Why cannot I find the Symbol dialog box in the Insert menu?

[HD]

I'm a new Word user. I tried the combination of keys: Alt+Ctrl+- to see what
happened. Then I tried to use the Symbol dialog box in the Insert menu.
Somehow it's gone!!! I cannot find it anymore although I tried to restart
Word, even my computer!!!

 

[Charles Kenyon]

You magically found the kill command switch!
See http://addbalance.com/word/workmenu.htm for more about this key
combination which will remove any command from any menu.

Tools > Customize
Pick Insert in the left window (under the commands tab) and the Symbol in
the right window.
Drag that command to your Insert menu and put it where you want it.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
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[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Charles has told you how to restore the command; I will tell you how you
most likely lost it:

1. You wanted to insert an em dash. The keyboard shortcut for that is
Alt+Ctrl+Num- (that is, the minus key on the numeric keypad).

2. Instead, you pressed Alt+Ctrl+Hyphen, which is the shortcut for
ToolsCustomizeRemoveMenuShortcut.

3. You didn't notice that the mouse pointer had changed to a big minus sign,
but you didn't get an em dash and thought nothing had happened.

4. So you thought you'd insert the em dash from the Symbol dialog and
clicked on Symbol on the Insert menu.

5. What you didn't realize is that the function of
ToolsCustomizeRemoveMenuShortcut is to remove any menu item you click on.
This is handy for removing unneeded files from the Work menu or deleted
files from the MRU list at the bottom of the file menu (or any other
unwanted menu item) but disastrous if you're trying to actually *use* a menu
command.

If this ever happens to you again, be aware that you can dismiss the command
with ESC.