To add to what Jay and Herb have said, there are two distinct issues:
Backspace: This is governed by the "Typing replaces selection" check box Jay
mentioned, since Word considers backspacing "typing."
Delete: If pressing Delete does not delete the selected text, look in the
status bar; you'll probably see "Delete Block? No (Yes)." If so, go to the
General tab of Tools | Options and clear the check boxes for both items that
refer to WordPerfect.
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site:
http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
"Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote in message
...
Sometimes, what you're trying to delete is something that contains a field
code. When you encounter something that's hard to delete, press Alt+F9 to
toggle field codes to see if you're dealing with something other than
straightforward text. In Word 2003, you often need to press the Delete or
Backspace key twice to delete a field.The first press selects the field,
and
the second zaps it. This was done deliberately because people were
accidentally deleting fields without realizing they weren't normal text.
It also helps if field code shading is enabled. This can alert you to the
fact that you're editing field results rather than regular text. Tools -
Options - View, Field Shading.
--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com
"cayce" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the idea Jay. It is checked . Any other places to look?
"Jay Freedman" wrote:
On Thu, 17 May 2007 05:22:01 -0700, cayce
wrote:
My coworkers and I have recently been encountering problems with some
W97
files where the delete key doesnt work. Sometimes, the backspace
won't
get
rid of what you are trying to remove either. This morning, I was
trying
to
delete an extra space between 2 words. Delete wouldn't work, but
backspace
did.
I will now pay more close attention to exactly when this is
encountered.
As
I try to recall other instances have been trying to delete words or
characters within tables. My coworker had this occur and had to use
Ctrl
X to
remove a single letter in a table.
Since this is a new and growing phenomenon, I need help knowing where
to
look. I'd appreciate any ideas.
thanks
When that happens, look in Tools Options Edit -- the first box,
"Typing replaces selection", should always be checked but might have
been cleared somehow. Check it again.
--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.