why cant i draw a straight line or arrow in word 2013?

Ok... figured out a stupid and novel solution to this BS.  

Get everything done you can before putting the lines in.  

Save the work, and make a back up just in case.

Save one of the copies as Word 2003 - 2010 file type .doc

Draw the arrows in that environment!

Convert the word doc back to .docx using the converting tool

The arrows and the potential issues of text in fields will repair!

So stupid!  This is a real bug that needs fixing if you want to do things like flow charts all in Word... I know other tools are better for flow charts, but if you want it all presentable in one doc, this seems like the best way.

Thanks for the update.

There is no 2003-2010 DOC format. I guess you mean 97-2003 DOC format.

This is no longer the place to report bugs.  You can copy your full reply to UserVoice.com

• Word - http://word.uservoice.com/

Paste a link to this question in UserVoice.  And create a new reply here with a link to your suggestion in UserVoice so that others who see this question can vote and comment in support of it.

How do I give feedback on Microsoft Office for Windows / Mac / iOS / Android / Office Online

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/How-do-I-give-feedback-on-Microsoft-Office-2b102d44-b43f-4dd2-9ff4-23cf144cfb11

If you do submit a suggestion to UserVoice, please copy the link and post it back here in a reply so that other people can more easily find it and vote to support it and add their comments.

We’re working to make Word help more helpful

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_other-mso_win10/were-working-to-make-help-more-helpful/8f97889c-ad04-42be-955c-1982924449da?msgId=486d9f73-594f-4908-93ef-c09d99bea741&rtAction=1487125316842

<snip>

When you click a Help link in Word, we want to take you to helpful information. Sometimes we have a clear idea of what people are looking for, like how to use the Format Painter. But sometimes we don’t yet have an article that meets your needs.

In those cases, please use this discussion to tell us what you’re looking for. What were you working on in Word, and what information did you expect in Help?

Not only is this discussion an opportunity for you to get an answer to your question, it’s also a way for us to learn how to improve Word Help. Thanks for helping!

</snip>

In other words, if you tried to use the built in help in Word and it didn’t … help, then post your complaint to the link above. If you have links to the solution to your question, please include them.  And since this question has been asked by MS developers, they will look into the question and hopefully provide a reply with “inside” information.

“UserVoice.com” - MS Suggestion box sites

The Office 2016 applications now have the File menu > Feedback command.  The 2 “smiley face” buttons just submit ideas, with no possibility of feedback.  The third “I Have a Suggestion” button. It connects you to the appropriate “UserVoice” subsite.  There you can make a suggestion. During the start of the process it does a keyword search looking for similar existing suggestions. You can pick an existing suggestion to vote for (and add a comment to or you can submit a new suggestion.  Copy the link to the suggestion and post it back in the Answers forum if you had a question started there.

A better place to submit this type of feedback the “UserVoice” forum. You can submit suggestions for “new feature requests”, “change existing feature requests” or actual “bug reports” to the forum either by “voting” and commenting on a similar existing suggestion or by creating a new suggestion for others to vote and comment on.

When MS determines there is “enough” interest they will change the status of the post to indicate if they are going to work on it or ignore it.  What is “enough” interest is totally undefined. Some postings have been acted on with only a dozen or 2 votes and comments.  Others (like “bring back Picture Manager” continue to be ignored even though they have several hundred votes and comments.

It is also a good idea to provide cross posted links.  Put a link back to this answers.com posting on UserVoice, and add a reply here with a link to your specific posting on UserVoice.

Pointing to “uservoice” is a wasted effort.  That is just the high level identifier with no link to MS specific subsites!

• MS has SEVERAL dozen sub sites.

• MS does NOT have naming standards for those sub sites.

• MS does NOT have a home page to guide people to all of the sub sites.

<HINT HINT MS!>

This next link is a wiki with a collection of MS UserVoice.com sites I’ve encountered (I’m sure there are more):

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows\_10-desktop/ms-suggestion-box-sites-at-usdervoicecom/7397119c-6d48-49e6-8d94-7bd0a50d214f

Go to UserVoice, either through specific links I’ve provided below or create your own suggestions there. That is where MS is looking specifically for this type of user feedback to bring them back to reality from what-ever lala-land they are working in when they make these “improvements”.  Comments (and votes) like these in UserVoice helped to convince MS to roll back the “phat QAT” buttons in 2016 and to at least partially undo the 2016 changes to the way the Pen input works.

Please do copy the comments you’ve made here and paste them into comments in UserVoice. Also include a link to this question. If you do make a suggestion, copy the link to the UserVoice suggestion and post it back on this question so other people with the same problem can vote for it and comment on it. (You’ll get faster action that way.) Please get all of your friends and co-workers who use Office to vote for your issue!

This blog has a picture to show MS really is looking at UserVoice sites:

http://blog.indezine.com/2016/02/powerpoint-feedback-and-uservoice-does.html

https://www.change.org/p/satya-nadella-microsoft-what-computer-users-want-changed-in-windows-10

• Public petition site

Guys, check/vote/comment this UserVoice:

https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/18446137-add-a-ruler-tool-in-the-draw-section

Why doesn't Microsoft fix the problem?  I seems pretty simple to fix it so that you can move the arrow back to a straight vertical or horizontal line? 

Is this like a programmer's prank?  Are they secretly laughing at users trying to get an arrow back to being straight by moving the end points.  Ha ha you almost had it in position. 

I am using 2010 and it is amazing that they re-cluttered the layout and moved everything around before fixing simple things like this.

This answer doesn't really fix the problem, it just provides a work-around for poor quality.