How to select individual text box?

[Deb]

I am using Word 2007.

When I create two text boxes, only the first text box can be selected
indepedently. Clicking on the second text box (only) will cause both text
boxes to be selected. I tried pressing shift-click, ctrl-click, alt-click on
these boxes, but the selections around both boxes remain.

The purpose of wanting to select the second text box only is to be able to
move it independently of the first text box.

Thanks!

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Try clicking the Select tool, then Select Objects in the Home tab. The
resulting pointer should give you better control over selecting graphics and
text boxes. Try clicking just the edge of the textbox you want to move.

 

[Deb]

Thanks for your reply.

Clicking on the edge of the first textbox correctly selects only one textbox.
Clicking on the edge of the second textbox selects _both_ textboxes.

This behavior did not seem to be present in previous version of Word.

I am using Word 2007 (12.0.6212.1000) SP1 MSO (12.0.6213.1000).

Not sure if you can replicate the problem on your version. But here's what I
did:

1. Click on the Insert->Text Box->Draw Text Box menu item.
2. Draw the first textbox on the top-right corner (within the margins).
3. Type "test1" in the textbox.
4. Click on an empty space on the page so that the cursor is positioned on
the first line of the page.
5. Click on the Insert->Text Box->Draw Text Box menu item.
6. Draw the second textbox about 2cm below the first textbox.
7. Type "test2" into the second textbox.
8. Click on an empty space on the page.
9. Click on the outline of the second textbox. This will cause both
textboxes to be selected.
10. Click on an empty space on the page to deselect both textboxes.
11. Click on the outline of the first textbox. This will cause only one
textbox to be selected.

One possible workaround to move only the second textbox may be:
1. Click within the second textbox so that the cursor appears within the
text area. This operation normally allows you to edit the text within the box.
2. Drag the outline of the second textbox to the new location.

Unfortunately, this workaround does not appear to be applicable to the
copy/deletion of only the second textbox.

Regards,
Deb

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Deb,

In following your steps I didn't get the same issue.

What Text wrapping style is applied to the text boxes?

If you hold the control key when starting Word then repeat the steps in a new blank document do you get the same problem?

================
Thanks for your reply.

Clicking on the edge of the first textbox correctly selects only one textbox.
Clicking on the edge of the second textbox selects _both_ textboxes.

This behavior did not seem to be present in previous version of Word.

I am using Word 2007 (12.0.6212.1000) SP1 MSO (12.0.6213.1000).

Not sure if you can replicate the problem on your version. But here's what I
did:

1. Click on the Insert->Text Box->Draw Text Box menu item.
2. Draw the first textbox on the top-right corner (within the margins).
3. Type "test1" in the textbox.
4. Click on an empty space on the page so that the cursor is positioned on
the first line of the page.
5. Click on the Insert->Text Box->Draw Text Box menu item.
6. Draw the second textbox about 2cm below the first textbox.
7. Type "test2" into the second textbox.
8. Click on an empty space on the page.
9. Click on the outline of the second textbox. This will cause both
textboxes to be selected.
10. Click on an empty space on the page to deselect both textboxes.
11. Click on the outline of the first textbox. This will cause only one
textbox to be selected.

One possible workaround to move only the second textbox may be:
1. Click within the second textbox so that the cursor appears within the
text area. This operation normally allows you to edit the text within the box.
2. Drag the outline of the second textbox to the new location.

Unfortunately, this workaround does not appear to be applicable to the
copy/deletion of only the second textbox.

Regards,
Deb >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Deb]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your suggestions. I will try the Control start method on Monday.

Meanwhile, I performed (on another machine) the steps to create two
textboxes in Word 2007 (12.0.4518.1014) MSO (12.0.4518.1014), i.e. the
version without Word 2007 SP1 installed. The textbox selections work as
expected.

As such, I suspect that the problem may exist in SP1 installations only. May
I know if you have SP1 installed?

(The text wrapping that I used for the textboxes on both Word 2007
installations are "In front of text".)

Regards,
Deb

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Deb,

Yes, I don have SP1 installed (plus a couple of later 'hotfix' patches from Microsoft

==============
Hi Bob,

Thanks for your suggestions. I will try the Control start method on Monday.

Meanwhile, I performed (on another machine) the steps to create two
textboxes in Word 2007 (12.0.4518.1014) MSO (12.0.4518.1014), i.e. the
version without Word 2007 SP1 installed. The textbox selections work as
expected.

As such, I suspect that the problem may exist in SP1 installations only. May
I know if you have SP1 installed?

(The text wrapping that I used for the textboxes on both Word 2007
installations are "In front of text".)

Regards,
Deb >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Hi, Deb,

I also have SP1 (plus any subsequent updates), and I'm not seeing the
problem here. It might be that a corrupted registry key is working a trick
on you.

My wrapping style is the same as yours.

Try starting Word in Safe mode and see if you get the same results. Hold
down Ctrl as you're starting Word, then click Yes to starting in Safe mode.

 

[Deb]

Hi Bob and Herb,

Thanks for tip about starting Word 2007 in safe mode. The problem is not
present in this mode.

In addition, I found that the individual boxes can be selected by restarting
Word 2007 (after saving the file containing the two text boxes). However, the
problem resurfaces when I insert a third text box.

I have performed the following steps:
1. Reinstall Office 2007 without SP1.
2. Remove normal.dotm.
3. Remove the registry key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data

The above steps do not appear to alleviate the problem.

Regards,
Deb

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Deb,

What add-ins are listed as Active in
Office Button=>Word Options=>Add-ins ?

===============
Hi Bob and Herb,

Thanks for tip about starting Word 2007 in safe mode. The problem is not
present in this mode.

In addition, I found that the individual boxes can be selected by restarting
Word 2007 (after saving the file containing the two text boxes). However, the
problem resurfaces when I insert a third text box.

I have performed the following steps:
1. Reinstall Office 2007 without SP1.
2. Remove normal.dotm.
3. Remove the registry key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data

The above steps do not appear to alleviate the problem.

Regards,
Deb >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Deb]

Hi Bob,

The active application add-ins are:

Acrobat PDFMaker Office COM Addin (COM Add-in)
*Activation on Double Click (COM Add-in)
*Deep Publish 3D PDF Exporter (COM Add-in)
Google Desktop Office Addin (COM Add-in)
*Interactive Mode On Document Open (COM Add-in)
Omnipage SE 3.0 COM Addin (COM Add-in)
Person Name (Outlook e-mail recipients) (Smart Tag)
Send to Bluetooth (COM Add-in)
Zotero.dot (Template)

* these addins are probably from Right Hemisphere's Deep View 5 application.
It is a 3D visualization software.

May I know if your Office 2007 was installed on a "clean" OS in contrast to
one which had Office 2003 previously installed? My installation of Word 2007
with the problem was installed on a Windows XP SP2 machine which had Office
2003. (However, the previous Office application was uninstalled completely
before the installation of Office 2007.)

On the other hand, the problem did not occur in the Word 2007 installed on a
separate "clean" OS.

To test that theory, I deleted
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word from the registry.
Regrettably, the problem remains.

Perhaps I was not thorough enough and there are some other registry settings
from Word 2003?

Regards,
Deb

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

I'm not familiar with a number of your add-ins, but names like "Activation
on Double Click" suggest a possible interaction there. Since starting in
safe mode turns add-ins off, and you've already eliminated normal.dotm and
the Data key as possible culprits, the next thing to try would be to remove
add-ins (one at a time) to see if any one in particular is causing the
problem.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Deb,

The current version I have installed was a clean install (others weren't <g>) but they have Office 2003 content added

To add to Herb's reply, two on the list that may be ones to start with Adobe Acrobat related (especially if they're anything but the
latest version) and Bluetooth add-ins. Both of these have caused issues. The older Omnipage may also no longer be a match to Word
2007.

==============
Hi Bob,

The active application add-ins are:

Acrobat PDFMaker Office COM Addin (COM Add-in)
*Activation on Double Click (COM Add-in)
*Deep Publish 3D PDF Exporter (COM Add-in)
Google Desktop Office Addin (COM Add-in)
*Interactive Mode On Document Open (COM Add-in)
Omnipage SE 3.0 COM Addin (COM Add-in)
Person Name (Outlook e-mail recipients) (Smart Tag)
Send to Bluetooth (COM Add-in)
Zotero.dot (Template)

* these addins are probably from Right Hemisphere's Deep View 5 application.
It is a 3D visualization software.

May I know if your Office 2007 was installed on a "clean" OS in contrast to
one which had Office 2003 previously installed? My installation of Word 2007
with the problem was installed on a Windows XP SP2 machine which had Office
2003. (However, the previous Office application was uninstalled completely
before the installation of Office 2007.)

On the other hand, the problem did not occur in the Word 2007 installed on a
separate "clean" OS.

To test that theory, I deleted
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word from the registry.
Regrettably, the problem remains.

Perhaps I was not thorough enough and there are some other registry settings
from Word 2003?

Regards,
Deb >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Deb]

Hi Bob and Herb,

Thanks for all your comments.

Based on your feedback, the culprit is traced to Right Hemisphere's "Deep
Publish 3D PDF Exporter". Disabling it removes the selection problem.

Regards,
Deb

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Glad to see you've gotten it sorted. Make sure you let the Right Hemisphere
know that the left hemisphere has encountered a problem. ;-)

They're probably unaware of it.

Cheers,