tool bar ScreenTips not working

[Richard Alvarez]

"ScreenTips" suddenly stopped working on the tool bars in my
Microsoft Office programs. Screen tips, or equivalent, work on the
tool bars in non-Office programs: Microsoft Explorer, Word Pad, Adobe
Reader 6.0, Autodesk AutoCAD LT 2004, VanDyke SecureCRT 4.1, National
Geographic TOPO (maps).

I have tried to turn the ScreenTips on by using the menu sequence
Tools > Customize > Options > Show ScreenTips on toolbars (turn on) >
Close. (In Microsoft Publisher, it is accessed through the View
Menu.) I have done that in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and
Microsoft Publisher; they all have ScreenTips turned on.

In another computer that supposedly is identical to mine in
hardware and software, I can turn ScreenTips on and off by using the
above-mentioned menu sequence.

Both computers are Compaq Evo, running Windows XP Professional,
both with Microsoft Office XP SBE, all bought new from a
Hewlett-Packard dealer in early 2003. I have installed Microsoft
Windows Service Pack 2 on both computers.

What am I doing wrong?

Dick Alvarez
alvarez at alumni dot caltech dot edu

 

[Richard Alvarez]

Problem solved! At least partially. This information may help
somebody else with the same problem.

"ScreenTips" suddenly stopped working on the tool bars in my
Microsoft Office programs. Screen tips, or equivalent, worked on the
tool bars in non-Office programs: Microsoft Explorer, Word Pad, Adobe
Reader 6.0, Autodesk AutoCAD LT 2004, VanDyke SecureCRT 4.1, National
Geographic TOPO (maps).

I tried to turn the ScreenTips on by using the menu sequence Tools

Customize > Options > Show ScreenTips on toolbars (turn on) >

Close. (In Microsoft Publisher, it is accessed through the View
Menu.) I did that in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft
Publisher; they all had ScreenTips turned on.

In another computer that supposedly is identical to mine in
hardware and software, I could turn ScreenTips on and off by using
the above-mentioned menu sequence.

Both computers are running Windows XP Professional, both with
Microsoft Office XP SBE, all bought new at the same time. I had
installed Microsoft Windows Service Pack 2 on both computers.

A friend, a bright guy who majored in computer science, noticed
that my cursor was the Windows thin cross, rather than the usual
Windows arrow that slopes up and to the left. I had selected the
thin cross from the choices offered through the Windows "Control
Panel". When I selected a thicker cross (again from the choices
offered through the Windows "Control Panel"), ToolTips worked. It
looks as if Microsoft Office applications ToolTips software does not
recognize the Windows thin cross.

On the other computer, the one where ScreenTips still worked, the
cursor had not been changed.

Dick Alvarez
alvarez at alumni dot caltech dot edu