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

--

BETALOGUE - Weblog at http://www.betalogue.com | @betalogue

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments

47 answers

Sort by: Newest
  1. Anonymous
    2015-02-17T15:39:49+00:00

    I regularly have cursor disappear in Mac Word.  Currently using 14.4.8 and OSX 10.9.5.

    I have installed all UPDATES for Word and have had the same vanishing curso problem while using various versions.  

    Cursor does appear and blink elsewhere, such as the Chrome browser I am using right now.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2015-02-15T14:53:17+00:00

    I guess I am the most jinxed Office 2011 user in the world and I have all these bugs that no other Office user has.

    Either that, or no one is making much of a real effort to reproduce user-reported problems. 

    As for Draft View in Word 2011, sure. I could also give up on Word 2011 altogether. Except that I can't. Ha!

    It seems that Microsoft Office 2011 and OS X Yosemite have one thing in common: They both work great, as long as you don't attempt to actually USE them to do stuff.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2015-02-15T10:38:56+00:00

    It does not happen in my PowerPoint.

    In Word, try Draft View as a workaround.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2015-02-14T16:49:43+00:00

    On a side note, I can reproduce this in a test user environment with zero custom settings:

    1. Put your I-beam cursor in Notes section in a PowerPoint 2011 presentation (in Normal view).
    2. Switch to another app.
    3. Switch back.

    No more cursor. Ahem.

    Sure, it's PowerPoint, not Word. But to me it's a sign of how much Microsoft's engineers care about the reliable blinking of the I-beam cursor in Microsoft apps in OS X.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2015-02-14T15:30:31+00:00

    The only possibly "unique" thing is that I am describing the bug more accurately than other reports, because I have extensive experience with it (see posts above).

    That doesn't mean that other complaints about the disappearing cursor don't involve text boxes as well.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments