Forum Discussion
Text highlighting not working
Microsoft Word 2021, Windows 11 Home
Unable to highlight/select text using mouse or touchpad
Keyboard selection (Shift + Arrow Keys) works
Issue occurs in all Word documents.
Office Online Repair temporarily resolves the issue, but it returns within minutes.
Mouse and touchpad function normally in other applications such as Excel.
Issue began approximately one week ago.
Multiple support sessions and repairs have already been performed.
This issue is so frustrating! Any advice is appreciated!
1 Reply
hi STLCards2026 Since the mouse and touchpad work normally in other applications, and keyboard selection still works in Word, it sounds more like a Word-specific issue than a hardware problem.
The fact that an Online Repair fixes it temporarily and the problem returns within minutes is an interesting clue. I'd try starting Word in Safe Mode (Win + R → winword /safe) and see whether text selection continues to work normally.
If it works in Safe Mode, I'd check Word add-ins next, particularly any third-party add-ins. You can disable them under File → Options → Add-ins → COM Add-ins → Go and test again.
I'd also check whether the issue occurs with a completely new blank document. If it does, that helps rule out document-specific formatting or corruption.
If Safe Mode doesn't make a difference, I'd consider creating a temporary new Windows user profile and testing Word there. If the problem doesn't occur in the new profile, that would point toward something in the current Windows/Office user configuration rather than the Office installation itself.
Given that you've already done multiple repairs, I wouldn't keep repeating the Online Repair. The next step is really to identify what changes when the repair temporarily fixes the problem.
