The spacebar is not working in Word (this only happens with Word and not with other apps).

Galo Rolando 0 Reputation points
2026-06-19T13:00:25.0733333+00:00

I'VE TRIED CHANGING THE KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION, DISABLING AUTOCORRECTIONS AND REVISIONS IN WORD, CHANGING THE LANGUAGE, BUT NOTHING WORKS.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Android
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Answer recommended by moderator
Anonymous
2026-06-19T13:35:38.6366667+00:00

Hi Galo Rolando

Since the spacebar works normally in other applications and the issue appears only in Word for Android, it may be helpful to gather a few additional details:

  • What Android device model are you using (for example, Samsung Galaxy, Xiaomi, Pixel, etc.)?
  • Are you using the device's on-screen keyboard or an external Bluetooth/USB keyboard?
  • Which keyboard app are you using (Samsung Keyboard, Gboard, SwiftKey, etc.)?
  • Does the issue occur in all Word documents, including a newly created blank document?
  • Have you tried updating or reinstalling the Word app from the Google Play Store?

Based on my research, I found this thread which mentions a similar behavior on some Android devices, where Word's text input handling conflicts with certain keyboard features, particularly Samsung Keyboard predictive text or text‑correction settings. In those cases, users found that adjusting keyboard prediction/correction settings or testing with a different keyboard app (such as Gboard) helped resolve the issue.

You can refer to: My portable keyboard requires two taps of the space bar in Word - Microsoft Q&A

I hope this helps and look forward to your response!

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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  1. AI answer

    2026-06-19T13:00:43.4666667+00:00

    Because the issue occurs only in Word and not in other apps, it is likely related to Word’s own text/keyboard handling rather than the physical keyboard.

    Try these steps in order:

    1. Test with another keyboard
      • Connect an external keyboard (USB/Bluetooth) and test the spacebar in Word.
      • If the external keyboard works, the built‑in keyboard may have a hardware issue.
      • If the external keyboard has the same problem only in Word, continue with the next steps (Word/software issue).
    2. Check for language/IME or input method conflicts
      • If using East Asian languages (Japanese, Korean, Chinese) or multiple keyboard layouts, switch temporarily to a standard English keyboard layout and test again.
      • On macOS, Word for Mac uses its own text engine and can ignore some system‑wide text features. If using macOS text replacements or special input methods, disable them and rely on Word’s own AutoCorrect instead.
    3. Reset Word’s AutoCorrect and proofing behavior
      • In Word, go to the Review tab → Language → Set Proofing Language.
      • Select the correct language for the document.
      • Make sure “Do not check spelling or grammar” is cleared.
      • Make sure the language applied to the text is correct (for example, not an unexpected language that might be tied to a special keyboard behavior).
    4. Disable automatic language/keyboard switching
      • In Word, open File → Options → Advanced.
      • Under Editing options, clear “Automatically switch keyboard to match language of surrounding text” if it is enabled.
      • Also clear “Detect language automatically” in Review → Language → Set Proofing Language if it is checked.
    5. Repair or reinstall Office/Word
      • Close all Office apps.
      • Use the platform’s Office repair mechanism (for example, Online Repair on Windows, or reinstall Word/Office from the store or installer on other platforms).
      • Then test again in a new blank document.

    If the spacebar works in all other apps and with other keyboards, but still fails only in Word after these steps, collect details (platform: Windows/macOS/Android, Word version, language/keyboard layout) and contact Microsoft support or post on the Word community forums with that information.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. Galo Rolando 0 Reputation points
    2026-06-19T13:17:08.2933333+00:00

    AI bot replied:

    Because the issue occurs only in Word and not in other apps, it is likely related to Word’s own text/keyboard handling rather than the physical keyboard. Try these steps in order: [---]

    NO FUNCIONO

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