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
    2023-03-28T16:11:32+00:00

    I am also experiencing this bug with the latest Microsoft update. I have done all of the above except graphics card update since I am working on a work laptop.

    Please focus on this issue as it makes it super frustrating if not impossible to use onenote anymore.

    Doesn't seem like they've done much of anything, and this has been an issue for me since August.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-28T23:48:47+00:00

    I'm getting this as well. Seems ok in Word though. It happens in data entry fields on some websites.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-04-06T12:18:36+00:00

    Me too. All Office apps - can't see where I about to click in a spreadsheet, where I am in a Word doc, Outlook etc.

    It happens on my Windows 11 machine and on a VDI Windows 10 machine (running the VDI session on Windows 11).

    Doesn't happen on a native Windows 10 install with up-to-date M365.

    One quick fix that works for me is to turn on Mouse Pointer Trails and set the trail to shortest. Not ideal but it works (for me)

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-04-21T21:22:09+00:00

    You can try the method I mentioned in the previous reply, which disables MPO functions by modifying the WIndows Registry.

    For me, it is working well till now!

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-04-21T21:41:14+00:00

    I've noticed recently that it's been happening less frequently, but the problem has not completely gone away. Is anyone aware of whether something was updated recently in Windows or with AMD which could have helped with this?

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