This is an ease-of-use thing.

When finding/replacing throughout a document, the user should be able to
leave the mouse in place if selecting the same option that was selected last
time (i.e. "find next" or "replace").

What happens instead, though, is that the find/replace box moves (or not)
each time Word searches the document and highlights the next occurrence of
the search query. Sometimes the find/replace box stays put, and the document
scrolls appropriately so that the "found" item is visible. Sometimes,
though, Word moves the find/replace window to make the item visible instead.
I haven't noticed any consistency as to when it does one vs. the other, but I
know it's not out of necessity.

There are cases where Word may NEED to re-locate the find/replace
dialogue... basically, any time a combination of vertical and horizontal
scrolling is insufficient to reveal the "found item." Unfortunately, Word
does not limit itself to these necessities... or, if it is trying to, it is
really bad at figuring out which cases are necessary and which are not.

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...ocmanagemen t

If the button you want to click is the default button (is selected) you can
use Enter instead of a mouse click.

--
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.

"cwmacminn" wrote in message
...
This is an ease-of-use thing.

When finding/replacing throughout a document, the user should be able to
leave the mouse in place if selecting the same option that was selected
last
time (i.e. "find next" or "replace").

What happens instead, though, is that the find/replace box moves (or not)
each time Word searches the document and highlights the next occurrence of
the search query. Sometimes the find/replace box stays put, and the
document
scrolls appropriately so that the "found" item is visible. Sometimes,
though, Word moves the find/replace window to make the item visible
instead.
I haven't noticed any consistency as to when it does one vs. the other,
but I
know it's not out of necessity.

There are cases where Word may NEED to re-locate the find/replace
dialogue... basically, any time a combination of vertical and horizontal
scrolling is insufficient to reveal the "found item." Unfortunately, Word
does not limit itself to these necessities... or, if it is trying to, it
is
really bad at figuring out which cases are necessary and which are not.

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.


http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...ocmanagemen t

While you're definitely right, a keyboard-based workaround is no excuse for
crappy window management.

I know it's a little thing, but it's also a simple thing... would it be that
difficult to get it right?

I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but I can't resist... and as a
Mac user who is stuck with a Windows machine at work, I think I have the
right.

Apple cares about the little things, and Microsoft just doesn't. Attention
to details like these is where Apple beats Microsoft every time.

FWIW, when the Find dialog is moved on my screen, it's usually because I
moved it (because it was covering up the context of the found item). I agree
that Word could do a better job of placing the text *behind* the dialog.

--
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.

"cwmacminn" wrote in message
...
While you're definitely right, a keyboard-based workaround is no excuse
for
crappy window management.

I know it's a little thing, but it's also a simple thing... would it be
that
difficult to get it right?

I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but I can't resist... and as
a
Mac user who is stuck with a Windows machine at work, I think I have the
right.

Apple cares about the little things, and Microsoft just doesn't.
Attention
to details like these is where Apple beats Microsoft every time.

That's not really the issue I'm referring to.

Here, try this:

1. Open a Microsoft Word document -- any old document will do, as long as
it's at least a few pages long and mostly text.

2. Hit Control+F (or do an Edit -- Find). The Find/Replace dialogue box
will appear.

3. As the query, type "the" or some other common word that you know appears
more than a few times in the document.

4. Remove your hands from the keyboard.

5. Mouse to the "Find Next" button and click it. Word will find the next
occurrence of the query in your document, starting from the cursor location
(or from the beginning, if you haven't yet placed your cursor). If you click
"Find Next" again, Word will find the occurrence after that... as it should.

6. Try clicking "Find Next" quickly, five times in a row.

7. You will find that you were unable to do step 6, because at least once
or twice during your clicking-spree, Word MOVED the dialogue box and you had
to mouse over to the button's new location before you could resume your
clicking. THIS is what I'm talking about.

Did Word need to move the box? No, of course not. Did it move it every
time, or in any other consistent manner? No, of course not. Sometimes it
scrolls the document, sometimes it moves the box. It's arbitrary and it's
annoying. The default behavior should be to ALWAYS scroll the document,
unless Word cannot possibly display the "found item" without moving the
box... which rarely happens.

Did the demo work for you?

If all you're doing is finding (not replacing), then dismiss the Find dialog
entirely and use the Find Next (or Find Previous) button at the bottom of
the vertical scroll bar.

--
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.

"cwmacminn" wrote in message
...
That's not really the issue I'm referring to.

Here, try this:

1. Open a Microsoft Word document -- any old document will do, as long as
it's at least a few pages long and mostly text.

2. Hit Control+F (or do an Edit -- Find). The Find/Replace dialogue box
will appear.

3. As the query, type "the" or some other common word that you know
appears
more than a few times in the document.

4. Remove your hands from the keyboard.

5. Mouse to the "Find Next" button and click it. Word will find the next
occurrence of the query in your document, starting from the cursor
location
(or from the beginning, if you haven't yet placed your cursor). If you
click
"Find Next" again, Word will find the occurrence after that... as it
should.

6. Try clicking "Find Next" quickly, five times in a row.

7. You will find that you were unable to do step 6, because at least once
or twice during your clicking-spree, Word MOVED the dialogue box and you
had
to mouse over to the button's new location before you could resume your
clicking. THIS is what I'm talking about.

Did Word need to move the box? No, of course not. Did it move it every
time, or in any other consistent manner? No, of course not. Sometimes it
scrolls the document, sometimes it moves the box. It's arbitrary and it's
annoying. The default behavior should be to ALWAYS scroll the document,
unless Word cannot possibly display the "found item" without moving the
box... which rarely happens.

Did the demo work for you?