Try this, posted by MVP Graham Mayor as a reply to a similar question:
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According to contributor Bob Buckland: "It's a bug that somehow seems to
have Word misreading temporary files related to the printer currently in
use. You can usually 'unscramble' the display from File=Print and switch
to the printer properties or to another printer then your normal one, or
close Word and delete all files found on Start=Search and looking for
~$*.*;*.tmp as the name string then restarting Word." See also
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm
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Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
"Megglesface" wrote:
I have just opened a new word document but when I type the letters are going
one on top of another in a mess, I tried shutting word down and reopening but
no luck. any ideas?