Jumping Cursor

M

Michael Jardine

After I write more than one or two lines in World 2008, the cursor jumps up
or down to the line above or below. However, when I insert text, the point
of inserting remains the same (the current line). This is extremely
confusing. Has anyone else had this problem? I can post a screen capture if
anyone is interested.

Sometimes, hitting "page down" then "page up" re-sets the view, until I
start typing again.

I'm not sure if it's because I am using an external monitor, but I've never
never had this problem before.

MacBook Pro, Leopard 10.5.2, Dell 1680x1050 monitor.
 
J

John McGhie

Hi Michael:

Ah hah! Yes, I have that problem! The solution is obvious, if not easy ---
lose weight! :)

In my case, it is caused by typing with the laptop on my lap. As I lean
forward to concentrate, the proceeds of a vigorously miss-spent youth tend
to land on the touch-pad, causing the cursor to develop a mind of its own...
:)

Attaching a mouse and enabling "Ignore the touch-pad when a mouse is
connected" in System Preferences may be an easier and quicker fix :)

If it's not that, you are getting "display fragmentation" which appears to
be a bug in some of the graphics drivers under OS 10.5. I don't get that
here because I have not gone up from OS 10.4.

Generally the cure is, as you have found, to page the display and force a
re-draw. Usually, paging "back" two then forward will fix it quicker. You
have to page out the current screen buffer to force word to redraw the
display. Word holds more text "below" the insertion point than "above" so
paging back means you have to go a shorter distance to force a redraw.

Hopefully this bug will be fixed by Apple one of these days with a new
display driver.

Hope this helps


After I write more than one or two lines in World 2008, the cursor jumps up
or down to the line above or below. However, when I insert text, the point
of inserting remains the same (the current line). This is extremely
confusing. Has anyone else had this problem? I can post a screen capture if
anyone is interested.

Sometimes, hitting "page down" then "page up" re-sets the view, until I
start typing again.

I'm not sure if it's because I am using an external monitor, but I've never
never had this problem before.

MacBook Pro, Leopard 10.5.2, Dell 1680x1050 monitor.
Click to expand...

--
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

Michael Jardine

Thanks, John. The issue is display fragmentation and I don't believe it's an
issue with Leopard because (a) I don't have the same problem with Word 2004,
and (b) I don't' have the same problem with any other program using Leopard.
So that seems to point the finger at Word 2008.

Regards,
Michael
 
P

Phillip Jones

John said:
Hi Michael:

Ah hah! Yes, I have that problem! The solution is obvious, if not easy ---
lose weight! :)

In my case, it is caused by typing with the laptop on my lap. As I lean
forward to concentrate, the proceeds of a vigorously miss-spent youth tend
to land on the touch-pad, causing the cursor to develop a mind of its own...
:)
Click to expand...
AKA: "beer gut" ;-)
Attaching a mouse and enabling "Ignore the touch-pad when a mouse is
connected" in System Preferences may be an easier and quicker fix :)

If it's not that, you are getting "display fragmentation" which appears to
be a bug in some of the graphics drivers under OS 10.5. I don't get that
here because I have not gone up from OS 10.4.

Generally the cure is, as you have found, to page the display and force a
re-draw. Usually, paging "back" two then forward will fix it quicker. You
have to page out the current screen buffer to force word to redraw the
display. Word holds more text "below" the insertion point than "above" so
paging back means you have to go a shorter distance to force a redraw.

Hopefully this bug will be fixed by Apple one of these days with a new
display driver.

Hope this helps
Click to expand...

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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"!

mailto:p[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>
 
J

John McGhie

Hi Michael:

Yeah, it affects a few users. We have sporadic reports of it in here.

Seems to be specific versions of OS 10.5, using specific graphics cards, and
specific hardware combinations.

It's not common. As you say, it appears only in Word 2008, and usually only
when it is working hard. Word pushes the graphics hardware harder than many
other applications. PC Word does it too, and has been doing so since at
least 1992! One solution there was to change the colour depth of the
display to something "else", either higher or lower, it didn't seem to
matter much. PC Word still does it occasionally: I suspect a timing issue.

Chances are it will go away with the next update. The work-around you have
discovered is the only solution we have so far. If you find a different
one, please post it.

Cheers


Is nobody else having this problem?
Click to expand...

--
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]
 
P

Phillip Jones

I haven't seen the problem. But then I use OSX.3.9 with Office2004 on my
Desktop unit. And Not on 2004 or 2008 using my laptop using OSX.4.11.

OSX.5.x has had so many problems that I am waiting for at least 5.4 or 5
before I entertain the thought of installing on my Laptop, which can
handle it my desktop unit can not.

Michael said:
Is nobody else having this problem?
Click to expand...

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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"!

mailto:p[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>
 
M

Michael Jardine

I'm confused. Why would it be an OSX.5 issue if it only occurs on Word2008?
There's no cursor issue with other typing programs such as Pages, Textedit,
Entourage, Mail, etc.
 
M

Michael Jardine

Thanks, will do.

Hi Michael:

Yeah, it affects a few users. We have sporadic reports of it in here.

Seems to be specific versions of OS 10.5, using specific graphics cards, and
specific hardware combinations.

It's not common. As you say, it appears only in Word 2008, and usually only
when it is working hard. Word pushes the graphics hardware harder than many
other applications. PC Word does it too, and has been doing so since at
least 1992! One solution there was to change the colour depth of the
display to something "else", either higher or lower, it didn't seem to
matter much. PC Word still does it occasionally: I suspect a timing issue.

Chances are it will go away with the next update. The work-around you have
discovered is the only solution we have so far. If you find a different
one, please post it.

Cheers
Click to expand...
 

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