Deleting in mid-sentence

[Stan]

Hi. I'm using windows 98 with Office97 upgraded to Office 2000 and 'Office
in Color' added. I would like to use Word to replace my old-fashion
typewriter to do a little writing. My problem that is giving me major
headaches is that I can't figure out how to get Word to delete and replace
words or letters in mid-sentence without losing everything after the
correction. If I wanted to re-type everything after a mistake I would've
stuck with my old typewriter... lol. After using WordPad, Outlook Express,
the Internet and everthing else where typing is used on the computer, I
thought Word would be great... but it isn't working like everything else.

If I mistype or misspell a word in here (Outlook Express), I simply place
the mouse cursor behind the wrong letter, 'backspace' it out and type in the
correct letter. I want Word to do that too, but it doesn't. If I 'backspace'
out a letter and then start to type in a new ones, Word starts gobbling up
the remains of the existing sentence... everything to the right of the
'backspace'. If I use the 'spacebar' to try to move stuff to the right, like
I would in here, Word deletes the letters instead of moving them (and
everything after them) a space to the right.

In here I can 'spacebar' enough room for additional words in mid-sentence
like this: Here is a sentence with (this added later) words added in the
middle. When I use Word to do the samething I end up with: Here is a
sentence with (this added later)e middle.... it gobbled up half my sentence.
If I put the mouse cursor behind the word 'with' and try to 'spacebar'
enough room to insert the new words before typing them, Word won't move
anything but will start deleting the letters instead.

I'm getting really frustrated with this and my animated office assistance
has no clue about what I'm having problems with... hopefully you do.

How do I make corrections in the middle of a sentence without losing
everything after the correction?

Thank You,
Clueless Stan

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Press the Insert key on your keyboard or double-click OVR on the Word status
bar to toggle between Insert and Overtype modes.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[TF]

Stan

Suzanne has given you the clue: there are two modes of operation, Insert and
Overtype. You have obviously toggled on the OverType mode - and probably
feel more comfortable with this as that is how a typewriter works. You need
to forget all about typewriters and use Insert mode all of the time.

You also need to check out how to select text. There is plenty of
information about quick ways to select text in Word Help. There is rarely
any need to move the cursor and backspace to delete a character at a time.
And a minor spelling mistake can be spotted by the red squiggly underline:
right-click on the spelling error and chose the correct word from the list.

--
Terry Farrell - Word MVP
http://word.mvps.org/

: Hi. I'm using windows 98 with Office97 upgraded to Office 2000 and 'Office
: in Color' added. I would like to use Word to replace my old-fashion
: typewriter to do a little writing. My problem that is giving me major
: headaches is that I can't figure out how to get Word to delete and replace
: words or letters in mid-sentence without losing everything after the
: correction. If I wanted to re-type everything after a mistake I would've
: stuck with my old typewriter... lol. After using WordPad, Outlook Express,
: the Internet and everthing else where typing is used on the computer, I
: thought Word would be great... but it isn't working like everything else.
:
: If I mistype or misspell a word in here (Outlook Express), I simply place
: the mouse cursor behind the wrong letter, 'backspace' it out and type in
the
: correct letter. I want Word to do that too, but it doesn't. If I
'backspace'
: out a letter and then start to type in a new ones, Word starts gobbling up
: the remains of the existing sentence... everything to the right of the
: 'backspace'. If I use the 'spacebar' to try to move stuff to the right,
like
: I would in here, Word deletes the letters instead of moving them (and
: everything after them) a space to the right.
:
: In here I can 'spacebar' enough room for additional words in mid-sentence
: like this: Here is a sentence with (this added later) words added in the
: middle. When I use Word to do the samething I end up with: Here is a
: sentence with (this added later)e middle.... it gobbled up half my
sentence.
: If I put the mouse cursor behind the word 'with' and try to 'spacebar'
: enough room to insert the new words before typing them, Word won't move
: anything but will start deleting the letters instead.
:
: I'm getting really frustrated with this and my animated office assistance
: has no clue about what I'm having problems with... hopefully you do.
:
: How do I make corrections in the middle of a sentence without losing
: everything after the correction?
:
: Thank You,
: Clueless Stan
:
:

 

[Larry]

If you don't want to toggle accidentally to the Overtype mode in the
future, open Tools, Options, Edit tab, and check "Use INS key for
paste." This will prevent the insert key from toggling to Overtype.
You can still access Overtype by clicking on OVR on the status bar.

Also, it's not just Word that has this overtype feature toggled by the
Insert key. It exists in OE, for example.

Larry