keyboard problems

[Rawley Grau]

Word for Mac 11.5.5 suddenly switched keyboard shortcuts, so that, for example, to close a doc you use cmd+Z (instead of cmd+W). This I can fix with customize tools, but in the process, the open-bracket key (to the right of the P) is now an up-arrow key. What is going on? I actually need my open-bracket key! How can I get it back
Everything works in other programs, including Entourage and Safari, so this seems to be a Word problem.

 

[rolig]

Just to clarify: this problem is happening with Word 2004 for Mac 11.5.5. on Mac OS X 10.4.11. I tried reinstalling Word but I still get the same keyboard confusion.

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi.

Reinstalling Office rarely does any good on the Mac. Since this is a
problem that only affects Word, and since it seems that Word is using a
different keyboard layout than the other applications, go into Word's
Preferences (Word>Preferences), switch to the Edit section and disable
the option labelled "Match font with keyboard". Does that solve the problem?

You should also make sure that you have selected the correct keyboard
layout. You mention that Safari and Entourage work as expected, but it
can't hurt to double-check, in the International section of the System
Preferences.

 

[rolig]

Thanks, Michel, but this did not work. I still have an "up arrow" where my open-bracket key should be. The shortcut commands I could fix through Tools - Customize - Customize keyboard, but I don't know how to get the open-bracket key back. Also, everything was working fine until just yesterday. What happened?

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hello again,

does this just happen with one particular document, or with any document
created in Word? Did you check System Preferences to make sure you have
the correct keyboard layout selected? BTW, which version of Mac OS X are
you using?

 

[rolig]

I am using Mac OS X version 10.4.11. And I do use several keyboard layouts regularly (US English, Slovenian, Russian), but in all of them the same key (the open-bracket key next to the P) turned into an up arrow key.

 

[CyberTaz]

One thing I did notice... You indicated your Office version as 11.5.5 which
is not the most current update. Apply the latest update (11.5.6), repair
disk permissions & see if the problem continues after a restart. I don't
know that this will fix the issue but even though it's an interim update
11.5.6 is significant.

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