Word 03 colon comma issue

[Nancy]

I'm having a strange problem. For a few weeks now my Word 2003 will not let
me do an apostrophe and quote. It actually puts them at the bottom and
sideways! Adds a big space on the left side too. I can use them in other
text applications so the problem is specific to my one copy of word. I tried
to past one in but it puts it in correct here. So I'm going to do a screen
shot and link to a photo of it: http://i42.tinypic.com/n2n4sw.jpg It works
on word on my other machines. And I can bring a document over to my main
computer and copy and paste the quotes and they work. Once in a blue moon it
works right but 98% of the time it does as explained above.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Nancy

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Definitely something weird going on, as I don't see sideways characters like
that even in Arial Unicode MS. When you select them, what does the font box
show? If you press Alt+F9 do you see something different?

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

 

[Terry Farrell]

Weird! The only way I know to rotate text like that is in a table - not
freeform text. That it is only in Word makes it weirder.

My first thought is rogue AutoCorrect entries - but as I don't know how to
make smart quotes look change like that, I don't think it can be
AutoCorrect - but check just in case.

I also wonder about the font (as Suzanne suggests). I wonder if you don't
have Arial Unicode MS on the problem computer and there is some unusual font
substitute happening. Or perhaps the font is corrupt. Does it happen if you
select a different font?

It could also be a printer or graphics driver error. Do those quotes still
look like that in Print Preview and do they actually print like that?

 

[Beth Melton]

I'm having a strange problem. For a few weeks now my Word 2003 will not
let
me do an apostrophe and quote. It actually puts them at the bottom and
sideways! Adds a big space on the left side too. I can use them in other
text applications so the problem is specific to my one copy of word. I
tried
to past one in but it puts it in correct here. So I'm going to do a screen
shot and link to a photo of it: http://i42.tinypic.com/n2n4sw.jpg It
works
on word on my other machines. And I can bring a document over to my main
computer and copy and paste the quotes and they work. Once in a blue moon
it
works right but 98% of the time it does as explained above.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

If I'm not mistaken, those fonts with the @ in front of the names are for
left-to-right languages. Change the font to just "Arial Unicode MS" without
the "@" and it should be fine. I can duplicate what you describe if I type
"@Arial Unicode MS" in the font text box.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx

 

[Terry Farrell]

Beth

I totally overlooked the @ in the font name window, which of course it
doesn't have on my system. So I guess the language settings need checking.
Well spotted.

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Yeah, I even asked about the font in use and hadn't noticed that the font
box was included in the screen shot. Beth is good!

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

 

[Beth Melton]

I don't see "@Arial Unicode MS" on my system either but I can type the "@"
in the font text box and force Word to use it without enabling another
language.

~Beth Melton

 

[Beth Melton]

I had to reclaim myself after butchering the keyboard shortcut. <G>

~Beth Melton

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

<g>

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

 

[Nancy]

Hey folks....

Sure appreciate for all the replies. My font was Arial. I treid Alt/F9.
nothing. Yesterday all of a sudden it worked fine.. and is working ok today.
It usually comes back really quick. I'll post again when it shows up but if
anyone has any other ideas I'll take 'em. If it goes a week working I'll post
that its fixed. I'll probably try re-installing too.

Thanks so much!
Nancy

 

[Beth Melton]

In the screen shot you posted the font drop down showed "Arial Unicode MS"
and as I noted I can duplicate this behavior if I use the same font. Take
another look at your screen shot, specifically at the Font drop down on your
Formatting toolbar.

Are you perhaps copy/pasting from the web or another document and that's why
the font is changing? In any event, if the issue returns again make sure you
select the odd characters and change the font.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx

Hey folks....

Sure appreciate for all the replies. My font was Arial. I treid Alt/F9.
nothing. Yesterday all of a sudden it worked fine.. and is working ok
today.
It usually comes back really quick. I'll post again when it shows up but
if
anyone has any other ideas I'll take 'em. If it goes a week working I'll
post
that its fixed. I'll probably try re-installing too.

Thanks so much!
Nancy

--

 

[Nancy]

Ahhh.... never thought of that! I do that a LOT. I've tried to duplicate it a
couple times but its still working ok. But at least that gives me something
to look out for.
Thanks Beth and the rest of you also. Ends up it just might be a font issue.
I'll post again when I verify it.

Nancy

 

[Nancy]

That was definitly the issue. Anytime it happend I would look up and for
some reason the Arial Unicode was selected. Happens when I cut and paste a
lot from the web or when I copy text from certain emails and paste it into
word.

Thanks for helping me narrow this down. Simple fix... just need to be more
"aware" of what was going on.

Appreciate it!

Nancy