Keyboard shortcuts reassign themselves

Anonymous
2014-02-13T22:00:31+00:00

Word's built-in keyboard shortcuts sometimes reassign themselves.

For example, if I edit a table, such as copying and pasting cells, and return to working on the rest of the document, command-c no longer becomes available, command-v turns into "cut" and command-] becomes paste. Those functions listed in the pulldown menus no longer include those keyboard shortcuts. However, if I use the contextual menu, the cut/copy/paste functions work (and also the contextual menu lists the no longer functioning command-c/x/v shortcuts). Similar things seem to happen after I import a photo into the file.

It doesn't matter if I am working in a .doc or .docx document.

If I quit and restart the program, everything goes back to normal until I edit a table again.

This has been happening since I installed Word 2011, on my MacBook Pro and Air, and on various versions of OSX (now running 10.9.1).

Does this happen to anyone else out there?

Madeline

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-02-17T00:56:53+00:00

    What worked for me was moving the Edit menu out of the second position. There's more details in my original post.

    Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately it did not work for me. It still got messed up as soon as I opened a MathType equation.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-02-17T00:36:55+00:00

    What worked for me was moving the Edit menu out of the second position. There's more details in my original post.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-02-16T19:48:27+00:00

    Amen, JZ!

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-02-16T19:40:55+00:00

    I'd also like to echo this problem. When I start a Word session (Word for Mac 2011, Version 14.6.3 (160329) and versions going back into the past as far as I can remember; El Capitan 10.11.6), my Edit menu looks like this first screenshot.

    After a few hours, or after a few seconds of opening and editing a MathType equation, it looks like this second screenshot.

    As soon as the change occurs (I notice it as soon as Command-V no longer pastes, instead causing a Paste Special, and I have to use Command-Shift-C to paste), my system.log file starts filling up with lines like this:

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]: Menu: 0x7e8a3160 Item: 14 Info:

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Text:Paste Unformatted Text

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Mark:<none>

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Cmd Key: <none>

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon:<none>

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Style Normal

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Command ID:  1 (0x00000001)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Modifiers:   0x00

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon Type:   0, Icon Handle: 0x0

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Text Encoding:   4294967294 (0xFFFFFFFE)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Hierarchical ID: 0 (0x0000)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Font:0 Lucida Grande

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  RefCon:  0 (0x0)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Key Glyph:   0 (0x0000)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Enabled?:Yes

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon Enabled?:   Yes

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]: Menu: 0x7e8a3160 Item: 14 Info:

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Text:Paste Unformatted Text

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Mark:<none>

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Cmd Key: <none>

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon:<none>

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Style Normal

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Command ID:  1 (0x00000001)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Modifiers:   0x00

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon Type:   0, Icon Handle: 0x0

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Text Encoding:   4294967294 (0xFFFFFFFE)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Hierarchical ID: 0 (0x0000)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Font:0 Lucida Grande

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  RefCon:  0 (0x0)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Key Glyph:   0 (0x0000)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.559 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Enabled?:Yes

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon Enabled?:   Yes

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]: Menu: 0x7e8a3160 Item: 15 Info:

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Text:Paste Special...

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Mark:<none>

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Cmd Key: V (0x56)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon:<none>

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Style Normal

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Command ID:  755 (0x000002F3)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Modifiers:   0x00

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon Type:   0, Icon Handle: 0x0

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Text Encoding:   4294967294 (0xFFFFFFFE)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Hierarchical ID: 0 (0x0000)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Font:0 Lucida Grande

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  RefCon:  0 (0x0)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Key Glyph:   0 (0x0000)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Enabled?:Yes

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon Enabled?:   Yes

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]: Menu: 0x7e8a3160 Item: 15 Info:

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Text:Paste Special...

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Mark:<none>

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Cmd Key: V (0x56)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon:<none>

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Style Normal

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Command ID:  755 (0x000002F3)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Modifiers:   0x00

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon Type:   0, Icon Handle: 0x0

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Text Encoding:   4294967294 (0xFFFFFFFE)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Hierarchical ID: 0 (0x0000)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Font:0 Lucida Grande

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  RefCon:  0 (0x0)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Key Glyph:   0 (0x0000)

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Enabled?:Yes

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]:  Icon Enabled?:   Yes

    2/16/17 2:16:07.560 PM Microsoft Word[12634]: Menu: 0x7e8a3160 Item: 17 Info:

    (but thousands of lines more). I also get occasional lines in system.log like this:

    2/16/17 2:20:03.272 PM WindowServer[208]: disable_update_timeout: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "Microsoft Word" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.

    2/16/17 2:20:08.068 PM WindowServer[208]: common_reenable_update: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "Microsoft Word" after 5.80 seconds [0.17fps] (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds [1.00fps])

    But I don't know if they're related.

    Does Word filling the syslog with thousands of lines of information over the course of a few minutes count as proof that this is a bug?

    I'd be so happy to dig further for anyone who thinks that progress could be made in fixing this incredibly annoying bug. 

    As with so many others, restarting Word always fixes it, until it occurs again.

    Jonathan

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-02-16T12:40:19+00:00

    I agree that the  shortcut self-reassignment problem is related to big tables and dictation status is at most a minor influence.

    I've pretty much stopped using this site because none of the proposed solutions seemed to resolve the problem. Unfortunately, when you write proposals there is no way to avoid big tables and this infuriating problem.

    Has this changed with Office 2016? I don't know. I've tried switching to that but there are other issues that keep me using Office 2011. For somethings, I still use the Windows Office 2007 or 8 (or whatever) with VirtualBox.

    It would be interesting to hear if the shortcut self-reassignment problem were solved in Word 2016 .

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