My cursor disappears while I am typing in Word. How can I stop it from
disappearing?

This has also started happening to me today.

Sleepless in Indianapolis wrote:
My cursor disappears while I am typing in Word. How can I stop it from
disappearing?

I've just been on the phone to the (very helpful and courteous) people
at Microsoft support.

They tried a few things. The first was typing "%appdata%" in
Start--run, then selecting the Microsoft folder, then changing the
name of "normal.doc" to "oldnormal.doc".

When this didn't work, they suggested typing "winword /a" in
Start--run. But the problem continued.

In the end, we realised that it was just one particular file that kept
causing the cursor to disappear (and eventually, the program to crash),
so they suggested I copy and paste the contents into a new file. This
seems to have worked. In my case, the cause of the problem with the
file may have been that I was using copious "track changes".
Apparently "track changes" is notorious for causing such problems.

Hope one of these solutions works for you.

Thanks,

The "winward /a" command worked. I really appreciate your help.

Sincerely,

Brian E. Weiss

"Conall" wrote:

I've just been on the phone to the (very helpful and courteous) people
at Microsoft support.

They tried a few things. The first was typing "%appdata%" in
Start--run, then selecting the Microsoft folder, then changing the
name of "normal.doc" to "oldnormal.doc".

When this didn't work, they suggested typing "winword /a" in
Start--run. But the problem continued.

In the end, we realised that it was just one particular file that kept
causing the cursor to disappear (and eventually, the program to crash),
so they suggested I copy and paste the contents into a new file. This
seems to have worked. In my case, the cause of the problem with the
file may have been that I was using copious "track changes".
Apparently "track changes" is notorious for causing such problems.

Hope one of these solutions works for you.

Thanks for the suggestions. The "winword/a" seemed to work for me too. That
is odd; what does it do that affects the cursor?

"Sleepless in Indianapolis" wrote:

Thanks,

The "winward /a" command worked. I really appreciate your help.

Sincerely,

Brian E. Weiss

"Conall" wrote:

I've just been on the phone to the (very helpful and courteous) people
at Microsoft support.

They tried a few things. The first was typing "%appdata%" in
Start--run, then selecting the Microsoft folder, then changing the
name of "normal.doc" to "oldnormal.doc".

When this didn't work, they suggested typing "winword /a" in
Start--run. But the problem continued.

In the end, we realised that it was just one particular file that kept
causing the cursor to disappear (and eventually, the program to crash),
so they suggested I copy and paste the contents into a new file. This
seems to have worked. In my case, the cause of the problem with the
file may have been that I was using copious "track changes".
Apparently "track changes" is notorious for causing such problems.

Hope one of these solutions works for you.

Winword /a starts Word in safe mode and resets some registry pointers. If
the problem returns when you remove the /a switch and start Word
conventionally, then the implication is that you have some external
problem - see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/...peningWord.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Drebro wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions. The "winword/a" seemed to work for me
too. That is odd; what does it do that affects the cursor?

"Sleepless in Indianapolis" wrote:

Thanks,

The "winward /a" command worked. I really appreciate your help.

Sincerely,

Brian E. Weiss

"Conall" wrote:

I've just been on the phone to the (very helpful and courteous)
people at Microsoft support.

They tried a few things. The first was typing "%appdata%" in
Start--run, then selecting the Microsoft folder, then changing the
name of "normal.doc" to "oldnormal.doc".

When this didn't work, they suggested typing "winword /a" in
Start--run. But the problem continued.

In the end, we realised that it was just one particular file that
kept causing the cursor to disappear (and eventually, the program
to crash), so they suggested I copy and paste the contents into a
new file. This seems to have worked. In my case, the cause of the
problem with the file may have been that I was using copious "track
changes". Apparently "track changes" is notorious for causing such
problems.

Hope one of these solutions works for you.

[Julie B]

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

Winword /a starts Word in safe mode and resets some registry pointers. If
the problem returns when you remove the /a switch and start Word
conventionally, then the implication is that you have some external
problem - see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/...peningWord.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Drebro wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions. The "winword/a" seemed to work for me
too. That is odd; what does it do that affects the cursor?

"Sleepless in Indianapolis" wrote:

Thanks,

The "winward /a" command worked. I really appreciate your help.

Sincerely,

Brian E. Weiss

"Conall" wrote:

I've just been on the phone to the (very helpful and courteous)
people at Microsoft support.

They tried a few things. The first was typing "%appdata%" in
Start--run, then selecting the Microsoft folder, then changing the
name of "normal.doc" to "oldnormal.doc".

When this didn't work, they suggested typing "winword /a" in
Start--run. But the problem continued.

In the end, we realised that it was just one particular file that
kept causing the cursor to disappear (and eventually, the program
to crash), so they suggested I copy and paste the contents into a
new file. This seems to have worked. In my case, the cause of the
problem with the file may have been that I was using copious "track
changes". Apparently "track changes" is notorious for causing such
problems.

Hope one of these solutions works for you.

[Julie B]

yes, the winword /a worked for me too and also two of my colleagues

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

Winword /a starts Word in safe mode and resets some registry pointers. If
the problem returns when you remove the /a switch and start Word
conventionally, then the implication is that you have some external
problem - see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/...peningWord.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Drebro wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions. The "winword/a" seemed to work for me
too. That is odd; what does it do that affects the cursor?

"Sleepless in Indianapolis" wrote:

Thanks,

The "winward /a" command worked. I really appreciate your help.

Sincerely,

Brian E. Weiss

"Conall" wrote:

I've just been on the phone to the (very helpful and courteous)
people at Microsoft support.

They tried a few things. The first was typing "%appdata%" in
Start--run, then selecting the Microsoft folder, then changing the
name of "normal.doc" to "oldnormal.doc".

When this didn't work, they suggested typing "winword /a" in
Start--run. But the problem continued.

In the end, we realised that it was just one particular file that
kept causing the cursor to disappear (and eventually, the program
to crash), so they suggested I copy and paste the contents into a
new file. This seems to have worked. In my case, the cause of the
problem with the file may have been that I was using copious "track
changes". Apparently "track changes" is notorious for causing such
problems.

Hope one of these solutions works for you.

[Aimee]

I've tried the "winwordr /a" command and am still having the problem of my
cursor disappearing. Sometimes it takes a few minutes before it will
reappear in the text or will highlight an entire word or paragraph rather
than just insert the cursor. What sort of external problems should I be
concerned about? Is there any other way to fix this problem? Thanks! I
have Word 2002. I am using tracked changes, but it's important that I do so
with this document.

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

Winword /a starts Word in safe mode and resets some registry pointers. If
the problem returns when you remove the /a switch and start Word
conventionally, then the implication is that you have some external
problem - see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/...peningWord.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Drebro wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions. The "winword/a" seemed to work for me
too. That is odd; what does it do that affects the cursor?

"Sleepless in Indianapolis" wrote:

Thanks,

The "winward /a" command worked. I really appreciate your help.

Sincerely,

Brian E. Weiss

"Conall" wrote:

I've just been on the phone to the (very helpful and courteous)
people at Microsoft support.

They tried a few things. The first was typing "%appdata%" in
Start--run, then selecting the Microsoft folder, then changing the
name of "normal.doc" to "oldnormal.doc".

When this didn't work, they suggested typing "winword /a" in
Start--run. But the problem continued.

In the end, we realised that it was just one particular file that
kept causing the cursor to disappear (and eventually, the program
to crash), so they suggested I copy and paste the contents into a
new file. This seems to have worked. In my case, the cause of the
problem with the file may have been that I was using copious "track
changes". Apparently "track changes" is notorious for causing such
problems.

Hope one of these solutions works for you.