Tab key not working right in tables

[René Logeais]

Normally, clicking on the tab key in a table causes the cursor to move
from cell to cell, until it creates another row.
Now, for some reason, clicking on the tab key does actually create a tab
(it's not supposed to do that).
To get the tab key working again, I have to quit Word and relaunch it.

Any idea as to why this is happening?

I'm using Word 2004 11.5.5 (090513) on Mac OS 10.5.7.

René

 

[CyberTaz]

Is this happening in one particular document, one specific table within a
certain document, all tables in all documents...???

There is no setting or Preference that controls the behavior of the Tab key
so I'm inclined to think that there could only be a few possibilities:

1- A corrupt table,
2- A corrupt document, or
3- Influence by an outside source, such as a system/keyboard error or a
utility program that alters keystroke assignments.

If you hold the Shift key while you launch Word does the problem persist?

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

 

[René Logeais]

Is this happening in one particular document, one specific table within a
certain document, all tables in all documents...???

There is no setting or Preference that controls the behavior of the Tab key
so I'm inclined to think that there could only be a few possibilities:

1- A corrupt table,
2- A corrupt document, or

No, each time it's happened it was in a file I created myself.

3- Influence by an outside source, such as a system/keyboard error or a
utility program that alters keystroke assignments.

That could be, but I don't see how I could isolate that. Especially
since it's random.

If you hold the Shift key while you launch Word does the problem persist?

It doesn't happen all the time. When it does, I quit Word and launch it
again normally (not pressing any key) and the problem goes away.

I could try from now on to launch Word while pressing the Shif key to
see if the problem recurs.
What exactly is the purpose of holding down the Shift key?