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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

143 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2022-10-19T17:22:17+00:00

    I also experienced the curser turning white in my Outlook text fields. It's remarkable how frustrating this simple issue can be. Our company is using Microsoft 365 Apps for Business on a Nutanix AHV VDI running Windows 10 v21H2. Reading everyone's comments I looked at my mouse settings in Control Panel. I noticed that my mouse had a Scheme applied on the Pointers tab. Since I usually don't run optional settings my impulse was to select (None) from the Scheme drop menu. Well, my curser is back to normal in Outlook!

    This worked for me and I hope it works for other people as well. Thank you to everyone who pointed me in the right direction. I appreciate your comments.

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2022-10-21T20:17:51+00:00

    2019-21

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2022-10-24T17:46:58+00:00

    Unfortunately, I've also experienced this problem in my MS Office Word (2016) running on my new computer with Windows 11. It's unbelievably frustrating and there is no fix to deal with it.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2022-10-27T16:10:55+00:00

    Hey Tim,

    Not sure if you have found a solution to this, but i have. Now keep in mind im on windows 11, so i cant tell you if this works in windows 10. For me all i had to do was have a word document open, and go to File, Options, and then click Advanced. Once there scroll down, and uncheck "Use smart cursoring" Instantly fixed my issue. Hope this helps man!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2022-10-27T16:30:31+00:00

    Nope. Still persists.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments