Lines Misbehaving

[Sean]

In Excel & Word 2003 (and before) if I want to extend a vertical or
horizontal line, all I have to do is select one end of it and hold <Shift> to
constrain it's movement horizontally or vertically while I drag that point
with the mouse.

Now, with Excel & Word 2007, when I try to do that, the line shoots off the
page/sheet at an indeterminate angle (not quite vertical or horizontal) and I
have no control over the length. "Help" indicates that it should work the
same way as before, but it does not - It is now quite useless!

Sean

 

[John Hanley]

Interesting -- it works fine if the line is neither horizontal nor vertical;
i.e. extends just fine, but as soon as it is made (flat) horizontal or
vertical, then as you say..zoom off the page! I will be interested in the
answer too.

 

[Sean]

Well, I suppose I should be happy that its not just me! I had held off moving
to 2007, hoping that they would have ironed out the kinks, but obviously that
was expecting too much. I won't be uninstalling 2003 for some time yet.
Sean

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This came up in a PPT NG, and ISTR that there was a solution. Let me see if
I can find out what it was.

 

[Sean]

I would be very grateful if you could do that; I see that PPT does exhibit
the same odd behaviour.
Sean

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Okay, here's what I got. There isn't really a fix--this is definitely a
bug--but you can mitigate the problem as follows:

Draw a horizontal or vertical line. Extend it with SHIFT down, all seems OK
as long as you don't stray off the vertical or horizontal. When you do the
line zooms to infinity. DON'T PANIC, keep your finger on SHIFT and move the
mouse back onto the line at the required end point, now release the mouse
button.

Perhaps that will help?

 

[Sean]

Whoa - That's really weird but it does seem to work, as long as you can mouse
precisely enough to get back to the right spot. I hope MS is planning to fix
this soon - It certainly slows down the whole process of using lines. While
they are at it, I hope they fix the really bizarre behaviour of text-boxes &
titles in Charts - but that's a whole other subject, which I will pursue next
in a new string.
Many thanks,
Sean

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Another PPT MVP suggests just using the Size chunk and doing it "by the
numbers."

 

[Sean]

Well my elation was premature. I have just tried working on one of my files
which has numerous lines and it does not work. I have some lines there where
if I try to drag out one end the OPPOSITE end shoots off the page and there
is no way to get it back to the right spot! If I release the mouse the line
shoots back to the end I was dragging again, but off the page - its crazy,
and completely unusable. I'm aware of the "Size" option, and use it on some
shapes, but it's simply not a viable alternative to doing it by eye.

Any further suggestions?

Sean

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

All I can say is that there are plenty of people feeling your pain. One
commented that he/she had hoped that would be fixed in SP1, but it was not.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Sean,

There is a post SP1 MS Hotfix available for Office 2007 that helps with the line sizing, although it doesn't entirely fix the visual
reference where the connector lines (Word's default line) seeks a spot to connect to. The hotfix is available via the link in
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941658/en-us?FR=1
(It's listed as a Powerpoint hotfix as the PPT team owns the drawing tools <g>)

You can also have Word draw the pre 2007 lines by using
Office Button=>Word Options=>Customize=>Keyboard shortcuts
and there using 'All commands' and scrolling to 'DrawInsertLine'
and assign a keyboard shortcut to that command.

Until one of the other MVPs provides a macro that provides a shell for a single Word command so it can be added to the Quick Access
Toolbar the keyboard shortcut is the only method I know to use

==================
Well my elation was premature. I have just tried working on one of my files
which has numerous lines and it does not work. I have some lines there where
if I try to drag out one end the OPPOSITE end shoots off the page and there
is no way to get it back to the right spot! If I release the mouse the line
shoots back to the end I was dragging again, but off the page - its crazy,
and completely unusable. I'm aware of the "Size" option, and use it on some
shapes, but it's simply not a viable alternative to doing it by eye.

Any further suggestions?

Sean >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Sean]

Bob;
Just got your message (thought I had notification on , but I guess not).
Anyhow, I have installed the hotfix and tried extending a couple of lines
and so far it looks good - or at least much improved (fingers crossed).
Many Thanks,
Sean

PS - Now on with trying to find fixes the many other Office 2007 problems!

 

[Sean]

Bob;
My 2nd reply.
Well, I knew my elation was premature (see previous message).
Shift-drag now seems to work OK with lines created in 2007, but not for
lines created in 2003. If I open an XL2003 file with lots of lines in it, the
shift-key has no impact at all! That's OK if I start a new file in 2007, but
it means I would have to recreate dozens of files that were created pre-2007
and the templates they are based on. The misery continues...........
Regards,
Sean

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Sean,

Is this in Excel 2007 or in Word 2007 using documents created in an older version? If you click the 'Office Button' do you see
'Convert' (aka turn on the rest of the 2007 feature set behaviors as default) choice?

I'm still hoping for the line macro from someone so we can put it on the QAT <g>?

Do you have a site/blog/skydrive that you can put one of the problem documents on and provide a link to it here?

==================Bob;
My 2nd reply.
Well, I knew my elation was premature (see previous message).
Shift-drag now seems to work OK with lines created in 2007, but not for
lines created in 2003. If I open an XL2003 file with lots of lines in it, the
shift-key has no impact at all! That's OK if I start a new file in 2007, but
it means I would have to recreate dozens of files that were created pre-2007
and the templates they are based on. The misery continues...........
Regards,
Sean >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*