MS Word... Weir Behavior...Please help

[james.ngobui]

Hello Everyone,

I really don't know where I can post this issue so I try to post here,
with my trust in anyone of you to help me out with this weird thing.

I use Microsoft Office 2004 for MAC, Student and Teacher Edition.
Everything is fine until yesterday...my nightmare starts, like this:

1. In MS Word, when I try to put a quotation mark like "this", using
SHFT key, it turned out like <this> (greater and smaller signs) but if
I use the Option + quotation mark, it came out normally. This (the
Option key) I have never ever seen or used before.

2. When I put a question mark like "this?", it automatically added a
space between the word and the question mark like "this ?".

3.The Word kept saying that French proofing is not installed when I do
spelling and grammar check although chose to install everything from
the CD.

I have done a hell thing to repair this issue including Repair
Permission, Completely deleted plist files and reinstall the fresh MS
Office 2004; Using Cocktail to clean my machine, change the Dictionary
to English, Check the keyboard property (I use Swiss keyboard and it's
OK beofre) etc... It doesn't help and I have a ton of project need to
correct and print out...I can't work anymore...and like usually. I have
also updated Office SP2 (come out last week I think) and this also
doesn't help

Could you please, please tell me what's going on with this Office? How
can I fix this issue?

Thank you very much for your time to follow my story...I sincerely
thank a lot in advance for any any instructions from any any body!

Best regards and have a nice day

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hello Everyone,

I really don't know where I can post this issue so I try to post here,
with my trust in anyone of you to help me out with this weird thing.

I use Microsoft Office 2004 for MAC, Student and Teacher Edition.
Everything is fine until yesterday...my nightmare starts, like this:

1. In MS Word, when I try to put a quotation mark like "this", using
SHFT key, it turned out like <this> (greater and smaller signs) but if
I use the Option + quotation mark, it came out normally. This (the
Option key) I have never ever seen or used before.

2. When I put a question mark like "this?", it automatically added a
space between the word and the question mark like "this ?".

That is perfectly normal, actually. Word automatically substitutes your
""-hyphens with «» -hyphens if you have defined your text as French. Select
some text, go to Tools>Language, and see what language is selected. If you
switch from French to English, you'll see the regular ""-hyphenation when
you use the Shift-2 combination (on a Swiss French keyboard, that is). Also,
the automatic spacing after «, before » and ? (and, doubtlessly, other
signs) is also part of the French settings in Word; I suppose it's part of
the French writing convention. Again, switching to another language will
change that behaviour.

3.The Word kept saying that French proofing is not installed when I do
spelling and grammar check although chose to install everything from
the CD.

Maybe this is a problem because some of your text is not defined as French.
Again, select some text, define it as French (Tools>Language), and see if
you still get the same message.

You're also saying that you installed everything from the CD; did you
actually do a custom install? I'm not sure if the French proofing tools are
automatically installed when you do a standard install, since I only use
custom installs.

I have done a hell thing to repair this issue including Repair
Permission, Completely deleted plist files and reinstall the fresh MS
Office 2004; Using Cocktail to clean my machine, change the Dictionary
to English, Check the keyboard property (I use Swiss keyboard and it's
OK beofre) etc... It doesn't help and I have a ton of project need to
correct and print out...I can't work anymore...and like usually. I have
also updated Office SP2 (come out last week I think) and this also
doesn't help

I'm also using a Swiss French keyboard, and everything works fine for me.
Make sure your system is actually set to French Swiss in the keyboard
settings in your System Preferences. Also, it would be interesting to know
what version of Mac OS X you are using, together with your primary language
(I assume it's French?). Also, if happens to be French, how exactly did Word
behave before you experienced these problems? By the way, in order to
completely uninstall Office, you'll need to use the Remove Office tool
(Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Additional Tools/Remove Office),
otherwise, some files will still remain on your hard disk and be reactivated
when you reinstall Office.

Could you please, please tell me what's going on with this Office? How
can I fix this issue?

Hopefully, some of the things I've written will solve your problems. If not,
post back, and give more details (such as the ones I asked in the previous
paragraph). Good luck!

 

[james.ngobui]

Hi Michel,

Thank you very much for your prompt response.

I am using MAC OS Tiger 10.4.2 and Microsoft Office for Mac 2004,
Student and Teacher Edition. I did use remove from Office 2004 to
uninstall it and when I re-install it, I use custom and select all the
languages proofing.

The thing is, right after I type some English word, the compatibility
checking button on the command button bar started flashing, saying that
"...some of your text is French and it is not installed yet...". Also,
I went to Tools>Languages>Select English and set English (US) as
default. After that, Word pops up a Windows to confirm the change that
will affect all "Normal" template afterward. OK, I get back to document
and tried to type some English word and quotation mark...still doesn't
help and the compatibility again kept saying French proofing is not
installed...Jeezzzz!!!! I have no idea of what's going! I did change it
to English so why does this thing still happen?? Before yesterday,
everything just went fine and I did not notice which language is set.
But as soon as I type English, the Word recognized and started checking
and correcting spelling and grammar right away. I also have normal
combination of Shift+2 to get quotation mark and the ? didn'd jump that
far.

My computer primary language is English (in Tiger) and using Swiss
French type of keyboard (showing icon with 2 flags French and Swiss).
Could you give me some more hint? Or I have to reinstall the whole
Tiger???

Finally, I remain, thank you very much for your time and your
instructions I really appreciate that.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi James,

You have to select the text whose language setting you want to change. For
instance, if you want the entire document to be proofed using English (US),
do a Select All and *then* go to Tools> Languages and change the setting.
You'll find much more about proofing tools here:
<http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Spell-Check.htm> (If using Safari, you'll
have to hit Refresh once or twice; it's easier if you use a different
browser.)

If you're still not getting the proper result, you may have a corrupt
document. Turn on Show/Hide formatting and copy all but the very last
paragraph mark in the document and paste it into a fresh, new Word document.
Does that help?

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[Michel Bintener]

James,
you have to realise that when you go to Tools>Language and select English
(US) the way you used to do it (defining it as the standard language), you
may not actually have changed the language of the paragraphs you are working
on. So select the paragraphs and, from the language menu, select English
(US), then OK, but WITHOUT hitting the default button. See if you can now
type regular hyphens.

If that does not work, then this could be a case of a corrupted Normal
template, the template on which every new Word document (unless specified
otherwise), is based. To verify this, remove the file named "Normal" from
~/Documents/Microsoft User Data and place it on the desktop (or any other
folder). Now launch Word; don't worry, if Word can't find a "Normal"
template in the MUD folder, it will automatically create a new one. Now, go
to Tools>Languages, select English (US), and hit the default button. Click
OK when the message shows up, then quit Word. Now launch it again, and start
typing. Did that solve the problem? If it didn't, you can drag your old
Normal template back into the MUD folder, replacing the new one. If it DID
solve the problem, you can delete the old Normal template.

You're saying that you removed Office with the uninstaller; still, just to
be on the safe side, I would suggest to remove Office once more (again, use
the uninstaller provided by Microsoft), and reinstall it; that is, if all of
the above didn't work. Make sure French is selected, and try it again. This
seems unavoidable to me as Office definitely has some problems with the
French proofing tools.

Anyway, I hope you'll manage to get Word back to its former state by any of
the methods mentioned above. If not, post back, and maybe some other user
will be able to help you out. Good luck!

Michel

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Great minds thing alike <bg>.

Beth

James,
you have to realise that when you go to Tools>Language and select English
(US) the way you used to do it (defining it as the standard language), you
may not actually have changed the language of the paragraphs you are working
on. So select the paragraphs and, from the language menu, select English
(US), then OK, but WITHOUT hitting the default button. See if you can now
type regular hyphens.

If that does not work, then this could be a case of a corrupted Normal
template, the template on which every new Word document (unless specified
otherwise), is based. To verify this, remove the file named "Normal" from
~/Documents/Microsoft User Data and place it on the desktop (or any other
folder). Now launch Word; don't worry, if Word can't find a "Normal"
template in the MUD folder, it will automatically create a new one. Now, go
to Tools>Languages, select English (US), and hit the default button. Click
OK when the message shows up, then quit Word. Now launch it again, and start
typing. Did that solve the problem? If it didn't, you can drag your old
Normal template back into the MUD folder, replacing the new one. If it DID
solve the problem, you can delete the old Normal template.

You're saying that you removed Office with the uninstaller; still, just to
be on the safe side, I would suggest to remove Office once more (again, use
the uninstaller provided by Microsoft), and reinstall it; that is, if all of
the above didn't work. Make sure French is selected, and try it again. This
seems unavoidable to me as Office definitely has some problems with the
French proofing tools.

Anyway, I hope you'll manage to get Word back to its former state by any of
the methods mentioned above. If not, post back, and maybe some other user
will be able to help you out. Good luck!

Michel

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Uh ... Make that "think".

Great minds thing alike <bg>.

Beth

 

[james.ngobui]

Hello Michel,

I have tried all of your instruction and suggestions. Unfortunately,
none was working for me. I think my Tiger getting buggy and need to
re-install a fresh new version again. I hope it could solve the
problem.

Just for your information, why the Word did not keep my "default"
setting of Language? I have deleted "normal", create a new one with
English proofing and later, it converted to French again and even then,
it said my French proofing tool was not installed???? I have never had
this problem before...Weird thing!

Anyhow, thank you very much for all of your suggestions. I really
appreciate your time and your efforts. It makes me feel better since I
can share my problem with all of you and I am sorry about that!
Best regards and have a great day!

James

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi James,
sorry to hear your problems are still there. But no matter what, I'm not
giving up yet. First of all, you'll have to understand that language
settings are document-specific. That means that if you set English (US) as
your default language, it will be (or at least should be) the default
language for all your NEW documents based on your default template "Normal".
Your old documents, if they are defined as French, will not change; if you
want to get them back to US English, you'll have to do as Beth and I told
you, i.e. select the paragraphs in question, then go to Tools>Language,
select English (US) and then OK, WITHOUT hitting the default button. See if
that works.

If it doesn't (and I somehow have the feeling that it won't), let's try a
different approach: create a new OS X user account and launch Word (in that
account, that is). Make sure that you define the right language, and start
typing. Does it work now? If so, then there's definitely some corruption
going on, and it might be easier to simply import your old documents into
your new account and use that one from now on. It's not really a solution,
but if it works, it might be an acceptable workaround.

You followed all my instructions; but did you also remove Office once more,
using the uninstaller provided by Microsoft? That should normally have fixed
the French proofing tool problem.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Side note:

Others have run into difficulties when they wanted the default language in
Office to be different from the default language in the OS. Since you are
using a French Swiss keyboard, I assume the OS is set to not-English and I
think Office may be picking up settings from there.

This guy says he has this problem and a fix but I don't really understand
how it's a fix, but it may help.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050204083233639

 

[Klaus Linke]

Yes, Word will take the language from the OS/keyboard in a new doc, no
matter what's defined in the style.
Another way around the problem if you don't want to change the keyboard
language is to open Normal.dot (or whatever template you use for new docs),
type a space in it, and format it in the language you want. Save the
template with that space in it.

Works on a PC, and hopefully on a Mac, too...

Greetings,
Klaus