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

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

Ok it’s a change they made on purpose but it’s still a bug to me as:

1. First and foremost, it works sometimes and others here were saying their install is fine and I should reinstall Office and or Windows.
2. It still works in the other new Office programs, Outlook, Excel and One Note but not the one I would ever need/use, Word. ????
3. They did not did not make the user aware.
4. They did not give the user an option to turn it on or off.

First, those who moderate these forums with a Microsoft tag are simply that, moderators. They may try to answer questions, but their responses aren't typically based on experience. They post what they find in the Help files or repeat something they found online. I've noted about 9 out of every 10 of their responses suggest reinstalling Office or Windows.

It may seem buggy, but it's not, now that I understand the cause. If you recall, one detail I noted when the Alt-Click functionality worked vs it not working was the presence of the AutoSave button on the Quick Access Toolbar. When it wasn't working the AutoSave was present. It disappeared when my Alt-Click started working again. And when it reappeared, my Alt+Click stopped working again. The initial rollout of the AutoSave, which included the Modern Translator, had an issue and they rolled the update back. This is why it didn't work, started working, and then stopped again.

Another reason some people can still use their Alt-Click is because they either don't have all Office 365 updates installed or they're using a non-O365 version of Office 2016. Non-O365 versions do not get updates.

As noted in my reply, Outlook didn't get the Modern Translator update. And upon checking, Excel and OneNote haven't been updated either. I suspect they all will at some point it will stop working in those apps. The reason Word was first is because translation services are more likely to be used in it. I'm not sure if you're using Group Policy, but it can be used to return to the old Translation service which uses the Research pane. There's a link in my reply on how to do this.

I agree that it would've been nice to make users aware of this instead of us wasting a bunch of time trying to track it down. I reviewed the update details and didn't see the removal of the Alt-Click listed.

I can see why they got rid of it due to user complaints. I use the Alt key to make a vertical text selection and I usually trigger the Research pane the first time I try. It's annoying when that happens. Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't nix Alt-Click before it was officially released. I attended the Office 2003 Launch Event in NYC and saw Bill Gates do a demo in Word 2003. I watched him get hit by a bug in the new Alt-Click functionality in the beta version he was using. He was demoing it and Alt-Clicked an image and triggered a bug that put Word into a non-responsive state. I'm sure no one else recognized it or even noted he had an issue. It was only a matter of seconds before he pushed an "emergency" button that switched to another computer backstage and no one was the wiser. The only reason I noticed is because I filed the bug. :-)

Ok, ok, but... still a bug to me. :P Still leaves folks wondering as it works on Joe's (updateless) PC but not mine and it works in Outlook but not Word and so on.

I had read about people getting it when they did not want it but it seems like they could have made it like Shift+Alt+Click or something. Anyway.

Trying the Customize Keyboard workaround and can't seem to find a way to bind the mouse click.

No luck with either of the two workarounds. No way to add a mouse click to the keyboard customization and the Group Policy did not work. :(