Word paste grayed out

L

Lawrence Aubin

When I open Word (Office XP) the paste function is grayed
out.
I have to then go back to the document (say, website
text) and re-copy the text, then go back to Word and THEN
the paste function will be ok.

Can anyone help me figure out why? I had this problem
before and I did something and that cured it but I've
forgetten what I did.

Thanks,

Larry Aubin
 
B

Beth Melton

Hi Larry,

Did Word come installed as part of Works Suite? If so then the Works
Suite Add-in is know to clear the Windows Clipboard when Word starts
along with a handful of other problems.

Go to your Control Panel and in Add/Remove Programs uninstall the
"Microsoft Works Suite Add-in for Word". Note you are not uninstalling
Word or Works, merely an add-in that supplies Works functionality to
Word.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
G

Guest

Hi Beth...

Nope. I don't have MS Works Suite Add that I know of. I
went to Add & Install just to double check and it isn't
there.

Do you think that something is clearing my Clipboard? I
don't have this problem with any other programs. I did
a "Copy" of some text, then ran Excel and it pasted fine,
so I think it is specific to Word.

Any other ideas?

Thanks for picking out my problem and giving me a hand to
solve this..

Larry Aubin
 
B

Beth Melton

Happy to help out Larry. :)

A quick way to determine if the problem is caused by an add-in is to
start Word using the /a switch. This will start Word with the default
settings and will bypass add-ins.

Go to Start/Run and run:

winword /a

Note the space before the forward slash.

If the Windows clipboard is not cleared then go to Tools/Templates and
Add-ins and see if there are any global add-ins in the list. If found
then they will be located in either the Word Startup folder or
Office\Startup folder.

You can determine the location of the Word Startup folder by going to
Tools/Options/Files Locations. The Office\Startup folder can be found
in the Office installation path.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
G

Guest

Beth,

Sorry I haven't answered sooner, been real busy with the
holidays etc.

BTW Happy New Year!

You hit the nail on the head. I ran Word and had some
text in the Clipboard. It didn't show up. I then ran
TextPad (plain text editor) and again, the text didn't
show up, which was different. (But - I ran it AFTER Word
was started) Hummmm

When I ran Word with the /a switch, bingo! The paste
selection was active and I pasted the text. Wahoo

Now - I go to those two locations from the
Tools/Options/Files Locations. Under "Tools" it has a
bunch of folders including "AddIns" and "Startup" Startup
was empty and AddIns I created a test folder inside it
and put all the files in it, but that didn't help. I went
to the one in my Applications folder and it was empty. I
have moved all of them out, so now both folders are
empty, but the paste is still grayed out and no text is
available.

There must be something else..

Any more ideas?

Larry

in the Office installation path.
 
B

Beth Melton

Hi Larry,

Did you check under Tools/Templates and Add-ins to see if there were
any add-ins listed?

Another place to check for Add-ins is COM add-ins. These are added via
the Registry rather than the Startup folders.

To determine whether or not you are using COM Add-In you can add the
"COM Add-in" command to your toolbar:

- Right-click any toolbar and select Customize
- On the Commands tab, select the Tools category
- Locate COM Add-Ins on the right
- Drag/Drop to a location of your choice

For more information on COM Add-Ins, see this article:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
L

Larry Aubin

Hi Beth,

I could kiss you.

That did it! There were 3 entries. Two were un-checked
and one for Stamps.com which was. I deleted the un-
checked ones and un-checked Stamps.com.

After a re-start IT WORKED. I got my paste function back.

Thank you so very much!

Larry Aubin
 
B

Beth Melton

Hi Larry,

If you found the Stamps.com add-in selected when you viewed the
add-ins under Tools/Templates and Add-ins then I suspect the problem
may return.

I note that you restarted Word and the problem didn't return
but...add-ins that are enabled in the dialog box are loaded via one of
the Startup folders. If you re move the check to disable the add-in
then that only disables it for the current Word session. If you find
the problem reappears then search for the file name of the add-in and
either move it out of the folder in which it located or delete it if
you do not plan on using it.

btw no kisses, virtual or real, are necessary - just glad to help.
<grin>
--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
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