[mazorj]

I followed your procedure and didn't have any problem with any
inability to go to the "Press new shortcut key" box and enter a
keyboard combination. I was able to create ALT-B for a bullet, and
others as well. (It's a much easier way than I had been using -
another new feature I learned about Word from hanging around here!)
So FWIW, I see your problem and no, it shouldn't be happening.

Try renaming normal.dot to normal-old.dot then load Word, which will
create a new, unadorned normal.dot. Your old assignments should be
gone but see if you can create new ones. If that doesn't work you can
close Word, delete the new one and rename the old one back to
normal.dot. If it does work then you'll spend the next several hours
or days restoring all those Word tweaks you built up over the years,
but at least the problem will be solved. If not, maybe you can get an
expert to chime in with some other suggestions.

Oh, another thing - have you tried the old standard tech support "blow
off" (which I'm surprised that no one has yet suggested because it is
a legitimate call here) - uninstall and reinstall Word? (That's
after you've copied your normal.dot and any other necessary files to a
back-up folder.) Uninstall/Reinstall is not a high-percentage play,
but when it works, it really works!

Finally, from the Really Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel Department:
Is your Word part of an MS Office Suite installation? If so, might
there be a missing or corrupt Office file that's causing this
mischief? I admit that I'm way out on a limb over thin ice here, so
please, no laughter from the peanut gallery. And if I'm right, only a
complete uninstall/reinstall of the entire suite would get at it, so
take it for what it's worth: strictly a WAG on my part..


"tomincnj" wrote in message
...
Terry,

Tks for your reply.

Last night I also tried System Restore. Used a restore point from
March..no
change. System appears to be running ok.Windows Defender and Norton
360 are
always current and scans are clean except for normal cookies
detected and
removed.

I borrowed a Cannon Bubble Jet BJ-10e and installed it using the
accompaning
disk. The install was uneventful and the printer is working fine
across all
applications.ie Word, Excel, Notepad & IE.

Still having the shortcut key problem. It appears that in Excel
2002, you
can insert symbols and special characters in to your
workbooks/spreadsheets
only by using the insert button. No option exists for shortcut keys.
So as
far as Excel is concerned the problem I reported isn't a problem
after all.

But it is a problem within Word. I'm wondering why is it that when
I:
Open Word,
Right Click "Insert"
Right Click "Symbol".opens the Symbol Character Map Popup
Right Click "Shortcut key.." botton [located on the lower line of
the Symbol
Tab adj to Autocorrect button]

I examine each and every character listed. The only four that are
working
correctly are Ñ, ñ, Û, û, I set these up about 4 weeks ago so that I
can type
in Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines.

Ñ was defined as Ctrl+Shift+N
ñ was defined as Ctrl+n.
Û was defined as Ctrl+Shift+U
û was defined as Ctrl+u.

But when If I attempt to change these or any other...the "Assign"
button
isn't highlighted. Why isn't it?

The characters Ñ, ñ, Û, û..show up in the "Current Keys" field and
if I
click the key.the "Remove" button is highlighted. So I guess that
feature is
ok.

If I attempt to change one..can't type anything in the input field
under
"press new shortcut key".

The "Close" button is working fine.

Could my Normal.dot file be bad? I ran detect and repair twice but
nothing
has changed. I understand that Word will create a new Normal.dot if
it is
missing. Is it possible to download a new Normal.dot and see if that
makes a
difference.