Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Problem modifying the look of text in word - 2003

Jan 19, 2010 2:21AM PST

This occurs using Microsfot Word -2003 in an XP environment

Often, when trying to make a change in a word document (such as bolding,centering, etc.) the change is applied to the entire document rather than just the highlighted text.

The problem is corrected by ctrl-z (undo) one time. At that point, the proper change is made in the document.

How do I stop this from happening (it does not happen all the time, just some of the time)

Thank you

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Not sure, but
Jan 20, 2010 8:06PM PST

my first step would be to find and delete Word's "Normal.dot" file. When Word is re-opened, it will re-create Normal.dot

Normal.dot is a global template file for Word and if it becomes corrupted that often produces strange results. The problem you're having would seem at first glance to be a keyboard problem, but it does no harm to replace Normal.dot

A search will find it, but if your system is set to hide file extensions, you need to change that in Control Panel > Folder Options > View tab, remove the tick for "Hide extensions for known file types".

Mark

- Collapse -
Thanks... I think it worked
Jan 20, 2010 10:43PM PST

Thanks... I have done as you suggested... so far it has worked... Hopefully it will solve the problem permanently

- Collapse -
(NT) Good, and let's hope it is solved.
Jan 21, 2010 3:56AM PST