Why does the blinking I-beam cursor keep disappearing when editing text inside tables in Word 2011?

Anonymous
2015-01-26T19:47:56+00:00

Currently in Word 2011 14.4.7 on OS X 10.10.1 (but the problem has existed forever).

Whenever I edit a Word document containing tables with text in the table cells, once the blinking I-beam cursor is inside table cells, it tends to stop blinking and disappear altogether for entire seconds on end. This makes it very difficult to keep track of where one's cursor actually is. 

Why does this keep happening?

Same thing in text boxes and other "text within a frame" contexts.

Pierre Igot

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  1. Jim G 134.1K Reputation points MVP
    2015-03-28T14:43:16+00:00

    What I'm trying to say is that the Microsoft team is working to fix bugs in Office 2016, not 2011 right now. Going forward, if you want things to work well, use 2016 Preview and test there. Report problems in 2016. I would not expect bug fixes in 2011 any more.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-03-26T18:43:55+00:00

    I'm using Word  for Mac 2011 version 14.4.8

    So it doesn't look like it is done

    Bill

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  3. Jim G 134.1K Reputation points MVP
    2015-03-25T16:29:17+00:00

    Hi Bill,

    Are you using Word 2011 or Word 2016?

    If you see this problem in Word 2016 then please re-post as a new question in the forum for Office for Mac 2016 Preview. 

    If the problem is with Word 2011, then I would not expect the problem to be fixed, as Word 2011 is now considered done and almost over.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-03-23T17:06:58+00:00

    This problem is happening to me as well.  

    I have put the document in dropbox.  Here is the link

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/0w2w17uvbp5p29e/Meeting%20Roster%20-%20test%20non%20blinking%20cursor.docx?dl=0

    However, I notice that when I download that file from dropbox and then open it - the blinking cursor starts working

    Thanks

    Bill

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  5. Jim G 134.1K Reputation points MVP
    2015-03-10T17:44:31+00:00

    I thank you for the chuckle about the smiley faces.

    Think of Word 2016 as version 1 of Microsoft Word. It's a completely different set of code from any version before it, so if you want to get your bugs fixed for posterity, now is the time to do it. After a few weeks, this window of opportunity will be lessened.

    There is now a forum dedicated to the Office 2016 beta. If you have example files you would like to submit, please make a new question for each specific issue. Provide download links just as you did with the watermark problem. That was incredibly helpful to me. I was able to see exactly what you were seeing. MVPs can forward your example files to Microsoft's product group.

    Right now Microsoft is focused on hangs and crashes for Office 2016, but they want submissions of all sorts. Other problems, feature requests, suggestions, complaints - everything is on the table for Office 2016 and now is the best time to get these issues aired.

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