Lagging cursor in Word while using arrow keys

michaeldgarber I had this same problem. I am a transcriptionist so rely heavily on extremely simple features in Word, like being able to press the arrow keys. After my arrow keys lagging and wasting hours trying to find a solution and then wasting hours trying to work with a lagging cursor, I found what worked for me. (I also noticed the problem seemed worse when two Word documents were open.)

What finally worked for me was that I noticed my problem had started after downloading a file. So I took that file, copied all of that text, pasted it into a new document, and saved it. I then deleted the file I was suspicious of. After that, I haven't seemed to have the problem.

These items did not work for me:

There were no new service packs relevant to me. I have ZERO add-ins and had never even heard of Mendeley before this issue. I re-installed Word multiple times. I deleted as many .doc files as possible (I still have .doc files that I need). I don't have Thinkvantage. I tried updating my keyboard properties (speed, repeat delay, and repeat rate). My filter keys are off. Keyboard drivers are up to date. Trouble shooter found no problems. Turned off "smart cursoring" in Word. Updated Windows. Updated Word. Tried Quick Repair and Online Repair for Office programs. I have a lot of things connected to my computer using a USB hub. I unplugged everything to make sure no hardware was causing the problem. This did not fix the problem either.

I thought I would post a possible work around for those who need multiple Word documents open. If you can put the info from all Word docs that you need into a notepad file or a PDF, then you can work off of them as if they were a second Word document, although obviously you wouldn't have the features of Word.

This problem is really ridiculous and I am disturbed Microsoft hasn't attempted to help. I am a transcriptionist so my whole job is extremely reliant on Microsoft Word (unfortunately). After this, among other extremely simple tasks that have failed in Word before, I am going to look for a simplified word processor that doesn't fail me.