MS Word 2016 Alt-Click on a word to open Research Bug

More than likely, you have another application installed that uses the Alt-Click and it’s taking precedence over Word. I have the same issue and, so far, I haven’t found which application is causing it. Mine works properly when I start Windows in Safe Mode, which means it’s probably an app running in the background.

Unfortunately, it will likely be a process of elimination and that may take some time. I've tried various apps that identify shortcut key assignments, but since the Alt key is an accelerator, the apps I've tried don't detect an accelerator plus a mouse click. After wasting a lot of time, I stopped looking and just added the Research pane to my Quick Access Toolbar. It’s not the perfect solution, but it will work until the underlying problem is found. If you want to do the same, here are the steps.

1. Click File, and then click Options.
2. On the left, select Quick Access Toolbar
3. From the Choose Commands From drop down, select All Commands.
4. Locate Research… (the command with the three dots, not just Research or Researcher), select it and then click the Add button.
5. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.

To use the button, click in a word or select a phrase, and then click the Research button.

I'll dig around a little more and if I find something, I'll add an update to this thread.

Hi Tanquen1,

I checked the feature Alt-Click Research feature is still working in Word 2016.

May I know your Office Subscrption? Also, please make sure your Office is up-to-date. You can go to File > Accounts to check them.

What's more, you may also try the following steps:

a. In Word application, press Alt-F11 to open the VB Editor. 

b. Press Ctrl-G to open the Immediate Window.

c. Type this line: Application.CommandBars("Research").Enabled = True

d. Press Enter.

Thanks,

Jim

Right click and then click on Smart Lookup

I've been in contact with the Word team and the non functioning Alt+Click isn't a bug. It was disabled by design due to the new Translator feature. :-(

I believe the reason it started functioning for me again was due to a rollback of the AutoSave feature, which included the modern Translator. Tanquen1 had the a similar experience when Office was reinstalled/repaired. It worked again until the AutoSave/Translator update occurred.

With permission from the Translator team, I've copied their response below. 

When the modern Translator feature was introduced, the Alt+Click entry point for the older Research pane was removed. The reason for this is that translation was the last major scenario that depended exclusively on the Research pane. Also, there was a significant volume of negative feedback from users who were accidentally triggering the Research pane via Alt+Click. The shortcut still functions in Outlook, since the modern Translator feature has not shipped for Outlook, at this time.

If you still need or rely on the Alt+Click shortcut for Research pane, there are a few possible workarounds:

• You can use keyboard customization, to map the alt+click key combination to trigger the ResearchLookup command. File > Options > Customize Ribbon > Customize (keyboard shortcuts) > All commands (categories) > ResearchLookup, and you can add a binding.  Here is a help article explaining keyboard customizations
• Use Group Policy to switch off the modern Translator feature (back to the older translation feature powered by the Research pane): https://support.office.com/en-us/article/admin-considerations-for-the-modern-translator-feature-in-office-064e938e-0af4-4f35-bd1d-04feb45af9aa

We've already tried the enable property and that didn't do anything. I've also checked with another user in the office that was also upgraded to the new version of Microsoft Office and also on their machine it doesn't work in Word but it does work in Outlook.