Why does text dissappear when I hit the wrong keys?

[Waxapple51]

When I am typing in this version of Office - (word, email or on the net) if I
hit the wrong keys in error my page dissapears, text dissapears, or text
indents suddenly. Why does this happen? It is really annoying and I have to
start my message again, undo or backspace to allign the text back to where
it was. We all make mistakes when typing so this must happen to others not
just myself?
Can anyone out there answer my question...is it something to do with how
text is auto-formatted if there is such a thing????

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You don't say what "this version" of Office is, and I won't try to guess, so
I'll just give general clues. If text is selected when you type (assuming
that "Typing replaces selection" is enabled in Word's Options), the text you
type will replace the selected text. If you happen to have inadvertently
pressed Ctrl+A before typing, then you will have selected the entire
document, and whatever you type will replace all of it. This can be reversed
with Undo (Ctrl+Z).

If you have enabled Overtype mode (by inadvertently hitting the Insert key
when reaching for Backspace or Delete or Home), then text you type will
replace existing text letter for letter. You can change this by pressing
Insert again, double-clicking Overtype on the status bar, or changing the
option in Word's Options.

Pressing Ctrl+M will indent text; Ctrl+T will cause a hanging indent. If you
have the relevant option enabled, pressing Tab will indent text and
Backspace or Shift+Tab will unindent it. You can also promote or demote
outline levels using Alt+Shift+Left/Right Arrow.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Terry Farrell]

To emphasis one of Suzanne's clues: Undo (Ctrl+Z) should be your best friend
when something untoward happens like that. If you click on the Undo arrow,
it may also point to what you have inadvertently typed.

 

[Jay Freedman]

The following reply was posted by MVP Suzanne S. Barnhill through the NNTP
newsgroup, which is currently not connected to the Web interface.

~~~~~~~~~
You don't say what "this version" of Office is, and I won't try to guess, so
I'll just give general clues. If text is selected when you type (assuming
that "Typing replaces selection" is enabled in Word's Options), the text you
type will replace the selected text. If you happen to have inadvertently
pressed Ctrl+A before typing, then you will have selected the entire
document, and whatever you type will replace all of it. This can be reversed
with Undo (Ctrl+Z).

If you have enabled Overtype mode (by inadvertently hitting the Insert key
when reaching for Backspace or Delete or Home), then text you type will
replace existing text letter for letter. You can change this by pressing
Insert again, double-clicking Overtype on the status bar, or changing the
option in Word's Options.

Pressing Ctrl+M will indent text; Ctrl+T will cause a hanging indent. If you
have the relevant option enabled, pressing Tab will indent text and
Backspace or Shift+Tab will unindent it. You can also promote or demote
outline levels using Alt+Shift+Left/Right Arrow.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org~~~~~~~