Look and feel of all Office apps suddenly changed - how to fix?

[Rob Bell]

Hi,

The other day I noticed that Outlook 2003 had suddenly changed from
having toolbars and other screen elements that were generally '3D
looking' and colored to having everything be flat, 2D, and gray. The
situation applies to all Office apps I have installed, including Office
2003 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Outlook, and Visio 2003. Nothing else
on the system seems to be affected, including IE and Windows Media
Player 10. It's like something caused all the office apps to revert to
an old look & feel. It seemed to change right during the day (i.e. not
after a reboot or when docking).

The other odd this is that this only happens when I have my laptop
docked, which uses my normal dual-monitor setup. If I use just the
laptop screen or the laptop with either of the external monitors
connected directly then all Office apps look 3D and colored (like this:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=256114913&size=o). This isn't
a display setting issue though... the color depth is identical to what
it used to be, as is the resolution. Nothing changed on my PC that I
know about. I've been using the dual-monitor setup for a year without
issues.

Does anyone know under what circumstances Office apps would revert to
this 2D look? It obviously isn't a setting that just got changed
accidentally, or else it wouldn't revert back to normal when booting out
of the dock. It doesn't appear to be a dock hardware issue since all
other apps are full color and have their normal 3D look & feel while docked.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Susan Ramlet]

Hi, Rob,

I don't know what might cause it, but I've seen the issue posted a couple of
times. Are you, by any chance, using nVidia display drivers? It's just
that I've seen it if the settings aren't quite right in the dual monitor
setting. That could explain why it is odd when docied and not when not. I
use nVidia, and it sometimes likes to reconfigure itself, though I've set
rotation and such specifically.

As far as a resolution, you could try to go to device manager and delete the
monitor and video card and reboot - Windows will re-install them with the
defaults and if it was a windows setting, it should be fixed.

 

[Susan Ramlet]

Hi, Rob,

I don't know what might cause it, but I've seen the issue posted a couple of
times. Are you, by any chance, using nVidia display drivers? It's just
that I've seen it if the settings aren't quite right in the dual monitor
setting. That could explain why it is odd when docied and not when not. I
use nVidia, and it sometimes likes to reconfigure itself, though I've set
rotation and such specifically.

As far as a resolution, you could try to go to device manager and delete the
monitor and video card and reboot - Windows will re-install them with the
defaults and if it was a windows setting, it should be fixed.

 

[Susan Ramlet]

Hi, Rob,

I don't know what might cause it, but I've seen the issue posted a couple of
times. Are you, by any chance, using nVidia display drivers? It's just
that I've seen it if the settings aren't quite right in the dual monitor
setting. That could explain why it is odd when docied and not when not. I
use nVidia, and it sometimes likes to reconfigure itself, though I've set
rotation and such specifically.

As far as a resolution, you could try to go to device manager and delete the
monitor and video card and reboot - Windows will re-install them with the
defaults and if it was a windows setting, it should be fixed.

 

[Susan Ramlet]

Hi, Rob,

I don't know what might cause it, but I've seen the issue posted a couple of
times. Are you, by any chance, using nVidia display drivers? It's just
that I've seen it if the settings aren't quite right in the dual monitor
setting. That could explain why it is odd when docied and not when not. I
use nVidia, and it sometimes likes to reconfigure itself, though I've set
rotation and such specifically.

As far as a resolution, you could try to go to device manager and delete the
monitor and video card and reboot - Windows will re-install them with the
defaults and if it was a windows setting, it should be fixed.

 

[Susan Ramlet]

By the way, you're not, by chance, the Rob Bell I know from work, are you?

 

[Susan Ramlet]

By the way, you're not, by chance, the Rob Bell I know from work, are you?

 

[Susan Ramlet]

By the way, you're not, by chance, the Rob Bell I know from work, are you?

 

[Susan Ramlet]

By the way, you're not, by chance, the Rob Bell I know from work, are you?

 

[Rob Bell]

Hi, Rob,

I don't know what might cause it, but I've seen the issue posted a couple of
times. Are you, by any chance, using nVidia display drivers? It's just
that I've seen it if the settings aren't quite right in the dual monitor
setting. That could explain why it is odd when docied and not when not. I
use nVidia, and it sometimes likes to reconfigure itself, though I've set
rotation and such specifically.

As far as a resolution, you could try to go to device manager and delete the
monitor and video card and reboot - Windows will re-install them with the
defaults and if it was a windows setting, it should be fixed.

Nope, not nVidia. This laptop uses the ATI Mobility Radeon chipset.
The idea to delete and re-install the devices is probably a good one.
Just not sure I'm brave (frustrated?) enough to try that yet.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Rob Bell]

Hi, Rob,

I don't know what might cause it, but I've seen the issue posted a couple of
times. Are you, by any chance, using nVidia display drivers? It's just
that I've seen it if the settings aren't quite right in the dual monitor
setting. That could explain why it is odd when docied and not when not. I
use nVidia, and it sometimes likes to reconfigure itself, though I've set
rotation and such specifically.

As far as a resolution, you could try to go to device manager and delete the
monitor and video card and reboot - Windows will re-install them with the
defaults and if it was a windows setting, it should be fixed.

Nope, not nVidia. This laptop uses the ATI Mobility Radeon chipset.
The idea to delete and re-install the devices is probably a good one.
Just not sure I'm brave (frustrated?) enough to try that yet.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Rob Bell]

Hi, Rob,

I don't know what might cause it, but I've seen the issue posted a couple of
times. Are you, by any chance, using nVidia display drivers? It's just
that I've seen it if the settings aren't quite right in the dual monitor
setting. That could explain why it is odd when docied and not when not. I
use nVidia, and it sometimes likes to reconfigure itself, though I've set
rotation and such specifically.

As far as a resolution, you could try to go to device manager and delete the
monitor and video card and reboot - Windows will re-install them with the
defaults and if it was a windows setting, it should be fixed.

Nope, not nVidia. This laptop uses the ATI Mobility Radeon chipset.
The idea to delete and re-install the devices is probably a good one.
Just not sure I'm brave (frustrated?) enough to try that yet.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Rob Bell]

Hi, Rob,

I don't know what might cause it, but I've seen the issue posted a couple of
times. Are you, by any chance, using nVidia display drivers? It's just
that I've seen it if the settings aren't quite right in the dual monitor
setting. That could explain why it is odd when docied and not when not. I
use nVidia, and it sometimes likes to reconfigure itself, though I've set
rotation and such specifically.

As far as a resolution, you could try to go to device manager and delete the
monitor and video card and reboot - Windows will re-install them with the
defaults and if it was a windows setting, it should be fixed.

Nope, not nVidia. This laptop uses the ATI Mobility Radeon chipset.
The idea to delete and re-install the devices is probably a good one.
Just not sure I'm brave (frustrated?) enough to try that yet.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Rob Bell]

By the way, you're not, by chance, the Rob Bell I know from work, are you?

Yep. Small world, huh? Never knew we had Office resources right
in-house... Guess I can bug you directly then.

Later,
Rob

 

[Rob Bell]

By the way, you're not, by chance, the Rob Bell I know from work, are you?

Yep. Small world, huh? Never knew we had Office resources right
in-house... Guess I can bug you directly then.

Later,
Rob

 

[Rob Bell]

By the way, you're not, by chance, the Rob Bell I know from work, are you?

Yep. Small world, huh? Never knew we had Office resources right
in-house... Guess I can bug you directly then.

Later,
Rob

 

[Rob Bell]

By the way, you're not, by chance, the Rob Bell I know from work, are you?

Yep. Small world, huh? Never knew we had Office resources right
in-house... Guess I can bug you directly then.

Later,
Rob

 

[George Johnson]

I have the same problem. It happened suddenly after my IT guy upgraded Symantec Antivirus on my machine.

I have a dual monitor setup, and found out that if I disable the 2nd monitor (extend windows desktop...) in the display settings, the 3-D look and feel returns.

The instant I re-enable the 2nd monitor by checking the "extend windows desktop..." box, the currently running office applications immediately revert to the ancient looking 2-D look and feel.

Color depth is 32 bits on both monitors, and I have tried all sorts of combinations of resolutions and color depths to no avail. I also can't find any resolutions at microsoft.com or in any groups.

So we're in the same boat. Let me know if you have any luck!

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

 

[George Johnson]

I have the same problem. It happened suddenly after my IT guy upgraded Symantec Antivirus on my machine.

I have a dual monitor setup, and found out that if I disable the 2nd monitor (extend windows desktop...) in the display settings, the 3-D look and feel returns.

The instant I re-enable the 2nd monitor by checking the "extend windows desktop..." box, the currently running office applications immediately revert to the ancient looking 2-D look and feel.

Color depth is 32 bits on both monitors, and I have tried all sorts of combinations of resolutions and color depths to no avail. I also can't find any resolutions at microsoft.com or in any groups.

So we're in the same boat. Let me know if you have any luck!

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

 

[George Johnson]

I have the same problem. It happened suddenly after my IT guy upgraded Symantec Antivirus on my machine.

I have a dual monitor setup, and found out that if I disable the 2nd monitor (extend windows desktop...) in the display settings, the 3-D look and feel returns.

The instant I re-enable the 2nd monitor by checking the "extend windows desktop..." box, the currently running office applications immediately revert to the ancient looking 2-D look and feel.

Color depth is 32 bits on both monitors, and I have tried all sorts of combinations of resolutions and color depths to no avail. I also can't find any resolutions at microsoft.com or in any groups.

So we're in the same boat. Let me know if you have any luck!

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com