I want to turn off the annoying lightening bolt icon.

[Guest]

I am using Word 2004 for Macs.
Okay you know when every I indent twice this little, tiny, icon box with a
lightening bolt inside pops onto the screen giving me these options to change
back to tab, to stop setting indents on tabs and backspaces, and to go to the
autocorrect table. Now I do not actaully want to do any of these things, I
have tried ll of them, changing random things in autoformat, etc. but what I
really really really want is to be able to see the text underneatth the box
and keep working! And no the box does not move. Does anyone know how to turn
this thing off?
AES

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I'm cross-posting to the MacWord group because I just realized I've been
putting up with this annoyance as well. The box is only supposed to appear
when you hover over that location, but sometimes they do stick around.

See here for Google/Entourage gateway to Mac-specific newsgroups, by the
way.
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/community/community.aspx?pid=newsgroups>

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you right-click on the button, you should get a choice of AutoCorrect
Options... Click on that to open the AutoCorrect Options dialog. Clear the
check box for "Show AutoCorrect Options buttons.

--
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.

 

[Guest]

yes thank you that did not work at all. However I discovered that if I click
somewhere and hit the space bar, the box goes away. So although not a
technical fix, one that works. Thank you.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Are you saying that if you clear the box for "Show AutoCorrect Options
buttons" in the Tools | AutoCorrect Options dialog you are still getting the
button?

--
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.

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

OK: The thing you are seeing is a "Smart Tag".

In Mac Word, it's in Preferences>Edit>Cut and Paste Options>Show Paste
Options Buttons

In WinWord it's in Tools>Options>Edit>Cut and Paste Options>Show Paste
Options Buttons

Cheers

I'm cross-posting to the MacWord group because I just realized I've been
putting up with this annoyance as well. The box is only supposed to appear
when you hover over that location, but sometimes they do stick around.

See here for Google/Entourage gateway to Mac-specific newsgroups, by the
way.
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/community/community.aspx?pid=newsgroups>

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I have been unable to find anything in Word's Help or other documentation to
indicate that the Paste Options, and AutoCorrect Options buttons are "smart
tags." Help applies that term only to text with purple dotted underlines.
Admittedly, the "About smart tags" Help topic includes a section, "Other
buttons you may see in your document," that discusses the Options buttons;
although it does not call them smart tags, I can only assume that this is
where the widespread misapprehension that Options buttons = smart tags
originated.

--
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.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I have been unable to find anything in Word's Help or other documentation to
indicate that the Paste Options, and AutoCorrect Options buttons are "smart
tags." Help applies that term only to text with purple dotted underlines.
Admittedly, the "About smart tags" Help topic includes a section, "Other
buttons you may see in your document," that discusses the Options buttons;
although it does not call them smart tags, I can only assume that this is
where the widespread misapprehension that Options buttons = smart tags
originated.

MacWord2004's Help calls them "Smart Buttons" rather than "smart tags",
but the potential for confusion is obvious, especially among MacWord
users, who don't have smart tags... Not surprisingly, MacWord help, when
searching for "smart tags", brings up "About smart buttons" as the first
entry.

XL03's help, when searching for "smart button" brings up "Turn on or off
the Paste Options button" as the first entry.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I can see that the Smart Buttons/smart tags might cause some confusion,
though I'm not sure it explains the error in Word references I've seen based
on the Windows version (since I doubt seriously that the authors were using
Macs).

--
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.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

No, that doesn't do it. First of all, the prefs setting only controls the
Paste Options clipboard (I just checked), and I've never had a problem with
that one persisting when I didn't want it to, and that isn't the one the OP
is complaining about, I don't think.

But say I type "hello--what about me?" And the -- turns into an em dash and
I can go back, hover over the blue line under the em dash and get a smart
button (the lightning bolt icon) that lets me undo that autocorrect or turn
it off entirely. I do not want those to vanish, they are occasionally
useful, but [question 1] it would be good to have a way to turn them off.

[question 2] When I move the mouse away from the -- the smart button goes
away. Sometimes, however, it gets stuck on, and won't go away even when I
scroll up and down to refresh the screen. Does anyone else see that, and is
there anything to do done about it? I'm pretty sure this is what the OP is
complaining about, as the -- smart button (I think) is the same as the tab
smart button, more or less.

To the OP (AES): if you are seeing this smart button persist every single
time, and only on the tab setting, but not for other autocorrections, that
would be good to know.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

I saw this today for the first time but IIRC, the smart button finally went
away when I hit a carriage return.

Beth

 

[Steve Emerson]

I am not the OP, but this thing bothers me too. (The AutoCorrect Options
lightning-bolt button.)

All I want to do is hit the tab key in some text I've already written. I
want a paragraph indent there and forgot to include.

The buttom pops up, covering parts of two lines below. Let's say I want
to read what's under there. It turns out I can, if I hit the spacebar --
anywhere. Then go back and delete the space. Then I can proceed to read
my text.

I've researched this on the MS site and evidently the button can be
turned off in Word 2003. In Word 2004 Mac, evidently not. The "Paste
Options" button can be turned off -- the companion among two buttons
discussed in "Help: About Smart Buttons." It's fairly glaring. For Paste
Options, we see this:
"To prevent this button from appearing, on the Word menu, click
Preferences, click Edit, and then clear the Show Paste Options buttons
check box."

Earlier on in this same text, we find no equivalent passage about
turning off the other (AutoCorrect Options) button.

We need to be able to turn this thing off.

The button seems possibly to become a worse problem when numbering is in
use. (BTW, numbering was a delight in Word 4 and 5; as of Word 98 and
perhaps earlier, a simple list takes much longer to number, especially
if there are lines that interrupt the numbering. I switched to Word 5
whenever I wanted to do this; but in Mac OS X, it won't run except in
Classic mode.)

Any suggestions on the Button? On simpler ways to number?

Thanks,
Steve

No, that doesn't do it. First of all, the prefs setting only controls the
Paste Options clipboard (I just checked), and I've never had a problem with
that one persisting when I didn't want it to, and that isn't the one the OP
is complaining about, I don't think.

But say I type "hello--what about me?" And the -- turns into an em dash and
I can go back, hover over the blue line under the em dash and get a smart
button (the lightning bolt icon) that lets me undo that autocorrect or turn
it off entirely. I do not want those to vanish, they are occasionally
useful, but [question 1] it would be good to have a way to turn them off.

[question 2] When I move the mouse away from the -- the smart button goes
away. Sometimes, however, it gets stuck on, and won't go away even when I
scroll up and down to refresh the screen. Does anyone else see that, and is
there anything to do done about it? I'm pretty sure this is what the OP is
complaining about, as the -- smart button (I think) is the same as the tab
smart button, more or less.

To the OP (AES): if you are seeing this smart button persist every single
time, and only on the tab setting, but not for other autocorrections, that
would be good to know.

OK: The thing you are seeing is a "Smart Tag".

In Mac Word, it's in Preferences>Edit>Cut and Paste Options>Show Paste
Options Buttons

In WinWord it's in Tools>Options>Edit>Cut and Paste Options>Show Paste
Options Buttons

Cheers

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

So what you're saying is that (a) you have no Tools | AutoCorrect Options
dialog (or anything comparable) or (b) you have the dialog but it doesn't
have a check box for disabling the AutoCorrect Options button?

FWIW, although I do occasionally enable "Set left- and first-indent with
tabs and backspaces" on the AutoFormat As You Type tab of this dialog in
WinWord, I had never experienced the AutoCorrect Options button when I tab
because I have that button disabled. In this particular instance it might
conceivably be helpful (many times I've had to change the AutoFormat setting
when I was trying to use tabs in the normal way).

--
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.

I am not the OP, but this thing bothers me too. (The AutoCorrect Options
lightning-bolt button.)

All I want to do is hit the tab key in some text I've already written. I
want a paragraph indent there and forgot to include.

The buttom pops up, covering parts of two lines below. Let's say I want
to read what's under there. It turns out I can, if I hit the spacebar --
anywhere. Then go back and delete the space. Then I can proceed to read
my text.

I've researched this on the MS site and evidently the button can be
turned off in Word 2003. In Word 2004 Mac, evidently not. The "Paste
Options" button can be turned off -- the companion among two buttons
discussed in "Help: About Smart Buttons." It's fairly glaring. For Paste
Options, we see this:
"To prevent this button from appearing, on the Word menu, click
Preferences, click Edit, and then clear the Show Paste Options buttons
check box."

Earlier on in this same text, we find no equivalent passage about
turning off the other (AutoCorrect Options) button.

We need to be able to turn this thing off.

The button seems possibly to become a worse problem when numbering is in
use. (BTW, numbering was a delight in Word 4 and 5; as of Word 98 and
perhaps earlier, a simple list takes much longer to number, especially
if there are lines that interrupt the numbering. I switched to Word 5
whenever I wanted to do this; but in Mac OS X, it won't run except in
Classic mode.)

Any suggestions on the Button? On simpler ways to number?

Thanks,
Steve

No, that doesn't do it. First of all, the prefs setting only controls the
Paste Options clipboard (I just checked), and I've never had a problem with
that one persisting when I didn't want it to, and that isn't the one the OP
is complaining about, I don't think.

But say I type "hello--what about me?" And the -- turns into an em dash and
I can go back, hover over the blue line under the em dash and get a smart
button (the lightning bolt icon) that lets me undo that autocorrect or turn
it off entirely. I do not want those to vanish, they are occasionally
useful, but [question 1] it would be good to have a way to turn them off.

[question 2] When I move the mouse away from the -- the smart button goes
away. Sometimes, however, it gets stuck on, and won't go away even when I
scroll up and down to refresh the screen. Does anyone else see that, and is
there anything to do done about it? I'm pretty sure this is what the OP is
complaining about, as the -- smart button (I think) is the same as the tab
smart button, more or less.

To the OP (AES): if you are seeing this smart button persist every single
time, and only on the tab setting, but not for other autocorrections, that
would be good to know.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

(b)

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[Steve Emerson]

Appreciate the reply. I think the answer is B. There's a
Tools/AutoCorrect dialog with its four tabs, AutoCorrect, Autoformat As
You Type, AutoText, and AutoFormat. But none of them let you disable the
AutoCorrect Options button.

FWIW, I have almost all of the various options unchecked. Nothing in
"Apply" or "Apply As You Type" is checked. In other words -- see below

So what you're saying is that (a) you have no Tools | AutoCorrect Options
dialog (or anything comparable) or (b) you have the dialog but it doesn't
have a check box for disabling the AutoCorrect Options button?

FWIW, although I do occasionally enable "Set left- and first-indent with
tabs and backspaces" on the AutoFormat As You Type tab of this dialog in
WinWord, I had never experienced the AutoCorrect Options button when I tab
because I have that button disabled. In this particular instance it might
conceivably be helpful (many times I've had to change the AutoFormat setting
when I was trying to use tabs in the normal way).

(Noted. However--) --The normal way is the only way I want to use tabs.

Thx,
Steve.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Bummer! An oversight, I'm sure, that will undoubtedly be corrected in the
next version, but that's no help to you now.

--
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.

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Yeah, when they first started annoying ME I asked one of the Word devs, and
he called it a SmartTag. I think that behind the scenes it "is" a SmartTag,
but you never see purple lines on it because it has no width. WinWord puts
a little underline under it if you hover over it.

I can see that the Smart Buttons/smart tags might cause some confusion,
though I'm not sure it explains the error in Word references I've seen based
on the Windows version (since I doubt seriously that the authors were using
Macs).

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Guest]

Yes that is what I am saying. I can't believe my little question has sparked
such interest. Nothing I chose to select or de-select in the autoCorrect
dialog helps with the tag disappearing. Also for me this tag only appears
with the indent and not the -- em dash issue discussed earlier.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

That's reasonable, as the em dash is an AutoFormat feature rather than
AutoCorrect, but if you have the button disabled and are still seeing it, I
have no explanation (but it could have something to do with using EndNote).

--
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.