machine.
It's probably the case that Word 5.0 just doesn't support the Command key
under Classic, but the problem may also have been due to the fact that the
Word 5.0 installation was a copy of a copy.