Keys don't work sometimes

[Frank Rizzo]

I am using Outlook 2007, which (I am told) is using Word 2007 for its
Compose Email window.

I compose messages in HTML format. Sometimes, in the Compose window,
when I try to do Ctrl + Left Arrow to jump to the previous word, nothing
happens. I have to press Ctrl + Left Arrow several times for the editor
to actually respond.

Is this a problem anyone has seen? I've tried the Outlook NG, but they
sent me here.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

I do sometimes encounter the behavior you're talking about. In my case, I've
traced it to the IntelliPoint 6.x mouse drivers, and the 5-button mouse
whose buttons I have reassigned. Sometimes, when I press a button that is
mapped to Alt+some keystroke, the system suddenly thinks that the Alt key is
being pressed all the time. This then affects keystrokes, as well. If I tap
and release the Alt key, that clears the state, and keystrokes start working
correctly again.

It was really puzzling for the longest time, since I never connected the
mouse behavior to that of the keyboard.

So, my suggestion would be to try tapping and releasing the Alt key (perhaps
the Shift and Ctrl keys as well) the next time it happens to see if that
clears the problem.

 

[Terry Farrell]

To add to Herb's reply, please note that Outlook 2007 does NOT use Word as
its email editor. It now uses its own editor which mimics Word 2007 in many
ways but runs in its own dll. Any changes made to Word's options are not
conveyed to the Outlook editor: you need to set up the options for Outlook
separately.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Right--and I should have corrected the misstatement... Even so, however,
Ctrl+Left arrow should skip to the previous word not only in Outlook and
Word, but in just about every Windows application that displays text. So, if
it's not happening, then something is interfering with the keystrokes.

 

[Terry Farrell]

No disagreement on that part. I was just clarifying things <g>

Terry

Right--and I should have corrected the misstatement... Even so, however,
Ctrl+Left arrow should skip to the previous word not only in Outlook and
Word, but in just about every Windows application that displays text. So,
if it's not happening, then something is interfering with the keystrokes.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[Frank Rizzo]

Ok, so where do I go from here?

My mouse is a simple MS wheel mouse optical USB and does not have any
side buttons or anything.

I don't have any mouse utilities and there are no Intellimouse drivers
on the system other than what came with XP.

All the other applications work fine, including Word.
The problem only occurs in Outlook.

So given that Outlook uses its own editor, I guess the problem is there?

Regards

 

[Terry Farrell]

You could try renaming email.dot to email.bad and let it recreate a new one.
(Also delete any temp or abandoned versions of the email.dot at the same
time).

Terry

 

[Frank Rizzo]

You could try renaming email.dot to email.bad and let it recreate a new
one. (Also delete any temp or abandoned versions of the email.dot at
the same time).

I don't have an email.dot file. Anywhere.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Reasonable enough, since the email template is evidently part of the
executable itself.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

When I get an odd glitch like that, my next step is to try to isolate it as
a settings issue, if that can be done. The best way to do that would be to
create a new Windows user, and see if the new "user" experiences the
identical problem.

The thing is... however, that you've indicated that the problem is
intermittent... and that even when it happens, you can often get the
keyboard to respond after several attempts. It's almost as if there were a
keystroke monitor that's "watching" what you're doing, and sometimes
absorbing the keystrokes rather than passing them along.

Have you ruled out viruses/malware/spyware?

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Frank,

For Office 2007, the default template Outlook 2007 uses when composing email messages is named NormalEmail.dotm, although Email.dot
would usually be there as well.

============

I don't have an email.dot file. Anywhere. >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Beth Melton]

I believe it should be NormalEmail.dotm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx

 

[Terry Farrell]

Actually, it is NormalEmail.dotx for OL 2007 and it resides alongside Word's
normal.dotx in Username, AppData, Roaming, Microsoft, Templates folder.

Terry

 

[Terry Farrell]

Yep, I corrected myself but somehow it never went until I logged back in
this morning. Bizarre!

Terry

 

[Frank Rizzo]

I deleted the file, then restarted Outlook and the results so far are
encouraging. Haven't encountered the issue in 5 minutes of use.