How do I make "Profession" formatting work in Word Equation Editor

Hi @Hole, John,

Thank you for your response. I’m sorry that the methods I previously provided haven’t worked for you. To make it easier for you to find your school’s administrator, please see the following information:

Typically, the school administrator belongs to the IT department. In this case, you can contact the IT department and follow these steps:

Step 1: Go to https://admin.microsoft.com

Step 2: Click Help and Support

Step 3: Enter the title: Need assistance checking the Equation feature in Word on macOS

Step 4: Click Contact Support

Step 5: Choose your preferred contact method (email or phone number)

Once the IT department completes these steps, a live agent will proactively contact you using the method you selected. They will assist you with a deeper check on this issue.

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.

I look forward to continuing the conversation.

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The keyboard shortcut did the exact same as the other menu methods that I now think successfully convert from Linear to Professional.

I think the problem is that my unwanted format -is- the default Professional, and my desired format -always- auto-converts to the unwanted format (despite my explicit attempts otherwise).

In my previous comment, I show how I explicitly chose my desired format from the pull-down menu. I also showed how I set Equation Option defaults to my desired format and turned off auto-conversion.

This feels like a bug.

In order to get Microsoft Technical Support, I need to go through my university Microsoft admin. I'm going to try that convoluted route.

I get the same result as the other methods of toggling between linear and professional.

I think the problem is that the software considers -both- of the following to be professional, and it auto-converts from the one I want (the first one) to the one I don't.

This seems like a bug since both explicitly exist in the pull-down menu (first image below) and in the Equation Options (second image below), and I explicitly chose the one I want. And I've turned off auto-convert in the Equation Options (third image below).

The bug may be an unwanted auto-convert?

You must be an admin to get Microsoft Technical Support. That person is somebody hidden across a large university campus from me. I will try to find them to get them to report this (apparent) bug.

Hi @Hole, John,

Thank you for your response. I would like to provide you with the following information:

Have you tried using the following keyboard shortcut? ⌘ + =: Switch from Linear to Professional.

Based on the documentation I found, this issue has been resolved starting from version 16.96.2. In this case, please try using the shortcut I mentioned above.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/equation-editor-may-not-open-or-convert-expressions-as-expected-in-word-for-mac-95d3e552-2031-415a-877b-87d431549c70

Next, you can try uninstalling and reinstalling the application to check if the issue still occurs.

If, after performing the above steps, switching between Linear and Professional still does not work as expected, I recommend contacting Microsoft Technical Support for a deeper investigation of the issue.

To contact Microsoft Technical Support, you can refer to the following documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/get-help-support?view=o365-worldwide

 I hope this information is helpful.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.

I look forward to continuing the conversation.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

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I am using MacOS Word Version 16.104.1 (26010228)

Within a Word doc, I choose insert and equation, which brings up the equation editor. I've used this for a few years, but always some equations revert to non-professional formats - which my audience will no longer accept.

In the equation toolbar, I choose the summation that has limits above and below, and it auto-moves the limits to the right.

The same happens with integrals. I want the limits above and below - which is standard math notation.

I want:

which I copied from a textbook. This is standard (professional) math notation.

Within the equation toolbar, I choose:

But it gives me the menu item immediately to the right, resulting in:  

I guess it is vertically compressed for space, but it is not standard notation.

I have the exact same issue with integrals. I want:

and I get the limits to the right of the integral symbol.

I have also had fractions auto-change from top-above-bottom format to a/b format.

When I'm within the equation editor, I can right-click (on my Mac, it's a two-finger click), and choose "Professional". This does not fix the summation (or integral) before or after I type the equation. Choosing Linear and then Professional goes from completely linear (horizontal) and back to the format I do not want.

In the equation toolbar, I can choose Convert => Professional (either current or all). These do the same as the right-click menu.

My toolbar does not have the little symbol yours has in the corner to choose Equation Options.
However, in the Format menu, I can use Equation Options, then I chose

Note that I unclicked both choices.

I also chose:

In both cases, I changed from the first to the second option.

BUT still, after selecting those formats (either before or after I type the equation) I get the limits to the right of the operator, not above.

Help!