MS Office Word question

1. 80

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   I use Word (2003) for just about all word processing now, and I know a lot of little tricks to make life easier, I hope.  But I have also recently tried some "little tricks" that haven't worked out the way I intended. I need help to undo or correct what I have done.  (Preferably correct, rather than undo.)
   
   Today I customized my formatting toolbar by adding the "strikethrough" command icon, because I use it often enough that I want to have it handy.  When I actually made used of that icon, it performed more than I had asked it to.  It changed the typestyle, the font color, the kerning, and more.  Honest, all I asked for was just to strikethrough!
   
   It also actually jumped the cursor to a different location and performed the same actions on another line of type.  I can't just go back to Undo, because there are so many steps required (a lot of VGA stuff).  And I can't highlight the text and use the icon as a toggle switch - I tried that.
   
   Can any of you experts give me some suggestions to try?  I would really like to have the icon on the toolbar, but I will change it, if I must!

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   1. 84

      easylearningwebposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I would like to try and help you figure out the issue you are having with the strikeout icon. First, I would to check a few things so that I understand which toolbar you are using and which icon. Are you referring to the strikeout icon that is the lowercase abc with the line through it...is that what the icon looks like? If so, so far so good. That is the icon I use and it shouldn't be re-formatting font, etc. It should only be crossing out your text.
      
      Are you using the original formatting toolbar or the ribbon formatting bar? The original word formatting toolbar in older versions of Word tends to not show all normal popular icons and that used to annoy me, so the first thing I would do is drag the formatting toolbar down so all icons are showing.
      
      The new "ribbon" bar is arranged differently but providing your Home tab is selected, the formatting icons should be on the left including the strikeout icon.
      
      If one of the above suggestions worked, you should see the strikout icon (and you shouldn't need to add it, unless it was just hidden because the formatting toolbar wasn't stretched across to show all icons).
      
      If none of the above helped, I would remove the icon that you added, but look for the strikeout icon in one of the above toolbars to make sure it's not some other icon that does more than just strikeout.
      
      One more thing...Word can be funny sometimes when you try to format text which is at the end of the line...sometimes it carries formatting with the hard return.
      
      Please post more info and I'll be glad to help further.

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2. 80

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   No answers yet?  I have another problem with Word too, but this one is the simpler (and more recent) one, so I would like to get it out of the way first.
   
   Please?

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3. 80

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   I think it may have to do with a Macro.  I am completely new to Macros, and so I may have done something with the strikethrough at one time, thinking I was providing an alternative to the icon-on-the-toolbar.  Is there any way to turn off a Macro, or do I just have to delete it?

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4. 65

   theherbivorehippiposted 12 years ago

   I'm just bumping this up for you. I use OpenOffice myself so I'm clueless. I have Word and never touch it. Hopefully someone has an answer for you.
   
   

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5. 83

   Rafiniposted 12 years ago

   Bump!
   
   I use Word 2010 but have never heard of this issue you're having.

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6. 65

   theherbivorehippiposted 12 years ago

   Bump again.

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7. 0

   EmpressFelicityposted 12 years ago

   I don't know how to resolve your problem with the button, but here's a set of instructions for creating your own keyboard shortcut for strikethrough:
   
   http://word.tips.net/T000418_Strikethro … t_Key.html
   
   It's fiendishly long-winded but if successful, you only need do it the once!

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8. 80

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   Thank you ladies - THVH, Rafini, EmpressF - sooo much!  I have ended up with multiple "issues" this weekend.  So I am setting this particular one aside for a bit, but I will definitely come back to this thread and try out the instructions when other issues are more manageable.  I do appreciate your help immensely!

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   1. 65

      theherbivorehippiposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You're welcome. Hope you get it figured out.

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9. 80

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   Hi, easylearningweb:
   I appreciate your attempt to help me straighten this out! As I indicated, the problem may possibly be related to a Macro that I created without knowing enough about Macros.  Anyway, there are a few items in your post that I don't understand, for example:
   
   I don't know what you mean by the ribbon formatting bar. (Sorry.)
   
   
   In fact, I don't even know what you mean by "Home tab."    (Sorry.)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   It is the strikeout icon.  See (inadequate) pictures above.
   
   
   I can see this as possibly being part of the problem.  However, the formatting that is added is not a part of the usual formatting.  For example, when I went to "Undo" the strikeout (after using the icon), here are all the steps I had to undo:
   
   VBA-Font-Animation
   VBA-Font Kerning
   VBA-Font Position
   VBA-Font Scaling
   VBA-Font Spacing
   VBA-Font Subscript
   VBA-Font Superscript
   VBA-Font Engrave
   VBA-Font Color
   VBA-Font AllCaps
   VBA-Font SmallCaps
   VBA-Font Hidden
   VBA-Font Shadow
   VBA-Font Emboss
   VBA-Font Outline
   VBA-Font DoubleStrikeThrough
   VBA-Font StrikeThrough
   VBA-Font UnderlineColor
   VBA-Font Underline
   VBA-Font Italic
   VBA-Font Bold
   VBA-Font Size
   VBA-Font Name
   
   That's a lot of "Undo's."   And it's not normal, obviously.

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   1. 84

      easylearningwebposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi again Aficionada,
      
      I'll try to clarify a few things to help. First, if you created a macro, it would have asked you for a macro name and icon to assign. I'm not sure if the culpruit is a custom macro, but you never know (do you recall being in macro function?).
      
      About the ribbon, I'm sorry for any confusion...the ribbon is new to 2007 so it probably isn't a part of 2003. The toolbar that you show in your image is the original formatting toolbar that I've seen.
      
      The strikeout icon looks normal and it's the one I use too.
      
      About the list you noted for the Undo's, wow, that is quite a list. It shouldn't require to undo all that formatting if the last thing you did was to strikeout text.
      
      Here are some things to try to narrow down the problem:
      
      1. Is the problem happening in all documents (old and new documents) or just in one document?
      
      2. Can you do a quick test like this: start a new document, select one word; then click the strikeout icon (the word should then be crossed out); then click Undo (click Undo icon, or used CTRL + Z). Then see what happens and let me know if that worked.
      
      3. If problems persist, maybe remove the icon that you added from the toolbar (especially if it's requiring that you undo more steps), and use the pull-down menu to pick Strikeout via the Formatting dialog box (hopefully this will behave). This will help to narrow down the problem.
      
      Hope that helps.

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      1. 80

         Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         
         I know for certain that using Strikeout via the dialog box works just fine.  I want the convenience of the icon on the toolbar.
         
         I think that I will just delete the Macro that I created and see if that takes care of the problem.  Thank you so much for your help!

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10. 80

    Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

    Goodness, I could have saved you (and myself) an enormous amount of time and effort, if I had just done the deletion to start with!  That took care of it.
    
    I did take the opportunity to go into Visual Basic Editor, so I got a bit of exposure to some new things, and that was a nice side bonus.
    
    Next time I try creating a Macro, I'll take things a little more slowly and try to be sure I know what I'm doing. 
    
    Thanks again for your help!

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    1. 84

       easylearningwebposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Glad to help! :-)

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