Word 2008 weird behavior

[Lofty Becker]

I've got some old (and long) documents created in Word 2004 that I've
been editing in Word 2008. The documents include a Table of Contents.

When I open the document, there have been some (strange) changes to the
table of contents and to the headings from which it is derived. For
example, Chapter 1 is now titled "Aonstituional Law in Development";
Chapter 8, "Airst Views of the Civil War Amendments." In all cases the
strange character is after an en-dash, and it always seems to be the
first letter of a word.

But wait, there's more! If I click anywhere in the Table of Contents,
the Table of Contents display immediately fixes itself.

However, the strange changes in the body of the document stay there
unless I hunt them down and change them. Well, sort of

(a) Check spelling doesn't tag them as misspellings.

(b) Just selecting the errant word doesn't change anything.

(b) Changing the font of the errant word fixes the problem. If I change
the font back to the original (in my case, Bookman Old Style) all is
fine with the word until the next reopening of the document.

I can live with this, but it is, well, a pain. Any suggestions?

-Lofty

 

[Phillip Jones]

If you have got some type of Utility that can delete Font Caches; quit
Office2008 (Word or whatever)

delete the Font caches and restart computer the open Word2008. See if
that corrects problem.

I've got some old (and long) documents created in Word 2004 that I've
been editing in Word 2008. The documents include a Table of Contents.

When I open the document, there have been some (strange) changes to the
table of contents and to the headings from which it is derived. For
example, Chapter 1 is now titled "Aonstituional Law in Development";
Chapter 8, "Airst Views of the Civil War Amendments." In all cases the
strange character is after an en-dash, and it always seems to be the
first letter of a word.

But wait, there's more! If I click anywhere in the Table of Contents,
the Table of Contents display immediately fixes itself.

However, the strange changes in the body of the document stay there
unless I hunt them down and change them. Well, sort of

(a) Check spelling doesn't tag them as misspellings.

(b) Just selecting the errant word doesn't change anything.

(b) Changing the font of the errant word fixes the problem. If I change
the font back to the original (in my case, Bookman Old Style) all is
fine with the word until the next reopening of the document.

I can live with this, but it is, well, a pain. Any suggestions?

-Lofty

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[CyberTaz]

I believe Phillip is on the right track here - it definitely sounds like a
font issue.

One extension to his suggestion about restarting the Mac. That will force a
font cache cleaning which just might resolve the issue. If not the next step
is to use a font utility - such as Font Book which came with the OS - to
resolve duplicates & verify your fonts.

 

[Lofty Becker]

One extension to his suggestion about restarting the Mac. That will force a
font cache cleaning which just might resolve the issue. If not the next step
is to use a font utility - such as Font Book which came with the OS - to
resolve duplicates & verify your fonts.

So far, nothing I've tried works. I've tried

(a) deleting all the font cache files (I've used two different programs
to do this, since I'm not sure enough of what might be around to do it
by hand). I used FontNuke and Cocktail. Rebooted afterwards. No help,
same problem.

(b) Saving the file in various formats (.doc, .docx, .rtf).

(c) changing the Normal font (and thus all the other styles, all of
which I've built from Normal) to something like Times New Roman. This,
like any font change, fixes the problem immediately, but it returns
after I save, close, and reopen.

(d) Verifying the fonts in question with FontBook.

(e) Spell checking the document. The weird words aren't recognized as a
misspelling, which makes me sure that it's some kind of display problem.

However, there are two things that do seem to work (though they make me
change my document in ways I don't want to change it):

(1) Change the style of the chapter titles from Large and Small Caps to
normal. This fixes the problem.

(2) Change the en-dash to a colon, so that the chapter title reads

Chapter 2: Limitations (etc.; and in large & small caps)

instead of

Chapter 2 -- Limitations (etc.; the two dashes are an en-dash in the
real version).

Any other suggestions? Since this does NOT happen with Word 2004 on the
same machine, I'm beginning to suspect it's some kind of display bug in
Word:Mac 2008. (I haven't been able to test it on Word running on a PC).

-Lofty

 

[Lofty Becker]

If you have got some type of Utility that can delete Font Caches; quit
Office2008 (Word or whatever)

delete the Font caches and restart computer the open Word2008. See if
that corrects problem.

Phillip,

Thanks, but as I replied in more detail to another message, everything
I've tried to delete font caches (FontNuke, Cocktail) hasn't made a
difference. Changing fonts doesn't make a difference either.

-Lofty

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Lofty -

Which version of OS X are you running? - I know 2008 & Leopard are having
some font issues. Although this isn't quite the same as other reported
symptoms it could be a related nuance. If so, it's my understanding that
Apple & MS are working on a solution but it hasn't yet come down the pike.

One thing that "may" help is to try the old reliable "Maggie" - at least it
may help determine what *won't* work

Select & Copy all but the last ¶ [Command+A, Shift+Left Arrow, Command+C is
about the most direct approach], paste into a new blank document. Save it
and see if it behaves any better. Post back either way.

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

 

[Lofty Becker]

Which version of OS X are you running? - I know 2008 & Leopard are having
some font issues. Although this isn't quite the same as other reported
symptoms it could be a related nuance. If so, it's my understanding that
Apple & MS are working on a solution but it hasn't yet come down the pike.

One thing that "may" help is to try the old reliable "Maggie" - at least it
may help determine what *won't* work

Select & Copy all but the last ¶ [Command+A, Shift+Left Arrow, Command+C is
about the most direct approach], paste into a new blank document. Save it
and see if it behaves any better. Post back either way.

Up until a day ago, I was running Leopard 10.5.1; I'm now running 10.5.2.

The problem is still present with 10.5.2 (and still only if a dash is
present, and Large and Small Caps is the style).

The maggie (copying all but the final paragraph) makes no difference;
problem's still there.

-Lofty

 

[rpmiller0]

Which version of OS X are you running? - I know 2008 & Leopard are having
some font issues. Although this isn't quite the same as other reported
symptoms it could be a related nuance. If so, it's my understanding that
Apple & MS are working on a solution but it hasn't yet come down the pike.

One thing that "may" help is to try the old reliable "Maggie" - at leastit
may help determine what *won't* work

Select & Copy all but the last ¶ [Command+A, Shift+Left Arrow, Command+C is
about the most direct approach], paste into a new blank document. Save it
and see if it behaves any better. Post back either way.

Up until a day ago, I was running Leopard 10.5.1; I'm now running 10.5.2.

The problem is still present with 10.5.2 (and still only if a dash is
present, and Large and Small Caps is the style).

The maggie (copying all but the final paragraph) makes no difference;
problem's still there.

-Lofty

Lofty,

I to suffer from this problem and have found no way around it until
messing around today. Also, it only seems to be an issue with any
Header1 styles in any of my documents, where the text title has a '-'
hyphen in it (e.g. Appendix A - Wireless Team).

The problem I had was the exact same as you. The word "Wireless"
above would be all corrupt. I tried it with a Header2, as well as
other styles, and they didn't exhibit the same behavior. If I click
on the word "Wireless" and turn off Small Caps and turn it back on
again, save the document, and reload, the text doesn't corrupt again
from that point on. Talk about a pain! I've got hundreds of
documents that I work with and I have to do this for all Header1 text
that has a '-' hyphen in it.

I hope someone at Microsoft fixes this bug. It's absolutely nuts and
frustrating to no end.


Rpm...

 

[John McGhie]

RPM:

Microsoft is much more likely to fix the bug if you use Help>Send Feedback
to copy the text you posted here directly to the Microsoft programming team.

Yours is the first nice clear explanation of the bug I have seen. So if you
want it fixed, make sure the programmer working on this gets to see it too


Cheers

Which version of OS X are you running? - I know 2008 & Leopard are having
some font issues. Although this isn't quite the same as other reported
symptoms it could be a related nuance. If so, it's my understanding that
Apple & MS are working on a solution but it hasn't yet come down the pike.

One thing that "may" help is to try the old reliable "Maggie" - at least it
may help determine what *won't* work

Select & Copy all but the last ¶ [Command+A, Shift+Left Arrow, Command+C is
about the most direct approach], paste into a new blank document. Save it
and see if it behaves any better. Post back either way.

Up until a day ago, I was running Leopard 10.5.1; I'm now running 10.5.2.

The problem is still present with 10.5.2 (and still only if a dash is
present, and Large and Small Caps is the style).

The maggie (copying all but the final paragraph) makes no difference;
problem's still there.

-Lofty

Lofty,

I to suffer from this problem and have found no way around it until
messing around today. Also, it only seems to be an issue with any
Header1 styles in any of my documents, where the text title has a '-'
hyphen in it (e.g. Appendix A - Wireless Team).

The problem I had was the exact same as you. The word "Wireless"
above would be all corrupt. I tried it with a Header2, as well as
other styles, and they didn't exhibit the same behavior. If I click
on the word "Wireless" and turn off Small Caps and turn it back on
again, save the document, and reload, the text doesn't corrupt again
from that point on. Talk about a pain! I've got hundreds of
documents that I work with and I have to do this for all Header1 text
that has a '-' hyphen in it.

I hope someone at Microsoft fixes this bug. It's absolutely nuts and
frustrating to no end.


Rpm...

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia

 

[Lofty Becker]

Lofty,

I to suffer from this problem and have found no way around it until
messing around today. Also, it only seems to be an issue with any
Header1 styles in any of my documents, where the text title has a '-'
hyphen in it (e.g. Appendix A - Wireless Team).

The problem I had was the exact same as you. The word "Wireless"
above would be all corrupt. I tried it with a Header2, as well as
other styles, and they didn't exhibit the same behavior. If I click
on the word "Wireless" and turn off Small Caps and turn it back on
again, save the document, and reload, the text doesn't corrupt again
from that point on. Talk about a pain! I've got hundreds of
documents that I work with and I have to do this for all Header1 text
that has a '-' hyphen in it.

I hope someone at Microsoft fixes this bug. It's absolutely nuts and
frustrating to no end.


Rpm...

Rpm,

That's it! That's it! Your solution fixes the problem completely.

For me, I have about three documents with this problem, each with about
10-15 headers, so doing the fix is doable.

Great detective work on your part, and thanks for letting me know.

-Lofty

 

[CyberTaz]

Which version of OS X are you running? - I know 2008 & Leopard are having
some font issues. Although this isn't quite the same as other reported
symptoms it could be a related nuance. If so, it's my understanding that
Apple & MS are working on a solution but it hasn't yet come down the pike.

One thing that "may" help is to try the old reliable "Maggie" - at least it
may help determine what *won't* work

Select & Copy all but the last ¶ [Command+A, Shift+Left Arrow, Command+C is
about the most direct approach], paste into a new blank document. Save it
and see if it behaves any better. Post back either way.

Up until a day ago, I was running Leopard 10.5.1; I'm now running 10.5.2.

The problem is still present with 10.5.2 (and still only if a dash is
present, and Large and Small Caps is the style).

The maggie (copying all but the final paragraph) makes no difference;
problem's still there.

-Lofty

Lofty,

I to suffer from this problem and have found no way around it until
messing around today. Also, it only seems to be an issue with any
Header1 styles in any of my documents, where the text title has a '-'
hyphen in it (e.g. Appendix A - Wireless Team).

The problem I had was the exact same as you. The word "Wireless"
above would be all corrupt. I tried it with a Header2, as well as
other styles, and they didn't exhibit the same behavior. If I click
on the word "Wireless" and turn off Small Caps and turn it back on
again, save the document, and reload, the text doesn't corrupt again
from that point on. Talk about a pain! I've got hundreds of
documents that I work with and I have to do this for all Header1 text
that has a '-' hyphen in it.

I hope someone at Microsoft fixes this bug. It's absolutely nuts and
frustrating to no end.


Rpm...

Hello Rpm -

I haven't had an opportunity to explore this a great deal but your
description combined with Lofty's has enabled me to construct what appears
to be - at least - a comparable situation.

From what I can see, it looks like the problem may be caused by having
applied the Heading 1 Style followed by direct formatting changes to the
same headings. In my testing here the problem doesn't seem to occur if the
Heading 1 Style is modified to incorporate the Small Caps attribute. It also
seems that use of the Format> Change Case> Title Case menu command may
contribute to the anomaly.

Can you verify whether any of the above adjustments had made in the
original?

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

 

[rpmiller0]

Bob,

I can't speak for the original template documents as they were created
by a large consulting team and get modified over time. The documents
all have Small Caps as part of the Header 1 style. I did test
something that verifies the problem. Here's what I did.

1. Created a brand new, blank Mac Office 2008 Word document.
2. Typed one line of "Appendix A - Wireless Team" and saved the
document.
3. Closed Word and re-opened the file. No problem encountered.
4. Changed "Appendix A - Wireless Team" to the Header 1 style and
saved the document.
5. Closed Word and re-opened the file. No problem encountered.
6. Clicked on each word and turned on Small Caps and saved the
document.
7. Closed Word and re-opened the file. No problem encountered.
8. Modified the Header 1 style's font attribute to turn on Small Caps
and saved the document.
9. Closed Word and re-opened the file. The text is all corrupt.

I've been able to re-create the corruption by highlighting a section
of Header 1 text and turning on Small Caps for a selection of text.
It doesn't happen in the same case when turning on Small Caps for each
word of the Header 1 text.

It's all very strange. I've submitted some information to Microsoft
via the feedback form. Hopefully something will come of it.

Now, back to fixing all of my docs, but at least there's a
workaround.