Outlook 2007: Ctrl+Backspace spits out squares rather than deletes words

[Jon Davis]

I noticed this in the beta release but shrugged it off as a beta bug. I see
now that I should have reported it as a bug because it seems to have been
rolled out in the RTM release.

I have gotten into the habit of hitting Ctrl+Backspace to undo entire words
of recently typed text. This is a great time saver. Unfortunately, in
Outlook 2007, I am seeing the e-mail editor spit out squares (i.e. valueless
Unicode character blocks). It's erratic; I can hold Ctrl down and keep
hitting Backspace and it might create two squares, maybe five squares, maybe
one, before it will finally "catch on" and start deleting words (squares
first) preceding the caret.

This is a nuisance and being as I have to deal with it in pretty much every
e-mail I send it is most certainly not acceptable as quality assured for
being a gold release.

Jon

 

[Patrick Schmid [MVP]]

I looked at the keyboard shortcuts for Outlook 2007, and it lists
ALT+Backspace. Have you tried that?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

 

[Jon Davis]

I don't know what Alt+BS does, but it doesn't do what Ctrl+BS does
(universally, which is delete the word preceding the caret). I just tried
putting junk in an e-mail and putting the caret in the middle and hit Alt+BS
and it seemed to do an undo or something, as the caret found itself at the
end of the text.

Jon

I looked at the keyboard shortcuts for Outlook 2007, and it lists
ALT+Backspace. Have you tried that?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

I noticed this in the beta release but shrugged it off as a beta bug. I
see
now that I should have reported it as a bug because it seems to have been
rolled out in the RTM release.

I have gotten into the habit of hitting Ctrl+Backspace to undo entire
words
of recently typed text. This is a great time saver. Unfortunately, in
Outlook 2007, I am seeing the e-mail editor spit out squares (i.e.
valueless
Unicode character blocks). It's erratic; I can hold Ctrl down and keep
hitting Backspace and it might create two squares, maybe five squares,
maybe
one, before it will finally "catch on" and start deleting words (squares
first) preceding the caret.

This is a nuisance and being as I have to deal with it in pretty much
every
e-mail I send it is most certainly not acceptable as quality assured for
being a gold release.

Jon

 

[Patrick Schmid [MVP]]

Alt+BS is Undo. You had said in your previous post Undo not Delete.
If I use Ctrl-Backspace here, it does what you described. It deletes the
word to the left of the caret. I'd suggest that you close Outlook, and
rename your NormalEmail.dotm file. Outlook will create a new one when
you reopen it and that might take care of your problem.

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

I don't know what Alt+BS does, but it doesn't do what Ctrl+BS does
(universally, which is delete the word preceding the caret). I just tried
putting junk in an e-mail and putting the caret in the middle and hit Alt+BS
and it seemed to do an undo or something, as the caret found itself at the
end of the text.

Jon

I looked at the keyboard shortcuts for Outlook 2007, and it lists
ALT+Backspace. Have you tried that?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

I noticed this in the beta release but shrugged it off as a beta bug. I
see
now that I should have reported it as a bug because it seems to have been
rolled out in the RTM release.

I have gotten into the habit of hitting Ctrl+Backspace to undo entire
words
of recently typed text. This is a great time saver. Unfortunately, in
Outlook 2007, I am seeing the e-mail editor spit out squares (i.e.
valueless
Unicode character blocks). It's erratic; I can hold Ctrl down and keep
hitting Backspace and it might create two squares, maybe five squares,
maybe
one, before it will finally "catch on" and start deleting words (squares
first) preceding the caret.

This is a nuisance and being as I have to deal with it in pretty much
every
e-mail I send it is most certainly not acceptable as quality assured for
being a gold release.

Jon

 

[Jon Davis]

I'd suggest that you close Outlook, and rename your NormalEmail.dotm file.

Outlook will create a new one when you reopen it and that might take care
of your problem.

Thanks for the advice. That seems to have fixed it!!

Jon

 

[Jon Davis]

This is an old thread but I never followed up to say that I was mistaken and
did NOT fix it. The symptom was revealed immediately after my last reply.

I now have another computer on which Office 2007 is installed (it never saw
the beta version) and it has the same symptom.... Ctrl+Backspace puts out
squares half the time.

Jon

 

[Patrick Schmid [MVP]]

What Windows are you using?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In: http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

 

[Jon Davis]

Experiencing the same symtom on three systems.

One system is Windows XP SP2.
One system is Windows Server 2003.
One system is Windows Vista RTM.

And I don't have the symptom in any app except Outlook 2007.

Jon

What Windows are you using?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In: http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

This is an old thread but I never followed up to say that I was mistaken
and
did NOT fix it. The symptom was revealed immediately after my last reply.

I now have another computer on which Office 2007 is installed (it never
saw
the beta version) and it has the same symptom.... Ctrl+Backspace puts out
squares half the time.

Jon

 

[Jon Davis]

I take that back, in a quick test I was unable to reproduce it with Outlook
2007 running on Vista RTM.

Jon

Experiencing the same symtom on three systems.

One system is Windows XP SP2.
One system is Windows Server 2003.
One system is Windows Vista RTM.

And I don't have the symptom in any app except Outlook 2007.

Jon

What Windows are you using?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In: http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

This is an old thread but I never followed up to say that I was mistaken
and
did NOT fix it. The symptom was revealed immediately after my last
reply.

I now have another computer on which Office 2007 is installed (it never
saw
the beta version) and it has the same symptom.... Ctrl+Backspace puts
out
squares half the time.

Jon

I'd suggest that you close Outlook, and rename your NormalEmail.dotm
file. Outlook will create a new one when you reopen it and that might
take care of your problem.

Thanks for the advice. That seems to have fixed it!!

Jon

 

[Patrick Schmid [MVP]]

All of them are clean installs? Are some updates?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In: http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

I take that back, in a quick test I was unable to reproduce it with Outlook
2007 running on Vista RTM.

Jon

Experiencing the same symtom on three systems.

One system is Windows XP SP2.
One system is Windows Server 2003.
One system is Windows Vista RTM.

And I don't have the symptom in any app except Outlook 2007.

Jon

What Windows are you using?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In: http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed


This is an old thread but I never followed up to say that I was mistaken
and
did NOT fix it. The symptom was revealed immediately after my last
reply.

I now have another computer on which Office 2007 is installed (it never
saw
the beta version) and it has the same symptom.... Ctrl+Backspace puts
out
squares half the time.

Jon

I'd suggest that you close Outlook, and rename your NormalEmail.dotm
file. Outlook will create a new one when you reopen it and that might
take care of your problem.

Thanks for the advice. That seems to have fixed it!!

Jon

 

[Jon Davis]

All upgraded from Outlook 2003.

Jon

All of them are clean installs? Are some updates?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In: http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

I take that back, in a quick test I was unable to reproduce it with
Outlook
2007 running on Vista RTM.

Jon

Experiencing the same symtom on three systems.

One system is Windows XP SP2.
One system is Windows Server 2003.
One system is Windows Vista RTM.

And I don't have the symptom in any app except Outlook 2007.

Jon


What Windows are you using?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In:
http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed


This is an old thread but I never followed up to say that I was
mistaken
and
did NOT fix it. The symptom was revealed immediately after my last
reply.

I now have another computer on which Office 2007 is installed (it
never
saw
the beta version) and it has the same symptom.... Ctrl+Backspace puts
out
squares half the time.

Jon

I'd suggest that you close Outlook, and rename your
NormalEmail.dotm
file. Outlook will create a new one when you reopen it and that
might
take care of your problem.

Thanks for the advice. That seems to have fixed it!!

Jon

 

[Patrick Schmid [MVP]]

What font are you writing your emails in?
When you delete NormalEmail.dotm (and make sure there is no Normal.dot
in the same folder), how long does it take before it starts misbehaving
again?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In: http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

All upgraded from Outlook 2003.

Jon

All of them are clean installs? Are some updates?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In: http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

I take that back, in a quick test I was unable to reproduce it with
Outlook
2007 running on Vista RTM.

Jon


Experiencing the same symtom on three systems.

One system is Windows XP SP2.
One system is Windows Server 2003.
One system is Windows Vista RTM.

And I don't have the symptom in any app except Outlook 2007.

Jon


What Windows are you using?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In:
http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed


This is an old thread but I never followed up to say that I was
mistaken
and
did NOT fix it. The symptom was revealed immediately after my last
reply.

I now have another computer on which Office 2007 is installed (it
never
saw
the beta version) and it has the same symptom.... Ctrl+Backspace puts
out
squares half the time.

Jon

I'd suggest that you close Outlook, and rename your
NormalEmail.dotm
file. Outlook will create a new one when you reopen it and that
might
take care of your problem.

Thanks for the advice. That seems to have fixed it!!

Jon

 

[Jon Davis]

What font are you writing your emails in?

The default (Calibri). I'm not sure what difference that makes; fonts affect
appearance, and cannot be tied to deletion-related keystroke behavior.

When you delete NormalEmail.dotm (and make sure there is no Normal.dot in
the same folder), how long does it take before it starts misbehaving
again?

Immediately.

Jon

 

[Patrick Schmid [MVP]]

So you delete it and when you open Outlook after deleting it, it still
doesn't work?

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In: http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed

 

[Jon Davis]

So you delete it and when you open Outlook after deleting it, it still

doesn't work?

Correct! Deleting all templates found with "normal" in the filename while
Outlook and Word were closed had no effect, I was immediately able to
reproduce the problem as soon as I loaded Outlook.

I think we're beating the wrong bush.

Jon