Cannot select text with shift key

[falk.christian]

Hi!

I have a pretty annoying problem with Outlook 2007 SP1. When I write
some text and directly tries to select the text I've written with the
shift and arrow key it will not select the text. I can easily
reproduce the error by doing the following steps:

1. Open a new mail
2. Tab down to the text area
3. Write "hello"
4. Hit Shift+Left Arrow

The expected result would be to select the "o" in the written text,
but the actual result is that the letter is not selected. It is the
same problem with Ctrl+Shift+Left or Shift+Home.

I run it on Windows Vista x64 SP1. When I try the same thing in
notepad or word it will not appear. It will neither appear on my
colleague's Windows Vista x86 machine. I've tried to change format
between "Plain text", "Html" and "Rich text", but it is the same
problem.

It's pretty annoying to not be able to write a mail efficiently. Does
anybody else have this problem? Is it known? How do I solve it?

Thanks
Christian

 

[F.H. Muffman]

I have a pretty annoying problem with Outlook 2007 SP1. When I write

some text and directly tries to select the text I've written with the
shift and arrow key it will not select the text. I can easily
reproduce the error by doing the following steps:

1. Open a new mail
2. Tab down to the text area
3. Write "hello"
4. Hit Shift+Left Arrow
The expected result would be to select the "o" in the written text,
but the actual result is that the letter is not selected. It is the
same problem with Ctrl+Shift+Left or Shift+Home.

I run it on Windows Vista x64 SP1. When I try the same thing in
notepad or word it will not appear. It will neither appear on my
colleague's Windows Vista x86 machine. I've tried to change format
between "Plain text", "Html" and "Rich text", but it is the same
problem.

'It will not appear'... the highlighting or the problem?

If the highlighting does not appear, then it doesn't sound like an Outlook
issue and you'd be best posting to one of the Vista newsgroups.

If the problem does not appear, then I would first try running Outlook in
Safe mode (WinKey-R, outlook /safe) and see if the problem still happens.

 

[falk.christian]

'It will not appear'... the highlighting or the problem?

If the highlighting does not appear, then it doesn't sound like an Outlook
issue and you'd be best posting to one of the Vista newsgroups.

If the problem does not appear, then I would first try running Outlook in
Safe mode (WinKey-R, outlook /safe) and see if the problem still happens.

With "It will not appear" above I mean that the problem will not
appear, i.e. there is no problem in word, notepad or a x86 vista
machine.

I also tried to run in safe mode, thanks to your advice, but it's
still the same problem. the letter will not be selected.

/Christian

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

do you have any add-ins installed? have you tried detect and repair?

 

[falk.christian]

The machine has just been installed with vista and office 2007 with
SP1 has been installed. No add-ins have been installed.

As it seems, the detect and repair feature is no longer existing in
office 2007:

"What happened to Detect and Repair?
The Detect and Repair feature that was included with Microsoft Office
2003 has been replaced in the 2007 Microsoft Office system with
Microsoft Office Diagnostics. This new tool provides more
comprehensive testing and repair capabilities." [Outook Help]

However, I did run the following:

InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Project, SharePoint Designer,
and Visio:
1. On the Help menu, click Office Diagnostics.
2. Click Continue, and then click Start Diagnostics.
[Outlook Help]

The diagnostics tool did not find any problem. But the issue with the
selection is still there.

/Christian

do you have any add-ins installed? have you tried detect and repair?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Need Help with Common Tasks?http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007:http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

Outlook Tips:http://www.outlook-tips.net/
Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center:http://www.slipstick.com
Subscribe to Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:
(e-mail address removed)

Hi!

I have a pretty annoying problem with Outlook 2007 SP1. When I write
some text and directly tries to select the text I've written with the
shift and arrow key it will not select the text. I can easily
reproduce the error by doing the following steps:

1. Open a new mail
2. Tab down to the text area
3. Write "hello"
4. Hit Shift+Left Arrow

The expected result would be to select the "o" in the written text,
but the actual result is that the letter is not selected. It is the
same problem with Ctrl+Shift+Left or Shift+Home.

I run it on Windows Vista x64 SP1. When I try the same thing in
notepad or word it will not appear. It will neither appear on my
colleague's Windows Vista x86 machine. I've tried to change format
between "Plain text", "Html" and "Rich text", but it is the same
problem.

It's pretty annoying to not be able to write a mail efficiently. Does
anybody else have this problem? Is it known? How do I solve it?

Thanks
Christian

 

[F.H. Muffman]

I have a pretty annoying problem with Outlook 2007 SP1. When I write

With "It will not appear" above I mean that the problem will not
appear, i.e. there is no problem in word, notepad or a x86 vista
machine.

I also tried to run in safe mode, thanks to your advice, but it's
still the same problem. the letter will not be selected.

Interesting. Have you tried either shift key? Does the cursor actually
move to before the o in the initial example? If you're in the primary outlook
window, click on an email message, and hit shift-up arrow a few times, does
it select multiple messages?

 

[falk.christian]

Interesting. Have you tried either shift key? Does the cursor actually
move to before the o in the initial example? If you're in the primary outlook
window, click on an email message, and hit shift-up arrow a few times, does
it select multiple messages?

It's indeed the same with both shift keys. I can also make the problem
appear with other shift+home, so it doesn't seem to be a hardware
issue. As it only appears in outlook and not notepad or word, it's
definetily not a hardware problem.

The cursor does not move when the problem appears. One can actually
classify it as a bug as it does not even move the cursor when hitting
left-key or home-key directly after hitting hello. The second time I
hit shift+left arrow it will sometimes select the text as it should
have done the first time.

I can select multiple messages in the primary outlook window by
hitting shift+up arrow.

Thanks for your interest
Christian.

 

[F.H. Muffman]

I have a pretty annoying problem with Outlook 2007 SP1. When I

It's indeed the same with both shift keys. I can also make the problem
appear with other shift+home, so it doesn't seem to be a hardware
issue. As it only appears in outlook and not notepad or word, it's
definetily not a hardware problem.

The cursor does not move when the problem appears. One can actually
classify it as a bug as it does not even move the cursor when hitting
left-key or home-key directly after hitting hello. The second time I
hit shift+left arrow it will sometimes select the text as it should
have done the first time.

I can select multiple messages in the primary outlook window by
hitting shift+up arrow.

Ok, then it's something in the editor window and not the Outlook window (well,
I'll assume you've tried shift-up arrow like you did in the message window).

Safe mode would mean that it isn't a plug-in causing the error.

What about in a Note? Or in a Contact field? Does it happen there? Heck,
what about in the To field in a New Message?

 

[falk.christian]

Ok, then it's something in the editor window and not the Outlook window (well,
I'll assume you've tried shift-up arrow like you did in the message window).

Safe mode would mean that it isn't a plug-in causing the error.

What about in a Note? Or in a Contact field? Does it happen there? Heck,
what about in the To field in a New Message?

Thanks again for your interest. Now I've tested your suggestions.

Does the problem appear in...
* A Note: No
* A contact field, Notes: Yes
* A contact field, Full Name. No
* To field in a mail: No
* A Mail message: Yes (as before)

/Christian

 

[F.H. Muffman]

I have a pretty annoying problem with Outlook 2007 SP1. When I

Does the problem appear in...
* A Note: No
* A contact field, Notes: Yes
* A contact field, Full Name. No
* To field in a mail: No
* A Mail message: Yes (as before)

Ok, shut down Outlook, do a search of the hard drive for normalemail.dotm
(you'll probably need to show hidden files and folders) and rename it. Try
restarting Outlook. If it complains about the lack of the file, grab the
Outlook (or Office) cd and run the Install and tell it to do a repair.

At this point, it's either the template, or something wrong with the control.

 

[falk.christian]

Ok, shut down Outlook, do a search of the hard drive for normalemail.dotm
(you'll probably need to show hidden files and folders) and rename it. Try
restarting Outlook. If it complains about the lack of the file, grab the
Outlook (or Office) cd and run the Install and tell it to do a repair.

At this point, it's either the template, or something wrong with the control.

I'm afraid it's still the same problem. I did this:

Closed outlook
changed the name of the file C:\Users\......\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft
\Templates\normalemail.dotm to C:\Users\....\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft
\Templates\normalemail.dotm.fel
Opened outlook. It did not complain about the missing file, and has
not created a new automatically.
When I try the steps again, it's still the same problem.

I've also tried to turn off the automatic spell checking, but with no
success.

It might sound like a small problem, but it's really annoying. Doesn't
anybody else has this problem? I'm planning on getting a boxing ball
to the office to get rid of the aggression from all annoying problems
=)

Best regards,
Christian

 

[F.H. Muffman]

I have a pretty annoying problem with Outlook 2007 SP1. When I

I'm afraid it's still the same problem. I did this:

Closed outlook
changed the name of the file C:\Users\......\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft
\Templates\normalemail.dotm to C:\Users\....\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft
\Templates\normalemail.dotm.fel
Opened outlook. It did not complain about the missing file, and has
not created a new automatically.
When I try the steps again, it's still the same problem.
I've also tried to turn off the automatic spell checking, but with no
success.

It might sound like a small problem, but it's really annoying. Doesn't
anybody else has this problem? I'm planning on getting a boxing ball
to the office to get rid of the aggression from all annoying problems
=)

If it was a small problem, it'd be fixed. I've not seen the problem. I've
asked others and have seen only vague recollections of similar issues, but
nothing that recent.

So, one stupid question: Have you rebooted this box?

I'm going to assume yes and hurtle on, but, just in case you haven't, do it.

If you go to the Options tab on the Ribbon, does the problem reproduce in
all three formats, Rich Text, HTML and Plain Text?