Word 2003 - Tool bar drop down menu is invisible

[Paul]

When clicking on tool bar item, such as File - Edit, etc., the drop down menu
is invisible, except for the shadow of the menu frame.
Left or right click is the same problem.

Only the very top bar of the page, showing Word Icon and Document 1 -
Microsoft Word and buttons in top right hand corner, will show drop down menu
with a right click. All other places below this do not show menu, only shadow
of menu frame

Am running Windows XP.

Have tried un-installing Office 2003 from Control Panel but will not remove
program. Some file missing. Un-install then directs me to C:/Program
Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE 11\1033\SETUP.CHM for information on problem.
Unable to interpret list of instructions, so that's no help.

Re-installing Word 2003, and using repair facility too, does not help
either. Problem continues.

Does anyone know the solution?

 

[Stefan Blom]

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/MissingMenusEtc.htm.

 

[Paul]

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/MissingMenusEtc.htm.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP






Thanks for the help. However, I deleted the registry Toolbars value but the problem continued. Tried again and it continued.

Re-booted and tried again and it remained the same. Seems permanent.

The Toolbars value comes back the same as before, once the same menu is
opened.

Are there any other solutions?

 

[Stefan Blom]

For general troubleshooting, see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm. For example,
you may want to see if Word operates normally in Safe mode.

 

[dsp163]

I seriously hope this is not still a problem, however for those that navigate here looking for a solution and the removing keys from the registry fails to work here are the steps I took which worked.

I must admit, working on a large network with many clients. I look for quick workarounds followed by a solution at a later time. This is the first time I have discovered this fault on one of our networks, so the steps are rather brutal.

I loged in as a administrator account and attempted to remove the local users profile. This was prevented by other software processes such as INCD etc... running under their profile without them being logged in.

I removed several small programs running at startup using msconfig, some of which are somewhat dubious.
"online plugin, adobe updater, adobe active, incd, drag and drop cd, + 3 more"
I did have to completely uninstall an early version of roxio drag to CD via the control panel and restart the machine.

on restart I proceeded with removing local profile.

User logged back on and everything was as normal and needless to say the machine was running quicker than prior

I scheduled the client for a refresh/reinstall during a low usage period of the month and the user continued on with their work.

Not all of the steps were required, however having not seen the problem before and not finding much online, I have included all the steps taken.

I suspect removing the local profile did the trick