My Cursor Keeps Turning White in Microsoft Word Without Typing

Anonymous
2022-08-15T21:33:58+00:00

My cursor keeps turning white in Microsoft Word 2016 (I bought lifetime access), even without typing. I already tried changing the cursor settings so that it wouldn't disappear when typing, but that didn't do anything. After a few seconds the text selection cursor will turn white, and, if I hover over dark text, I can see the cursor outline. This has been happening in multiple documents, so not an isolated incident.

This started after a Microsoft update which forced me to log back into my Microsoft account to use Word about a week or two ago. I've tried everything I can find on the internet, but no luck yet. It's very hard to get work done if I can't see my cursor in Word, so what do I need to do to fix this issue so I can get back to work?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-01-06T13:41:37+00:00

    As an update, this is still an issue even after trying everything here. The solutions would work for anywhere between a few days to a few minutes, but the mouse cursor would always turn white again and get stuck that way eventually. Microsoft needs a more permanent fix because now Word 2016 is moving at a snail's pace. Part of me believes that they aren't doing anything just so they can convince us to upgrade to 360...very frustrating that there is still no working solution after six months!

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-01-13T16:10:12+00:00

    Yup. Still a problem however I experience my problem the worst while using Vmware. Along with the bluetooth mouse problems in Windows 11 it really makes me wish I could revert to Windows 10 on this laptop. It's obviously not a driver or settings issue, it's a Windows issue.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-01-15T01:57:22+00:00

    I had the exact same problem. I did just find a fix I believe. First go to "Mouse Settings" and then click the "Additional mouse Settings". Then go to the "Pointer Options" tab. There You should see a check box labeled "Hide Pointer While Typing" And uncheck it. After I did that I have not had an issue with it. Hope that helps

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-15T21:54:27+00:00

    Yes, that resolved the issue. If this was reddit I would give you an award for this answer while calling myself stupid because I just stumbled past that setting and didn't think about trying to fix the issue this way.

    However, the fix only works after having typed a letter in the document after selecting the window. This is still a minor inconvinience but it's much more bearable than not seeing your cursor.

    If someone wants just a quick fix though, just turn your Cursor design to black and you get rid of the issue completely.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-01-15T23:53:47+00:00

    I had the exact same problem. I did just find a fix I believe. First go to "Mouse Settings" and then click the "Additional mouse Settings". Then go to the "Pointer Options" tab. There You should see a check box labeled "Hide Pointer While Typing" And uncheck it. After I did that I have not had an issue with it. Hope that helps

    It's been unchecked this whole time and the problem has persisted.

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