Problems when using contractions such as I'm, I'll, etc. Any help?

Anonymous
2012-07-04T04:34:34+00:00

I'm having a problem whenever I try to use contractions that begin with "I" - such as I'm, I'll, etc. When I type "I'm", I get "I'  M" followed by a beep. Same thing with "I'll" - Outlook will type it as "I' L" and beep, not allowing me to enter any new characters until I delete the old and I have to type "I am" or "I will". "I've" is also a problem. It's seems as if the auto spell checker is just choking on any contraction beginning with "I"?

Yes, I am running the latest developer version of Mountain Lion but I've been running it for months with no problems in any Office app. This is something new and totally off the wall.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Clinton

Outlook | MacOS | Legacy Outlook for Mac | For business

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Anonymous
2012-07-28T04:59:25+00:00

Final update:

Update to Mavericks to resolve this issue.

The problem is related to webkit.  Webkit is a component of OS X (it is the HTML rendering engine behind Safari).  The bug was reported to Apple shortly after this thread started.  The fix was released recently in the version of webkit included with Mavericks.

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As a temporary workaround please turn off the "Capitalize first letter of sentences" autocorrect setting.

Select the menu Outlook, Preferences, Autocorrect and uncheck "Capitalize first letter of sentences".

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Update:

The recent Mac Office 14.2.5 release did not contain a fix for this issue.

The problem is related to webkit.  Webkit is a component of OS X (it is the HTML rendering engine behind Safari).  The bug was reported to Apple shortly after this thread started and we are eagerly waiting on a fix.

Apple released version 6.0.2 of Safari early November 2012, including a webkit update.  It is that update which is causing people to see changed, but not fixed, behavior.

The particular test case I have been using to reproduce the problem still fails with Safari 6.0.2.  Other uses are reporting that situations which were broken before now work.

There is no benefit in trying new identities or new user accounts.  The issue is well understood as being a webkit regression from when Mountain Lion was released.  It is not related to any problem with your identity, account or installation.

The above temporary workaround is still the only solution to suppress the problem until a complete webkit fix is released.  Updating to Safari 6.0.2 through Apple Software update may address some situations.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-05-29T09:36:49+00:00

    Hi Scott,

    although your answer is of 2012 I would like to give you some answers.

    Please note that I am Dutch so probably my English is not so good....

    I'm using Microsoft Office for Mac 2011; OSX Mountain Lion version 10.8.3 recently installed. Since this installation, in Outlook messages my fonts change spontanously when I'm typing. The grow bigger or smaller, and may change in colour too. Also, when I repaired this and have send my mails away, they can look different as a BC version: same spontanous changes take place. The receiver also receives these changes on their screen when opening. NB. I'm using a signature.

    Any ideas / solutions available?

    Thanks a lot in advance,

    Gr. Atwil

    HI Clinton and R-C-S,

    Thanks for reporting.  Seems that the new version of webkit included in Mountain Lion isn't playing well with the way we integrate in Office autocorrect (in Outlook webkit is used for both composing and displaying email bodies).

    Including both of you, I know of four different people reporting this.  I have only been able to repro this one way on my machine, and it is not the way the other two users are doing it.

    I can reproduce this problem by opening a new email, explicitly changing the font and then typing one of the problematic contractions.  I can change the default compose font under Outlook preferences and it doesn't cause an issue.  I have to explicitly change the font when composing an email.  The other two users are *not* doing this yet still have the problem.  I do not yet know why.

    Some questions so I can make sure we understand all the ways in which this is happening and fix it properly.

    1. Does it happen on new emails as well as replies?
    2. Are you sending HTML format emails or plan text emails? (when composing a message click the options tab to see what format the message is).  Does it happen on both?
    3. Are you doing anything special, such as changing the fonts as I am, to cause this or does it happen every time you compose an email with no special steps?
    4. Can you please check Outlook, Preferences, AutoCorrect.  Th default is that everything is checked on both the tabs.  Is this the case for you or have you changed these settings from the default

    I realize that your answers will probably be "it happens for every email you send and there's no more information to give".  However, anything else?  Do you ever remember changing Outlook composing \ auto correct settings or any Safari settings?

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-05-20T10:44:51+00:00

    In the end folks, it came down to removing all the preferences into a temporary folder, completely trashing any preference I thought was to do with Entourage,restarting the computer then feeding back in any missing preferences batch by batch. Eventually, when all the preferences were set up, I found that the problem had totally gone away - permanently!!! Like a sledgehammer to crack a walnut, it was crude, but effective.

    Whilst I don't know which particular new preference had solved the problem, clearly it simply boiled down to some sort of corrupted preference, at least in my case. Worth a try for anyone else who hasn't found an alternative solution yet.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-05-19T14:55:44+00:00

    I did go into Preferences/AutoCorrect/Exceptions and just added in:

    's

    't

    'l

    Seems to have fixed the problem.  One thing.   When typed into the exception bucket, it seems not display right ('s shows as s.) but it works.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-04-22T22:20:34+00:00

    A leaner solution:

    Get to the same Autocorrect section of the preferences dialog. (CMD+,)

    Click "Exceptions"

    Click the "First Letter" tab up top.

    Click the "+" sign on the bottom, and add I' to the list.

    When I tried adding the I with an apostrophe it returned an error.  But I found an alternative!

    Go to Edit -> Substitutions -> Show Substitutions to bring up the Substitutions dialogue box. 

    Make sure 'Text Replacement' is ticked and click the Text Preferences... button.  This brings up the Language and Text dialogue box from System Preferences with the text page selected.  (NB you could probably just go here by clicking the Apple -> System Preferences -> Language & Text.)

    Be sure 'Use symbol and text substitution' is ticked and add the offending words to the 'Replace' column and the desired corrections to the 'With' column.

    Replace | With

    I'D | I'd

    I'M | I'm

    I'Ll | I'll

    Close and test.

    OSX v10.8.3

    Outlook 14.3.2

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