Word starts deleting my document one letter at a time. Nothing will stop it.

Anonymous

This has happened on two different computers with Word 2010 about once a month for a year.

First Word starts throwing in extra letters as you type. For example you type "hello" and word will type "heffffffffffhhhhhhhhhhhh".

Then you hit the back space key to undo the error.

With the error fixed you continue typing. Next you see an error and hit the delete key to fix it. Word starts to auto replete the delete key.

There is nothing you can do to stop it. It will continue until the complete document is deleted one character at a time. The only solution is to use task manager to shut down word and reopen an old version of the file. This has happened to more than one file on more than one computer. I have found other people looking for a solution to the same problem on other internet forums and also here, but I've never found a solution posted. Just generic answers like maybe its a virus or check everything in the registry. I have a short video of it on YouTube called "Word auto deleting a file. Nothing will stop it". if anyone wants to see it. Any ideas for resolving this?

Thanks

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Anonymous

Thanks for the idea but that's not it.

If you try holding down the Del key in Word until it auto repeats, all you have to do is hit the esc key to stop it. Try it yourself.

When this happens to me NOTHING will stop it except closing Word in the task manager.

It's not a stuck key. (on both my computers)

I looked at the stuff Stefan linked to but it had to do with problems starting Word. Word starts fine on both my systems. It's a generic install using the defaults at every turn. I've made no changes to the defaults and I have no addin's.

It's a software bug and it's been in Word for at least a year.

My Word installations (yes multiple) misbehave that way. Which is why I strongly agree with Stefan's suggestion that it is an add-in or some other 3rd party tool. Here are examples of unexpected behavior caused by 3rd party tools:

Clipboard functionality no longer allows ability to paste formatting in Office Apps – Skype error – Official notice

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2697462

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/excel/thread/0cffef67-afca-45ad-b75d-3eeb4a859983

Starting in March 2012, "Skype click to Call" has been causing problems File Open problems, and Copy/Paste problems in Office Apps.

The quick test for this problem is to close all open browsers. If the problem goes away it is probably Skype.

March 30 – MS has released an update to Skype that fixes the problem.

<snip>

For anyone reading this, I figured out the problem after surfing the web for the past 3-4 weeks. Painful process. I have a paid version of Advanced SystemCare Pro, v5.2.0. 3-4 weeks ago, while scanning through it's vast offerings, I came across a feature I could activate called "Smart RAM". I turned it on and checked the 5 boxes it offers in the settings. The last of those 5 is "Clean Clipboard". I unchecked this box a few minutes ago and it fixed my issues. I now have no problems with copy/paste. Info only, it case it helps anyone.

<snip>

Bluetooth Fix: “Microsoft Word has stopped working”

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-microsoft-word-has-stopped-working

Alright, well, I found the answer to this final issue: I only needed to disable the Bluetooth add-in on Options. I have no idea why that would have been the problem, but I found it as a suggested fix here. Now every single thing opens quickly and without error.

Thanks for all your help everyone.

As a recap:

My Office 2010 was a Click-to-Run version
Word suddenly giving me messages about "Downloading the Required Feature," freezing up, slowing down...
Ultimately had to uninstall Office
Reinstalled it from the Microsoft website with my product key, choosing the 64-bit version instead of the Click-to-Run version
Installed all new updates from Windows Updates
Restarted computer
Word working quickly with no messages, but became unresponsive when trying to open old files
Went to File->Options->Add-Ins->Go-> and unchecked Bluetooth.
Everything seems to be back to normal, if not better than before.

My problem is if I copy text from a web site or from Excel, Access etc into Word all I get is a black spot.

I have tried a repair install and checking all the settings against my laptop - where this function works properly.

The problem is caused by a defective Bluetooth add-in for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, turn off the Com Addin.

Additional Notes:

The defective Bluetooth add-in is usually installed by a Bluetooth driver. (In my case - Intel Centrino Wireless Bluetooth 3.0 + High Speed Adaptor (v1.1))
Updating your Bluetooth driver (or reverting to an older version) may also resolve the problem.
Unfortunately simply disabling the add-in through the Word options may result in a 3 second freeze when loading Word 2007. (If this is a problem, changing to a different bluetooth driver version may be the better option)

Another though just came to mind. Maybe you have a windows feature like "sticky keys" turned on. Take a look in Control Panel > Ease of Access > "Make your Keyboard Easier to Use" > Turn on Sticky Keys.

Don't guess! Work through the trouble shooting procedure that Stefan linked to. It will take 10 or 15 minutes to work though and then we will know for SURE. You may be pleasantly surprised.

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44 additional answers

Charles Kenyon 171.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2015-08-29T13:33:50+00:00

Thanks JM. Will do that. The quick-fixes I've adopted now is to make a copy of the document and to avoid using BACKSPACE to prevent the auto-delete. Irritating because I've to change the typing habit to highlight the words and then DELETE. I have found this site after WORD decided on its own to delete an hour's worth of work I'd done and the auto-save kicked in just in time to save the deleted version. Have to re-type the entire work from scratch. So much for productivity.

I've used WORD for 20 years since it was first launched. First time I am encountering this. MS, please fix the bug. If it's caused by an Add-In, identify it (them) and let your customers know. It does not help to point us to a site and expect us to find out how to solve it ourselves. If we can do that, we won't be writing for help.

The answers on this forum come primarily from volunteers like me who do not work for or speak for Microsoft.

Add-Ins are produced by third parties, not Microsoft. Microsoft does not track them or even know what ones are out there. You can find numerous Add-Ins that I've produced on my downloads page. I use many on my system that are not distributed elsewhere. Much commercial software that is distributed comes with and automatically installs Add-Ins to Word without even notifying the user, much less asking for permission. See Add-Ins in Microsoft Word for how to deal with ones that do not help you.

This is almost certainly not a bug in Word. I'm talking with 99.99% certainty, which doesn't mean I'm right.
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Charles Kenyon 171.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2015-08-28T16:34:16+00:00

Hi, I have faced the same issue. It's a boring laptop - I do not have any add-ons nor games/illegal downloads. The other software is mainstream and scanned by McAfee before installation. The rest of the MSOffice suite work fine. Only Word will auto delete the text backward. This has happened on average once a week to random documents. Now, I have to physically make a copy in case I'm unable to rescue the original file using the only way to stop the deleting: A-C-D. I have initially thought it was my laptop (Acer Aspire S7 on M10) and is about to buy a new HP but then, I found out it has been happening to other people as well.

Have you read through this entire thread and tried the troubleshooting methods recommended?

Even boring laptops have Add-Ins that you do not know about if you are an ordinary user. Any computer that accesses outside content can get viruses including ones that slip past McAfee. Since it only happens in Word, I vote for an Add-In, though. Check out Add-Ins in Microsoft Word. If you are seeing the same behavior with no Add-Ins loaded, it is likely a virus.
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Anonymous

2015-08-28T16:31:19+00:00

I raised this issue in 2014. It occurred under Win 7. Removal of add-ins and Safe mode made no difference. But only long documents were affected. Since many of those documents had sections copied from the same source I thought it might be a particular stream of attribute bytes that Word 2010 misread as a command. (Such things did occur in Word, WordPerfect and Amipro in the early 1990s.)

but I couldn't prove it.

Then I had to switch to a new laptop running Win 8.1 and had to re-install Word 2010. The problem disappeared on all the documents where it had been an issue. I have only had one recurrence since on any document. I deleted the document and retyped it.

So for me problem solved. Not sure if it was reinstalling Word 2010 or the move to Win 8.1. I'd try the reinstall first.
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Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2015-07-04T13:23:46+00:00

What have you tried so far, out of the suggestions in this thread, to troubleshoot the issue?

The underlying cause is likely a virus or a poorly designed add-in.
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