Word 2003 File Menu Stopped Working

[RSS]

I'm running Office 2003 in Win XP with all the recent patches/updates.
Yesterday, MS Word ceased to function properly. I cannot use the "File
Open" or "File Save" buttons from the pulldown menu. If I click on
these, the blue border of my window turns gray and then any additional
clicking that I attempt results in an error beep. If I hit the escape
key, the window border returns to normal and I can continue typing and
entering other commands, but I cannot use the file management clicks.

I *can* open a file by double clicking on the file in Windows Explorer.
And if I make changes to a document and then exit, the document *will*
save if I answer the "save before exiting" dialogue.

But clearly this is something wrong, and new.

I've installed a few pieces of software on my machine lately, including
MathCAD and Quicken. But that's about it.

I tried uninstalling MS Office and reinstalling it. I did regclean in
between. I even removed some of the files from Application Data, and
removed some registry keys that were suggested on various articles.
Even with a reboot after uninstall, followed by reinstall, the problem
persists unchanged.

Finally, Excel and Powerpoint function 100% normally.

Any suggestions?

 

[Tom Willett]

Have you asked the experts in the Office and/or Word newsgroups?

| I'm running Office 2003 in Win XP with all the recent patches/updates.
| Yesterday, MS Word ceased to function properly. I cannot use the "File
| Open" or "File Save" buttons from the pulldown menu. If I click on
| these, the blue border of my window turns gray and then any additional
| clicking that I attempt results in an error beep. If I hit the escape
| key, the window border returns to normal and I can continue typing and
| entering other commands, but I cannot use the file management clicks.
|
| I *can* open a file by double clicking on the file in Windows Explorer.
| And if I make changes to a document and then exit, the document *will*
| save if I answer the "save before exiting" dialogue.
|
| But clearly this is something wrong, and new.
|
| I've installed a few pieces of software on my machine lately, including
| MathCAD and Quicken. But that's about it.
|
| I tried uninstalling MS Office and reinstalling it. I did regclean in
| between. I even removed some of the files from Application Data, and
| removed some registry keys that were suggested on various articles.
| Even with a reboot after uninstall, followed by reinstall, the problem
| persists unchanged.
|
| Finally, Excel and Powerpoint function 100% normally.
|
| Any suggestions?
|

 

[RSS]

I didn't ask them yet. For what its worth, I found out another detail.
I have 3 profiles on my XP installation. The Word problem only occurs
in my profile. Word runs perfectly on the other two profiles. I am
the administrator and 90% of the computer use is on that profile.
Wondering if I could start doing things like blowing away applications
data from various packages and seeing if the problem goes away.
Anyplace else that has profile specific info that could cause this
problem?

Thanks again...