SP+ Shift-Arrow selection = BUG!

[Just D.]

All,

I got this but a few months ago but didn't have time to write about it. One
of the Service Packs for the office, btw, WinXPPro up-to-date and MS Office
Enterprise 2003 up-to-date, crashed my favorite WinWord hot key for
selection. Is anybody having same issue?

The problem is following. I usually hold Shift and use Arrow keys to select
some text and copy it into clipboard. After this service pack (don't know
which one) WinWord goes to the Main Menu each time when I hold Shift and the
arrow leaves the current paragraph. Very annoying and frustrating. I tried
to roll back and reinstalled Office over with the Repair function - it
helped and the right functionality was restored. When I had to apply the
service packs again the bug appeared back. MS Support, please take care of
that! I have to roll back with these Service Packs just to get it working
correctly but taking a risk of unsecured WinWord without these Service
Packs.

Any more ideas?

Just D.

 

[aalaan]

Hope you get an answer to this. Just putting in my two cents worth. I think
it is a disgrace that so called essential service packs often introduce
problems that weren't there before!

 

[Terry Farrell]

Right-click on any menu and select Customize, then click on the Keyboard
tab. Enter the shortcut into the new shortcut box and see what it is
assigned to. If it has been reassigned, assign it back again.

BTW, this is most unlikely to be a servicepack or update but rather some
nasty 3rd party utility that has been installed. Servicepacks and updates
just don't reassign shortcuts.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Thinking a little more about your problem, make sure that you don't have any
malware infection. Try HiJackThis and see what it reports.

Terry

 

[Just D.]

Just to clarify. I already wrote in my previous message that when I start
the office installation with the option - repair all damaged libraries -
then it works great until I install the service packs again. Actually I can
roll back one more time and install service packs one by one to get which
one is doing that crap for me.

Just D.

 

[Just D.]

BTW, this is most unlikely to be a servicepack or update but rather some

Yes, because it's not shortcut, it's the bug in the service pack. I didn't
change anything except reinstalling office and it worked. When I installed
several service packs that MS offered to install again after renewing the
office it crashed right after that.

nasty 3rd party utility that has been installed. Servicepacks and updates
just don't reassign shortcuts.

Well, if I didn't spend my whole life beginning from 1979 writing programs I
could probably believe you, but... sorry. I didn't.

Terry Farrell - MS Word MVP

Just D.

 

[Terry Farrell]

When you go to Customise, Keyboard, what is the shortcut (shift+Arrow)
assigned to?

Terry

 

[Just D.]

It's not assigned, I never assign this hotkey. When I open
Customize/Keyboard I click this combination and WinWord asks where it should
be saved to? Then I do Cancel because I don't want that to be changed.

 

[Terry Farrell]

When you enter Shift+Arrow into the New Shortcut box, IF IT IS ASSIGNED it
will say what it is assigned to. I'm not asking you to assign it to
anything, I just want to know what it is assigned to at the moment.

Terry

 

[Just D.]

It's not currently assigned.

When you enter Shift+Arrow into the New Shortcut box, IF IT IS ASSIGNED it
will say what it is assigned to. I'm not asking you to assign it to
anything, I just want to know what it is assigned to at the moment.

Terry

 

[Just D.]

Maybe I didn't explain that. When I press and hold the Shift button and then
press and hold the down arrow key It starts working correctly selecting the
text until I reach the end of the paragraph. Then it activates the WinWord
menu so that I can't continue moving down selecting the required text. When
I click Esc twice to deactivate the appeared DD list and then the menu
itself, I can continue selecting to the end of the next paragraph, etc. I'm
sure this is the bug in some MS service pack. I'm going to spend my time in
next day or two, reinstall the office repairing damaged libs and then update
from MS site all SPs one by one to get the name of the SP doing that. Then
I'll block it forever. I'm just wondering is anybody else getting a similar
issue with his WinWord from MS Office Enterprise edition 2003 and WinXPPro
with all latest service packs installed including the office ones.

Just D.

 

[Terry Farrell]

May I suggest that if you are selecting whole paragraphs try using the DOWN
arrow key. Does it still activate the menu then?

terry

 

[Just D.]

Terry,

I'm sorry I didn't get it. Here is your proposal: "try using the DOWN arrow
key".

Here is what I wrote earlier: "hold the down arrow key"

What's the point?

Just D.

 

[Tony Jollans]

I think it is highly unlikely that such bizarre behaviour would have gone
unnoticed by the thousands, if not millions, of other users who have
installed the service packs.

To be clear, you are saying that when you place the cursor somewhere in a
document and press Shift+Down Arrow, all goes well until the selection
includes a paragraph mark, at which point a submenu opens up off the menu
bar.

My guess would be that, regardless of service packs, this is caused by an
AddIn. Does it still occur if you start Word in Safe Mode (press and hold
Ctrl while starting Word - and only release it when the Safe Mode prompt
appears)?

 

[Just D.]

To be clear, you are saying that when you place the cursor somewhere in a

document and press Shift+Down Arrow, all goes well until the selection
includes a paragraph mark, at which point a submenu opens up off the menu
bar.

That's exactly what's going on.

Does it still occur if you start Word in Safe Mode (press and hold Ctrl
while starting Word - and only release it when the Safe Mode prompt
appears)?

Yes, it helps. How can I test all these add-ins? When I open the menu in
Word: Tools => Templates and Add-Ins I don't see anything inside. No items
are currently loaded. Any good idea how can I get the list of these add-ins
to exclude them one by one to test that out?

Btw, maybe it's important and it could be a reason why a lot of different
users are not seeing the same issue. I got MS Office 2003 Proofing Tools and
maybe MS SP corrected something there. Although when I repair the office
using the original disk the issue disappears, after installing SPs from
windowsupdate it appears again.

Also I have MS SQL Server, Visual Studios 2001, 2003, and the latest one,
etc., etc. Since this machine uis used for development I got a lot of stuff
loaded. I tried to test this bug with IE6 and IE7 - the bug exists
regardless of that. Add-ins? Maybe. But I'm not seeing that in the Add-Ins
list. Also maybe Symantec has some problems with the latest MS tools or
updates? Just tested that - doesn't help even when I delete the office
support and stop antivirus at all.

Just D.

 

[Tony Jollans]

If there are no 'normal' AddIns you may have COM AddIns.

Some of them will appear in the COM AddIns Dialog (if you don't have this,
go to Tools > Customize, select the Tools category and then find COM AddIns
under Commands and drag it to your toolbar of choice) but some of them -
Acrobat 7, for example - are buried in the registry
(HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\Word\AddIns) and don't expose themselves via
the Word UI.

--
Enjoy,
Tony

To be clear, you are saying that when you place the cursor somewhere in a
document and press Shift+Down Arrow, all goes well until the selection
includes a paragraph mark, at which point a submenu opens up off the menu
bar.

That's exactly what's going on.

Does it still occur if you start Word in Safe Mode (press and hold Ctrl
while starting Word - and only release it when the Safe Mode prompt
appears)?

Yes, it helps. How can I test all these add-ins? When I open the menu in
Word: Tools => Templates and Add-Ins I don't see anything inside. No items
are currently loaded. Any good idea how can I get the list of these
add-ins to exclude them one by one to test that out?

Btw, maybe it's important and it could be a reason why a lot of different
users are not seeing the same issue. I got MS Office 2003 Proofing Tools
and maybe MS SP corrected something there. Although when I repair the
office using the original disk the issue disappears, after installing SPs
from windowsupdate it appears again.

Also I have MS SQL Server, Visual Studios 2001, 2003, and the latest one,
etc., etc. Since this machine uis used for development I got a lot of
stuff loaded. I tried to test this bug with IE6 and IE7 - the bug exists
regardless of that. Add-ins? Maybe. But I'm not seeing that in the Add-Ins
list. Also maybe Symantec has some problems with the latest MS tools or
updates? Just tested that - doesn't help even when I delete the office
support and stop antivirus at all.

Just D.

 

[Just D.]

You know I have tons of COM+ servers on my machine and it's much easier to
roll back with the office to get it working, then install all MS updates one
by one, I guess about 7 different ones, and catch the required one.

If there are no 'normal' AddIns you may have COM AddIns.

Some of them will appear in the COM AddIns Dialog (if you don't have this,
go to Tools > Customize, select the Tools category and then find COM
AddIns under Commands and drag it to your toolbar of choice) but some of
them - Acrobat 7, for example - are buried in the registry
(HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\Word\AddIns) and don't expose themselves
via the Word UI.

 

[Just D.]

And actually I don't think that it could be a serious issue since when I
reinstall Office it works great until I install one of the MS SPs. We'll
see, maybe later today or tomorrow which one makes this trouble.