Cursor Jumps all the time....

[JVRudnick]

I am a writer, using MS Word 2003 to write a novel. I write as usual and I
think you all have used Word to write, and the thing is this.

When I am writing the word say "science" when I get to the letter e, the
cursor "jumps" to wherever I've "left" the cursor with the mouse. That is, no
matter what the word or letter I'm 'on' the writing goes okay for a moment or
two and then the cursor 'jumps' and it's inserted itself and I'm still typing
but the spot where the cursor SHOULD be has changed...so I'm making typing
errors...

Follow me? THIS is pretty well discouraging...

Can anyone point me at the reason for this and how to combat same?

Or, is this maybe NOT an MS Word issue but an issue with the laptop?
XPPro/SP3....geez...the same thing just happened HERE in this message box....

so, this must have more to do with the laptop....am I correct, and how do I
combat this in whichever case is true?

????

Jim

 

[Bob CP]

I am a writer, using MS Word 2003 to write a novel. I write as usual and I
think you all have used Word to write, and the thing is this.

When I am writing the word say "science" when I get to the letter e, the
cursor "jumps" to wherever I've "left" the cursor with the mouse. That is, no
matter what the word or letter I'm 'on' the writing goes okay for a moment or
two and then the cursor 'jumps' and it's inserted itself and I'm still typing
but the spot where the cursor SHOULD be has changed...so I'm making typing
errors...

Follow me? THIS is pretty well discouraging...

Can anyone point me at the reason for this and how to combat same?

Or, is this maybe NOT an MS Word issue but an issue with the laptop?
XPPro/SP3....geez...the same thing just happened HERE in this message box....

so, this must have more to do with the laptop....am I correct, and how do I
combat this in whichever case is true?

????

Jim

This is probably a hardware issue. Connect an external mouse and see
whether you still have the problem. If no, you've got a bad touchpad.

 

[olfart]

I am a writer, using MS Word 2003 to write a novel. I write as usual and I
think you all have used Word to write, and the thing is this.

When I am writing the word say "science" when I get to the letter e, the
cursor "jumps" to wherever I've "left" the cursor with the mouse. That is,
no
matter what the word or letter I'm 'on' the writing goes okay for a moment
or
two and then the cursor 'jumps' and it's inserted itself and I'm still
typing
but the spot where the cursor SHOULD be has changed...so I'm making typing
errors...

Follow me? THIS is pretty well discouraging...

Can anyone point me at the reason for this and how to combat same?

Or, is this maybe NOT an MS Word issue but an issue with the laptop?
XPPro/SP3....geez...the same thing just happened HERE in this message
box....

so, this must have more to do with the laptop....am I correct, and how do
I
combat this in whichever case is true?

????

Jim

your hand is probably brushing against the touchpad when you type. Turn off
the touchpad (usually in the BIOS) and use a USB mouse

 

[thanatoid]

=?Utf-8?B?SlZSdWRuaWNr?=

I am a writer, using MS Word 2003 to write a novel. I write
as usual and I think you all have used Word to write, and
the thing is this.

<SNIP>

I hope your book is not going to have several identical copies
of every chapter with slightly different titles... ;-)

Also, WHY use Word to WRITE? All you need is a decent Notepad
replacement. Unless you enjoy formatting text with 20 different
fonts when you get writer's block, Word is total overkill and
eats up resources like crazy and is garbage anyway. Admit it,
you have NO idea of 95% of its features.

When I write something, I use metapad or NoteTab Light and when
it's DONE and I am ready to format or "publish" I use a DTP
program (like InDesign, PageMaker, Quark, whatever).

--
There are only two classifications of disk drives: Broken drives
and those that will break later.
- Chuck Armstrong (This one I think, http://www.cleanreg.com/,
not the ball player. But who knows. I can't remember where I got
the quote. But it's true.)

 

[boatman312]

=?Utf-8?B?SlZSdWRuaWNr?=


<SNIP>

I hope your book is not going to have several identical copies
of every chapter with slightly different titles... ;-)

Also, WHY use Word to WRITE? All you need is a decent Notepad
replacement. Unless you enjoy formatting text with 20 different
fonts when you get writer's block, Word is total overkill and
eats up resources like crazy and is garbage anyway. Admit it,
you have NO idea of 95% of its features.

When I write something, I use metapad or NoteTab Light and when
it's DONE and I am ready to format or "publish" I use a DTP
program (like InDesign, PageMaker, Quark, whatever).

Maybe you are willing to send he/she one of the DTP programs for free?
But it won't be won't be necessary until the book is in the final
edition phase anyway.

On the other hand, Word works perfectly well as a basic word processor,
even if you don't use fancy formatting. And the file can be forwarded
to the editor for markup, which is one of the necessary steps for
getting a commercial book processed.

 

[VanguardLH]

I am a writer, using MS Word 2003 to write a novel. I write as usual and I
think you all have used Word to write, and the thing is this.

When I am writing the word say "science" when I get to the letter e, the
cursor "jumps" to wherever I've "left" the cursor with the mouse. That is, no
matter what the word or letter I'm 'on' the writing goes okay for a moment or
two and then the cursor 'jumps' and it's inserted itself and I'm still typing
but the spot where the cursor SHOULD be has changed...so I'm making typing
errors...

Follow me? THIS is pretty well discouraging...

Can anyone point me at the reason for this and how to combat same?

Or, is this maybe NOT an MS Word issue but an issue with the laptop?
XPPro/SP3....geez...the same thing just happened HERE in this message box....

so, this must have more to do with the laptop....am I correct, and how do I
combat this in whichever case is true?

Disable the touchpad on the laptop (some have a button alongside the
touchpad's frame to enable/disable it). When your palms get too close, the
capacitance changes enough to make it think you touched it. You could lower
the touchpad's sensitivity.

 

[thanatoid]

Maybe you are willing to send he/she one of the DTP
programs for free? But it won't be won't be necessary until
the book is in the final edition phase anyway.

Sure, I don't care. I'll post Pagemaker 6.54 on a file share
site. It's all I have - I learned on PM in the early 90's and I
have seen no reason to upgrade to "newer and better stuff.

But if it's a REAL book, he'd be better off with FrameMaker,
which I actually have as well, but not installed. Life is
complicated enough. But FrameMaker is VERY good.

On the other hand, Word works perfectly well as a basic
word processor, even if you don't use fancy formatting.

I have many problems, and one of them it that it BOTHERS THE
**** OUT OF ME when people use programs 90% of the features of
which they either are not aware of, never use, or wouldn't be
able to figure out HOW to use, and when the said program is 50
MB or 2GB when practically the same can be done with a 600KB
one.

And the file can be forwarded to the editor for markup,
which is one of the necessary steps for getting a
commercial book processed.

Well, you have a point there. I just hate MSOffice. It's
personal.



--
There are only two classifications of disk drives: Broken drives
and those that will break later.
- Chuck Armstrong (This one I think, http://www.cleanreg.com/,
not the ball player. But who knows. I can't remember where I got
the quote. But it's true.)

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

I am a writer, using MS Word 2003 to write a novel. I write as usual and I
think you all have used Word to write, and the thing is this.

When I am writing the word say "science" when I get to the letter e, the
cursor "jumps" to wherever I've "left" the cursor with the mouse. That is, no
matter what the word or letter I'm 'on' the writing goes okay for a moment or
two and then the cursor 'jumps' and it's inserted itself and I'm still typing
but the spot where the cursor SHOULD be has changed...so I'm making typing
errors...

Follow me? THIS is pretty well discouraging...

Can anyone point me at the reason for this and how to combat same?

Or, is this maybe NOT an MS Word issue but an issue with the laptop?
XPPro/SP3....geez...the same thing just happened HERE in this message box....

so, this must have more to do with the laptop....am I correct, and how do I
combat this in whichever case is true?

????

Jim

Hello Jim,

You do not say what type of laptop you are using.

if you are using a laptop with Synaptics touchpad, then follow the below
steps;

1) Chose 'Mouse' under 'Control Panel'
2) Left-click the 'Device Settings' tab
3) On that tab left-click the 'Settings' button
4) On the new window in the left frame click on 'Tapping'
5) Un-check 'Enable Tapping' in the right frame of the window
6) 'Ok' out of the windows

What is happening is that when your hand accidentally brushes against
the touchpad, it is reading that as a left-click (which is why your
cursor seems to move around). By turning off tapping this will no longer
happen. You will have to use the touchpad's button to click at that
point rather than simply tapping the touchpad.

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net

 

[Bill Sharpe]

thanatoid wrote:

I hope your book is not going to have several identical copies
of every chapter with slightly different titles... ;-)

Also, WHY use Word to WRITE? All you need is a decent Notepad
replacement. Unless you enjoy formatting text with 20 different
fonts when you get writer's block, Word is total overkill and
eats up resources like crazy and is garbage anyway. Admit it,
you have NO idea of 95% of its features.

When I write something, I use metapad or NoteTab Light and when
it's DONE and I am ready to format or "publish" I use a DTP
program (like InDesign, PageMaker, Quark, whatever).

Quit knocking Word. It's a fine word processor that I've been using for
about 15 years to write newspaper articles, letters, mail merge
documents and more. Of course there are a lot of features I don't use
and many that I'm not aware of, but I also don't find it to be a
resource hog. I close the program when I'm finished writing.

I also use InDesign and OpenOffice.org occasionally. Both programs take
a bit longer to start up than Word.

Others have answered the OP's question.

Bill

 

[Jose]

I am a writer, using MS Word 2003 to write a novel. I write as usual and I
think you all have used Word to write, and the thing is this.

When I am writing the word say "science" when I get to the letter e, the
cursor "jumps" to wherever I've "left" the cursor with the mouse. That is, no
matter what the word or letter I'm 'on' the writing goes okay for a moment or
two and then the cursor 'jumps' and it's inserted itself and I'm still typing
but the spot where the cursor SHOULD be has changed...so I'm making typing
errors...

Follow me? THIS is pretty well discouraging...

Can anyone point me at the reason for this and how to combat same?

Or, is this maybe NOT an MS Word issue but an issue with the laptop?
XPPro/SP3....geez...the same thing just happened HERE in this message box.....

so, this must have more to do with the laptop....am I correct, and how doI
combat this in whichever case is true?

????

Jim

Please provide additional information about your system and there will
be less guessing and more advice related to your environment.

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste
the information back here.

There will be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name), and whatever appears to
be private information to you, just delete it from the pasted
information.

This will minimize back and forth Q&A and eliminate guesswork.

 

[J.Dawg]

Jim,
This happens to me all the time. It drives me nuts! Totally disrupts the
workflow.

For me, it happens most frequently in Powerpoint. Usually when I"m at teh
end of a bullet point.

It's not a hardware thing, as I now have a new laptop. Old laptop was
Vista, new is Win7. So it's not that.

And it's not the touchpad, as it happens when I'm using the touchpad or
using a USB mouse and keyboard.

I've heard other people at the office complain about the same thing.

I'm convinced it's a microsoft office bug. Wish I knew how to fix it. Let
me know if you cure yours!

 

[J.Dawg]

I have the same issue, and it has nothing to do with the touchpad. I use a
USB keyboard and mouse. Happens in Word and Powerpoint, but I've never seen
it in any other program.

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

Hi J.Dawg,

If your problem is the same as the original OP, then the next thing I
would check is whether some keyboard combination you are hitting is
sending a left-click to the 'keyboard' buffer. I know that with some
programs like HotKeyZ you can send left-clicks.

If the editing cursor is returning to the place with the cursor-pointer
is for it to gain focus, it must be getting the left-click from somewhere.

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services

Web site: http://csdcs.site90.net/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)90.net