Space Bar Not Working in Word

[erugalatha]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I installed the latest update of Office 2008 on mac a few weeks ago.

I tried to use word today but the space bar will not work in Word. It works fine in all other applications.

How do I fix this ridiculous situation?

 

[CyberTaz]

Although I understand why you might think differently there is no control
within Word to turn the Spacebar - or any other keys - on/off. For some
reason the OS is not responding as it should when the spacebar is pressed.

Did the spacebar work prior to now after applying the update (I assume you
mean the 12.1.7 update released 14 April)? Did you Repair Disk Permissions
after applying the update? Have you tried restarting your Mac? Is OS X fully
updated (10.5.6)?

If the problem persists after confirming those points reply for other
suggestions.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[erugalatha]

Hi CyberTaz,

Yup the spacebar worked fine in Word before the update to 12.1.7. It works fine in all other apps (I'm using it in firefox to write this). I repaired disk permissions - no joy. I restarted the mac - no joy. OS X is fully up-to-date.

I'm stumped.

 

[John McGhie]

The space bar is a key, like any other key on the keyboard. It changes the
voltage on a wire. OS X interprets that as a number, which the software
uses to trigger actions.

I need to understand what you expected the space-bar to "do". I am not
trying to wind you up, here: I just need an exacting description of what you
are doing and what you expected.

Because I suspect the space bar is working, but something you don't expect
is happening. It may simply be that you are running Spaces, and the
insertion point is not in the document, even though it looks as if it is.

Cheers

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I installed the latest update of Office 2008 on mac a few weeks ago.

I tried to use word today but the space bar will not work in Word. It works
fine in all other applications.

How do I fix this ridiculous situation?

--
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, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Thanks for the add'l info, but the question that remains unanswered is
whether the spacebar ever worked properly in Word *after* applying 12.1.7 -
I'm sure it must have worked before that or we'd have heard from you much
sooner

1- Launch Word while holding the Shift key.

2- Run Word from a new/different User Account.

3- Log in to your current account while holding the Shift key

Reply with the results of each of those actions.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[erugalatha]

Hi All,

Thanks for replying.

@John McGhie I expected pushing the spacebar to insert a space between 2 words. So I clicked with the mouse between those 2 words and pressed the spacebar but no space was inserted. I am not winding you up either.

@CyberTaz

I didn't try using Word straight after installing the update ... first time I used it was May 10th but I installed the update 2 weeks before. I did run the repair disk permissions since then though

1- I tried launching with the shift key but all i noticed differently was a nice slow-motion animation of the Word icon. Spacebar still no-worky in Word.

2- I didn't try this yet.

3- Didn't try this either yet.

To solve the problem I fired up a Windows Virtual Machine and used Word in there. I cannot be wasting any more time on software like this where simple things like this don't work. I'll be asking Apple for a refund. After paying 99 bucks for it it should just work.

Thanks for your help.
Joe

 

[Clive Huggan]

Also, make non-printing characters visible if they are not already (key
Command-8 to do so). Is there a [squashed-up, if it's there] dot indicating
that the space exists but is tiny?

(The above is a long shot, admittedly.)

Clive Huggan
============

 

[John McGhie]

Seriously: I am not splitting hairs here, I am trying to find the problem
for you...

"No space was inserted" or "no space APPEARS"?

To test this, set the font to 24 points Courier, so you can see what you are
doing, then turn on your Show/Hide button so each space appears as a small
dot.

There are various ways you can set your formatting that make spacing very
difficult to see.

However, there is nothing in Word that will intercept the space bar and do
anything other than insert a space.

This means that either the space is there and we can't see it, or something
outside of Word is intercepting the command from the spacebar before Word
gets it. That's what Bob is looking for, also.

There are several "utilities", "helpers" or "haxies" that offer to add
functions to applications: for example TypeItForMe. Such applications do
intercept the keystrokes on the way to certain applications. They often
need updating when you update the OS, otherwise they do strange things.

Needless to say, Word 2008 is working fine here, as it is in most places. I
think yours is the first report we have seen of this specific problem, so
we'll be very interested to hear what is causing it.

And if you paid only $99 for a $500 product, you should congratulate
yourself: you got a VERY good deal

Cheers

Hi All,

Thanks for replying.

@John McGhie I expected pushing the spacebar to insert a space between 2
words. So I clicked with the mouse between those 2 words and pressed the
spacebar but no space was inserted. I am not winding you up either.

@CyberTaz

I didn't try using Word straight after installing the update ... first time I
used it was May 10th but I installed the update 2 weeks before. I did run the
repair disk permissions since then though

1- I tried launching with the shift key but all i noticed differently was a
nice slow-motion animation of the Word icon. Spacebar still no-worky in Word.

2- I didn't try this yet.

3- Didn't try this either yet.

To solve the problem I fired up a Windows Virtual Machine and used Word in
there. I cannot be wasting any more time on software like this where simple
things like this don't work. I'll be asking Apple for a refund. After paying
99 bucks for it it should just work.

Thanks for your help.
Joe

--
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, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]