Word Text

[steph]

In Word 2002 SP3:

The ghost in my system keeps selecting text for me: I can
be just sitting here, minding my own business, typing any
old thing, and happen to leave the shift-key depressed
longer than is absolutely required.

An unwanted selection begins at the blinking insertion
point, and ends wherever the pointer "I-beam" happens to
be at the moment. It stops exactly at the I-beam, and
then includes the entire word (I have Word set to select
full words, so maybe this does follow some rules).

Yes, you are right: it is as if I have been selecting by
the "click (at the beginning) - shift - click (at the
end)" method. But I did NOT click at either end!

I could work around this, except that.

When I release the shift key, and even press the "ESC"
key, the selection does not become unselected. Even
clicking the mouse also does not de-select it. I just
have to wait for it to get ready to behave.

When I get tired of waiting, I click Ctrl-Alt-Delete/Task
Manager, all programs indicate "running." I hit ESC,
returning me to the document, which now shows no
selection, and all is well for a time.

Sometimes I have to invoke adult supervision (the Task
Manager) multiple times before it releases.

Other open programs are also frozen during this time.

Except for freezing up everything (!!?), this could be
useful, so perhaps it is a corrupted sub-set of commands
used for something. I considered accessibility, so tried
installing and uninstalling MouseKeys; it's the same
either way.

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Steph

This is probably a Windows issue, not a Word issue. So it's not really my
area of expertise. However, you might be invoking Windows' Sticky Keys.
Sticky Keys is used if you want to separate keys that you'd normally press
at the same time (eg you would normally do ctrl-c to copy; by using Sticky
Keys you can do Control and then c).

By default, if you press Shift 5 times in a row, you get a little dialog box
asking if you'd like to use Sticky Keys. Maybe you need to turn off that
default. Try Start > Settings > Control Panel > Accessibility (or some
similar route through the menu structure).

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[steph]

Thanks Shauna. Good thought, because,it is very much as
though it believes I have CLICKED at the point where the
pointer cursor is. Which I could live with, if it didn't
keep freezing up.

But accessibility/sticky keys has been de-selected since I
set up the machine, and verified when I checked MouseKeys.
I also had de-selected the option for the 5 SHIFTs to
invoke it.

So I considered de-selecting the individual option, in
case it was somehow getting thru my de-selection of
StickyKeys.

But there is no option for an unclicked CLICK (that's why
I had gone to MouseKeys to start with: looking for a CLICK
function w/o physical clicking).

So I went ahead and turned off EVERY StickyKeys option, in
addition to the overall StickyKeys option.

After a reboot, I still have the problem.

Any other ideas? That was a good one.