Word 2016 - Right clicking on highlighted text deselects it

Anonymous
2017-01-18T15:39:50+00:00

To put it lightly, this is driving me insane!!!  I just installed Office 2016, so I'm still getting used to it, but when I highlight a word or block of text, then right click to get the copy option, instead of giving me that drop down menu, it just deselects the text I just selected.  There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what does eventually cause the right click menu to appear and I have to either just keep selecting the text and right clicking until it eventually gives me the right click menu or I have to select the text and hit the copy icon on the top toolbar - which is a huge hassle when I'm doing this a lot and I have to move my mouse from the text all the way up to the toolbar instead of being able to leave my mouse in position and right click and get that right click menu.  This is such a hassle to me, that I'm seriously considering uninstalling Office 2016 and going back to Office 2010.  Please help someone!  I love the cloud feature to store my important documents on OneDrive so I always have a backup, but not so much so as to endure this right clicking problem.  My mouse is fine (brand new just before xmas in fact, trusted brand of Logitech) and all drivers are up to date.  I have checked settings on my mouse and there are no settings to do with this deselection and it is only happening in the Office 2016 products I have installed.  Of note, I am using Office 2016 on a computer with Windows 7, 64 bit version installed.

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Anonymous
2018-05-25T03:57:26+00:00

Had this issue myself.  Found a fix.

To fix this: Hit the File tab, go down to Options, and in the General section right at the top, there's a box that reads: "Show mini toolbar on selection".  Un-check this box, then hit okay, and the problem should be solved.  Right click should work properly again with no more text deselect.  Worked for me.

What people are saying is accurate in that it has to do with tiny mouse movements, BUT this is caused by a feature that was added recently.  It's that mini formatting toolbar that pops up automatically whenever you highlight something that's causing the problem.  This added feature creates an overlap of systems where Word thinks you're trying to select new text and interact with the new toolbar instead of just right clicking on the text that's already been highlighted.  Best way I can explain why I think the problem happens.  Turning off the mini formatting toolbar avoids this confusion, and the right click option is freed up again.  Not sure why this is even a feature since the mini formatting toolbar shows up just above or below the right click pop up window anyway.  I guess it was added to erase the need to right click at all?  This idea sounds like it would add greater efficiency, but in reality it seems to have just made things less efficient.  Poor design, in other words, but not necessarily a bug.  Oh well.  Anyway, that's the fix everybody.

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-05-28T11:40:44+00:00

    Lady Anastil - You are a rockstar! Solved it. Thanks.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-01-24T15:50:13+00:00

    This is clearly an error in the software of Word. However, Microsoft are unable to find the bug. For them, it does not matter much.

    Staff at Microsoft do not read user complaints, no user feedback is welcome there.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-12-18T21:21:16+00:00

    Try to forget the mouse and you should not spend more time on this issue.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-01-21T15:57:59+00:00

    I have the same issue.

    It occurs also in tables, even with no text.

    Windows 10 64 bit, latest version 1607 build 14393.693

    Office 2016 Home 64 bit, latest version 1611 build 7571.2109

    There are no add-ins enabled in Word.

    The problem is also present in Outlook in HTML and Rich text formats (but not in plain text format) 

    I did the full "Online repair". The issue persists.

    I unplugged the mouse, tried with the built-in touch pad. The issue persists.

    Tried with Microsoft mouse/keyboard. The issue persists. 

    I ran the Microsoft Keyboard diagnostics and the Microsoft Mouse Diagnostics programs, nothing unusual that would explain this - no stuck keys or phantom clicks.

    Another possibly related symptom is that when there is no selection the context menu appears after 1-2 second delay. This is on a quad-core i7-3610QM, 16 GB RAM, SSD-equiped, GeForce GTX 670M laptop. The delay is present in Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote as well, while the deselection bug fortunately is not.

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