Annoying Word 2003 bugs

[andyb]

1. Pasting unformatted text that ends with a CR/LF (paragraph mark)
does not paste the final paragraph mark. It does not matter where the
text was copied from (i.e. Word, Notepad, etc). If the text was copied
from Word, the CR/LF is not even placed on the clipboard. Hopefully
this is a bug and not a "feature"!

2. Sometimes art objects cut from one page and pasted on another get
"stuck" to the top or bottom of the page. They cannot be repositioned
with the mouse unless they are at least dragged a couple inches or so
away. The only way to position them accurately is manually via the
object properties. (The position in the properties usually shows some
odd-ball value like -8.93 from the page edge.) I haven't been able to
reliably duplicate this.

3. Indenting bulleted/numbered lists sometimes goes in the opposite
direction (i.e. indent moves the line left). Again, can't duplicate
reliably.

4. Sometimes changing the format of one bulleted/number line changes
the format of the others, even though the styles are not set to
automatically update.

5. Sometimes user preferences get reset at random (i.e. "typing
replaces selection" turns off after it was on).

6. Changing the "Restart numbering" setting on numbered list changes
indents (if they were customized previously).

7. Some toolbar buttons function differently than their menu
counterparts. Clicking the bullets button sets a different bullet
indent than using Format / Bullets and Numbering. Some objects pasted
using CTRL-INS paste differently than if pasted using Edit / Paste (in
Powerpoint especially).

- Andrew Bernhardt

 

[Anne Troy]

Read between the lines... don't be insulted. I'm answering as honestly as
possible.

1. Pasting unformatted text that ends with a CR/LF (paragraph mark)
does not paste the final paragraph mark. It does not matter where the
text was copied from (i.e. Word, Notepad, etc). If the text was copied
from Word, the CR/LF is not even placed on the clipboard. Hopefully
this is a bug and not a "feature"!

PARAGRAPH RETURNS STORE THE FORMATTING. IF THEY'RE BROUGHT OVER, THE
FORMATTING IS TOO.

2. Sometimes art objects cut from one page and pasted on another get
"stuck" to the top or bottom of the page. They cannot be repositioned
with the mouse unless they are at least dragged a couple inches or so
away. The only way to position them accurately is manually via the
object properties. (The position in the properties usually shows some
odd-ball value like -8.93 from the page edge.) I haven't been able to
reliably duplicate this.

THIS IS PROBABLY WHY I NEVER HAVE MY GRAPHICS FLOATING, I ALWAYS USE INLINE
WITH TEXT LAYOUT. BE CAREFUL OF CURSOR PLACEMENT WHEN PASTING.

3. Indenting bulleted/numbered lists sometimes goes in the opposite
direction (i.e. indent moves the line left). Again, can't duplicate
reliably.

DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT ONE UNLESS THE TAB PLACEMENT IS BAD.

4. Sometimes changing the format of one bulleted/number line changes
the format of the others, even though the styles are not set to
automatically update.

I THINK YOU ARE MISTAKEN.

5. Sometimes user preferences get reset at random (i.e. "typing
replaces selection" turns off after it was on).

I THINK YOU ARE MISTAKEN.

6. Changing the "Restart numbering" setting on numbered list changes
indents (if they were customized previously).

CREATE STYLES IF YOU WANT THEM TO STICK, OTHERWISE THEY DEFAULT TO LIST
NUMBER.

7. Some toolbar buttons function differently than their menu
counterparts. Clicking the bullets button sets a different bullet
indent than using Format / Bullets and Numbering. Some objects pasted
using CTRL-INS paste differently than if pasted using Edit / Paste (in
Powerpoint especially).

TOOLBAR BUTTONS AND MENUS CAN BE CUSTOMIZED. THERE ARE MANY OTHER METHODS OF
PASTING--YOU MAY WANT TO EVALUATE ALL OF THEM. HOWEVER, BOTH YOUR STATEMENTS
IN NUMBER 7 SOUND TO ME LIKE USER ERROR OR CONFUSION AS I HAVE NEVER HEARD
OF EITHER ONE.

 

[andyb]

1. Pasting unformatted text that ends with a CR/LF (paragraph mark)

PARAGRAPH RETURNS STORE THE FORMATTING. IF THEY'RE BROUGHT OVER, THE
FORMATTING IS TOO.

This has nothing to do with the formatting. I don't care about the
formatting. It is the paragraph mark itself that is not being pasted.
Do this to see the problem:

1. Go into Notepad and type two short sentences, pressing ENTER after
each, so each is on its own line. i.e.:

Sentence 1<enter>
Sentence 2<enter>

2. Move the text cursor to the beginning of the first sentence, hold
the SHIFT key down, and press the DOWN cursor key. This selects the
first sentence with the ending paragraph mark.

3. Copy the selection to the clipboard (CTRL-C). The clipboard now has
the first sentence, including the final paragraph mark. To verify this,
press CTRL-V a few times. Each time the sentence is pasted, it appears
on its own line.

4. Now go to a blank Word document and do the same thing (press CTRL-V
a few times. Each time the sentence is pasted ON THE SAME LINE. The
paragraph mark is on the clipboard, but Word chooses to ignore it. Word
2002 also has this bug. Word 97 and earlier did not.

THIS IS PROBABLY WHY I NEVER HAVE MY GRAPHICS FLOATING, I ALWAYS USE INLINE
WITH TEXT LAYOUT. BE CAREFUL OF CURSOR PLACEMENT WHEN PASTING.

Inline graphics are good some of the time, but other times I need the
text to wrap around the graphics a certain way.

DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT ONE UNLESS THE TAB PLACEMENT IS BAD.

I've found that some of the bullet/number styles in Normal.dot have
really messed up indents that have to be manually corrected. Looking on
the net, I see others have similar problems.

I THINK YOU ARE MISTAKEN.

When this happened, it was with text that I had pasted from a webpage.

I THINK YOU ARE MISTAKEN.

This has happened quite often, on my computer at home and at work. I
think it has do to with software updates, i.e. when a Microsoft update
or patch is installed, some of the custom settings are lost. I've had
to switch off the AutoCorrect and AutoFormat options multiple times
also.

CREATE STYLES IF YOU WANT THEM TO STICK, OTHERWISE THEY DEFAULT TO LIST
NUMBER.

Styles are good, use them myself a lot. But "restart numbering" should
do only what it says, not reapply a style.

TOOLBAR BUTTONS AND MENUS CAN BE CUSTOMIZED. THERE ARE MANY OTHER METHODS OF
PASTING--YOU MAY WANT TO EVALUATE ALL OF THEM. HOWEVER, BOTH YOUR STATEMENTS
IN NUMBER 7 SOUND TO ME LIKE USER ERROR OR CONFUSION AS I HAVE NEVER HEARD
OF EITHER ONE.

I found that the Bullet (and Numbered) button does not create a
bulleted/numbered paragraph using the first style shown in the Format /
Bullets and Numbering dialog. Don't know how to specify which style to
use when clicking the button short of using VBA.

Andrew Bernhardt