Look and feel of all Office apps suddenly changed - how to fix?

[Robert Finnel]

I had the same problem with dual monitors. I went into device manager and
deleted my monitors and something under "display adapters" with "SMS ... " in
it. I left only my actual display adapters.

When I rebooted, the monitors were reinstalled, the "SMS..." display adapter
was gone, and I had my 3-d look and feel back.

 

[Robert Finnel]

I had the same problem with dual monitors. I went into device manager and
deleted my monitors and something under "display adapters" with "SMS ... " in
it. I left only my actual display adapters.

When I rebooted, the monitors were reinstalled, the "SMS..." display adapter
was gone, and I had my 3-d look and feel back.

 

[Robert Finnel]

I had the same problem with dual monitors. I went into device manager and
deleted my monitors and something under "display adapters" with "SMS ... " in
it. I left only my actual display adapters.

When I rebooted, the monitors were reinstalled, the "SMS..." display adapter
was gone, and I had my 3-d look and feel back.

 

[Rob Bell]

I have the same problem. It happened suddenly after my IT guy upgraded Symantec Antivirus on my machine.

I have a dual monitor setup, and found out that if I disable the 2nd monitor (extend windows desktop...) in the display settings, the 3-D look and feel returns.

The instant I re-enable the 2nd monitor by checking the "extend windows desktop..." box, the currently running office applications immediately revert to the ancient looking 2-D look and feel.

Color depth is 32 bits on both monitors, and I have tried all sorts of combinations of resolutions and color depths to no avail. I also can't find any resolutions at microsoft.com or in any groups.

So we're in the same boat. Let me know if you have any luck!

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

Mine finally reverted back to working correctly again. Like you, I
found that the problem occurred when both external monitors were
activated (by using the 'extend my desktop to this monitor' option in
Display Properties) and went away when I unchecked that option. I
played with about every display, monitor, desktop, theme, and appearance
property you can think of and nothing seemed to fix the issue. However,
about 10 minutes after the last bout of messing with things it just
suddenly was working fine again and has been every since. I think
Robert's idea of deleting the monitors and rebooting so they get
re-added is probably your best bet. There has to be some 'extended
desktop' setting or flag somewhere that Office is picking up on that
makes it revert to 2D look & feel.

Rob

 

[Rob Bell]

I have the same problem. It happened suddenly after my IT guy upgraded Symantec Antivirus on my machine.

I have a dual monitor setup, and found out that if I disable the 2nd monitor (extend windows desktop...) in the display settings, the 3-D look and feel returns.

The instant I re-enable the 2nd monitor by checking the "extend windows desktop..." box, the currently running office applications immediately revert to the ancient looking 2-D look and feel.

Color depth is 32 bits on both monitors, and I have tried all sorts of combinations of resolutions and color depths to no avail. I also can't find any resolutions at microsoft.com or in any groups.

So we're in the same boat. Let me know if you have any luck!

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

Mine finally reverted back to working correctly again. Like you, I
found that the problem occurred when both external monitors were
activated (by using the 'extend my desktop to this monitor' option in
Display Properties) and went away when I unchecked that option. I
played with about every display, monitor, desktop, theme, and appearance
property you can think of and nothing seemed to fix the issue. However,
about 10 minutes after the last bout of messing with things it just
suddenly was working fine again and has been every since. I think
Robert's idea of deleting the monitors and rebooting so they get
re-added is probably your best bet. There has to be some 'extended
desktop' setting or flag somewhere that Office is picking up on that
makes it revert to 2D look & feel.

Rob

 

[Rob Bell]

I have the same problem. It happened suddenly after my IT guy upgraded Symantec Antivirus on my machine.

I have a dual monitor setup, and found out that if I disable the 2nd monitor (extend windows desktop...) in the display settings, the 3-D look and feel returns.

The instant I re-enable the 2nd monitor by checking the "extend windows desktop..." box, the currently running office applications immediately revert to the ancient looking 2-D look and feel.

Color depth is 32 bits on both monitors, and I have tried all sorts of combinations of resolutions and color depths to no avail. I also can't find any resolutions at microsoft.com or in any groups.

So we're in the same boat. Let me know if you have any luck!

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

Mine finally reverted back to working correctly again. Like you, I
found that the problem occurred when both external monitors were
activated (by using the 'extend my desktop to this monitor' option in
Display Properties) and went away when I unchecked that option. I
played with about every display, monitor, desktop, theme, and appearance
property you can think of and nothing seemed to fix the issue. However,
about 10 minutes after the last bout of messing with things it just
suddenly was working fine again and has been every since. I think
Robert's idea of deleting the monitors and rebooting so they get
re-added is probably your best bet. There has to be some 'extended
desktop' setting or flag somewhere that Office is picking up on that
makes it revert to 2D look & feel.

Rob