Word topics

My Word table is messed up.

bopesones — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:48:31 GMT

My Word table is messed up. You can see the problem in the photo. The spacing is off at the top and bottom.

I can't move the column lines either, because that messes everything up. Older versions of the document look the same way. I need help urgently.

Large text which repeats more than 500 times in a document - how can I delete it?

SDj1 — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:41:41 GMT

Hi all,

I have a Word 365 document - 1170 pages, where I have one and the same text repeating more than 500 times. This repetitive text contains several paragraphs and a table and I want to remove it from all its instances. Is there any way to remove it quickly? I am not a word advanced user and cannot use macros.

Default search scope in "find and replace"

Berliner77 — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:50:36 GMT

Hi all, is there any way to make the search scope in the "fine and replace" menu (under "more") default to "all"? I have files with text boxes and the only way to make sure they are included is with "all", so every time I have to change it manually... Many thanks ahead!

Two days of edits inexplicably disappeared

mdb282 — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:27:23 GMT

I have a 2021 MacBook Pro and two days ago I updated my OS to Tahoe 26.4.1. The update seemed to work fine, and I continued working on a Word document I had been editing for the next two days. I always save after every line I write, and I use the auto-backup feature. There was no indication that my saves were not going through. Just now, however, I opened up the document to discover that all my edits (as well as the "last saved" time) had reset to what they were two days ago, around the time of the OS update. This is the case both in Finder and when I go to the Dropbox website, which I use to automatically upload everything I work on to the cloud. This is very alarming. Why has this happened, and is there a way to recover the lost edits? When I try to do "File -> Browse Version History" the menu item is dimmed and I can't click on it. Help!

Formatting issues in Word Microsoft 365 Copilot online.

Paula12 — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:28:41 GMT

I am experiencing formatting issues in Word (Microsoft 365 Copilot online). I am a student, and I have a problem formatting my thesis in M365 Copilot after previously working on this file on an older device with an older version of Word.

I recently purchased a new laptop, where I no longer have access to that same version of Word. My only option now is to use Word in the browser. However, the file that formatted correctly on the old device is now not formatting properly.

The automatic table of contents is breaking. After clicking “Update,” Word assigns random page numbers, most often all entries show as page “8,” or, for example, the “Introduction,” which is actually on page 3 (I manually set page numbering in the old version), suddenly appears as page 5 in the table of contents. Every chapter and subchapter is shown as being on the same page, usually page 8. The formatting options and capabilities also seem worse compared to the interface of the older version.

The same issue occurs on my student account. Please help, I am currently writing my thesis.

Deactivated Autosave Word Online

Tocray — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 01:19:02 GMT

Hello,

Please, How do I disable autosave in Word Online? I've searched for it but haven't found it. Thank you.

Differences in Word for Mac and Word for Windows

miffy — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 13:32:39 GMT

I've been using Word on Windows for many years but recently have purchased a Mac mini and am trying to get used to Word for Mac.

So far I've noticed one super annoying feature of Word for Mac: the spaces, tabs, paragraph symbols, etc., show up in blue instead of in the same color as the text. This is going to create a real problem when I start working on documents where I'm tracking changes, since the paragraph symbols might look like they've been inserted during an edit if the edits are being shown in blue--something I have no control over since other people will have already worked on the document before I get it. As far as I can tell, there's no way to change this.

So I staretd wondering : How many other things are this vastly different on Word for Mac? Are there still keyboard equivalents of all the usual functions (like toggling Tracking on and off, adding a comment, saving, etc.)? Are there any functions completely missing from Word for Mac that are on Word for Windows?

I still have time to return the Mac I got and try to find a Windows pc that meets other requirements I have.

Thanks for any info you might have. I've done a lot of searching on the internet for this and have found very little detailed info.

Table Styles and the Ribbon Table Design>Table Option Checkboxes

cdrgreg — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:47:11 GMT

I have been dabbling in Word VBA for almost three decades but have a fairly limited practical use for Word so I rarely find myself dealing with Tables.

However, the other day I got interested in Charles Kenyon's post on creating a table style with VBA and that led to my discovery of some very odd behavior with both the Table Option Checkboxes on the Ribbon and table style visibility. Specifically a) What triggers which of those six buttons is checked when a table style is applied, b) Why can't one or more of the plethora of "Table Styles" be removed from the Table Style Gallery on the Table Design Ribbon and c) Why can't the table style visibility be modified in the Style Manager "Recommended Dialong ("Show, Hide, Hide Until Used" is dimmed).

First, I took Charles' recorded macro and modified it to focused on only two conditional formatting object “Header Row” and “Total Row”

Option Explicit

Sub TableStyleCreate()

Dim oStyle As Style

Dim oTS As TableStyle

On Error Resume Next

If ActiveDocument.Tables.Count = 1 Then ActiveDocument.Tables(1).Delete 'For testing.

DoEvents

Set oStyle = ActiveDocument.Styles.Add("Table with Just One Condtional Style Element", wdStyleTypeTable)

If Err.Number <> 0 Then

'The named style already exists. Delete it.

ActiveDocument.Styles("Table with Just One Condtional Style Element").Delete

DoEvents

Set oStyle = ActiveDocument.Styles.Add("Table with Just One Condtional Style Element", wdStyleTypeTable)

End If

oStyle.BaseStyle = "Table Grid"

On Error GoTo 0

Set oTS = oStyle.Table

With oTS.Condition(wdFirstRow) 'Associated with Header Row Checkbox

.Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorLightTurquoise

DefineBorder .Borders(wdBorderLeft), wdLineStyleSingle, wdLineWidth150pt, wdColor:=wdColorBlue

DefineBorder .Borders(wdBorderRight), wdLineStyleSingle, wdLineWidth150pt, wdColorBlue

DefineBorder .Borders(wdBorderTop), wdLineStyleSingle, wdLineWidth150pt, wdColorBlue

DefineBorder .Borders(wdBorderBottom), wdLineStyleSingle, wdLineWidth150pt, wdColorBlue

DefineBorder .Borders(wdBorderVertical), wdLineStyleSingle, wdLineWidth150pt, wdColorBlue

End With

With oTS.Condition(wdLastRow) 'Associated with Total Row Checkbox

.Shading.BackgroundPatternColor = wdColorRose

DefineBorder .Borders(wdBorderLeft), wdLineStyleSingle, wdLineWidth150pt, wdColorRed

DefineBorder .Borders(wdBorderRight), wdLineStyleSingle, wdLineWidth150pt, wdColorRed

DefineBorder .Borders(wdBorderTop), wdLineStyleSingle, wdLineWidth150pt, wdColorRed

DefineBorder .Borders(wdBorderBottom), wdLineStyleSingle, wdLineWidth150pt, wdColorRed

DefineBorder .Borders(wdBorderVertical), wdLineStyleSingle, wdLineWidth150pt, wdColorRed

End With

ActiveDocument.Tables.Add Selection.Range, 5, 7

Selection.Tables(1).Style = "Table with Just One Condtional Style Element"

lbl_Exit:

Exit Sub

End Sub

Sub DefineBorder(oBorder As Object, Optional LineStyle As WdLineStyle = wdLineStyleSingle, Optional LineWidth As WdLineWidth, _

Optional wdColor As wdColor = wdColorAutomatic)

On Error Resume Next

With oBorder

.LineStyle = LineStyle

.LineWidth = LineWidth

.Color = wdColor

End With

On Error GoTo 0

lbl_Exit:

Exit Sub

End Sub

TABLE STYLE OPTION CHECKBOXES

After the macro runs, there is a five row, seven column table inserted into the document with conditional formatting displayed only on the “Header Row.”

The reason for this is because when the table is inserted the Table Style Options on the Table Design tab are configured with “Header Row, Last Column, and Banded Rows” checked with “Total Row, Last Column and Banded Columns” unchecked.

When I then checked “Total Row,” my style defined last row formatting was displayed.

My style is formatted with only “Header Row and Total Row” formatting. Why was “First Column and Banded Rows” checked and “Total Row” not? I mean, if I go to the trouble of creating a style with conditional formatting, it seems to reason that I would want to see that formatting applied when I apply that style to a table. Why would I need to take the extra steps of selecting the table, clicking Table Design tab, and checking unchecked boxes?

While investigating, I read that:

"Set as Default" Function: If you modify a table (e.g., check "Total Row") and right-click to select "Set as Default," those specific check marks will appear on all future tables.

So, I selected the table, and checked “Header Row and Total” and unchecked the other four boxes, then selected the style in the Table Styles Gallery, right clicked and applied "Set as Default." I inserted another table, applied the style but still, the formatting was incorrect for the second table. I had to again, select it, select Table Design and check the unchecked box for Total Row.

I also read that the default configuration of the Table Style Option buttons is set as Header Row, First Column and Banded Rows checked whenever a new table is inserted in a document. That seems a bit illogical as I believe the default table style when a new table is inserted using Insert>Tables>Table is "Table Grid". The built-in Table Grid style doesn't have conditional formatting applied to either the Header Row, First Column or Banded Rows. One may wonder why are the boxes checked in that case? But they are.

However, that theory is debunked because if you insert a table using a simple VBA procedure:

Sub InsertSimpleTable()

Dim oTbl As Table

Set oTbl = ActiveDocument.Tables.Add(Selection.Range, 8, 6)

MsgBox oTbl.Style.NameLocal

End Sub

... which again has no conditional formatting applied, the Table Style Option boxes checked are "Banded Rows" and "Banded Columns" (the Header Row and First Column boxes are unchecked). Where is the logic in that? What triggered this change?

It seems to me that the logical behavior would be that whenever a Conditional Formatting is defined in the table style that the associated Table Style Option button would be checked and the others unchecked when the table is inserted and that style applied. If a user then wants to then turn off the display of one or more conditions, then they uncheck it.

Scenario: I need to create a document with 100 tables with conditional formatting applied to the Header Row and Total row. First table contains 3 rows, the second 4 four rows, third 5 row … the one hundredth 102 rows. I create a style with conditional Header and Total row formatting. I insert the first table apply the style, select the table, click Table Design Tab, check Total Row in table design options. I shouldn’t have to repeat those ridiculous steps for each of the next 99 tables. Madness!!

TABLE STYLES IN GENERAL

Next is table styles in general. The Table Design>Table Gallery has a plethora (a hundred or more) table styles displayed. Shauna Kelly discusses this absurdity in her page on tables styles (can't seem to post link) and how to remove some or all of them.

She is right. Despite the artificial idiot solution to the prompt Word Table Design>Table Style Gallery remove a displayed style:

To remove a displayed table style from the gallery in Word, right-click the specific style in the Table Design tab's gallery and select Remove form Style Gallery. This instantly removes the style from view in the current document, although it remains available in the full style list.

There is no "Remove from Style Gallery" and as she states, there is no apparent way in the user interface to remove these built-in table table styles.

Unfortunately, her suggested VBA method for doing so (in which I think there are typos):

Sub HideATableStyleButMakeItVisibleWhenUsed()

With ActiveDocument.Styles(Word.wdStyleTableLightShading)

.Visibility = True 'Yes, True.

.UnhideWhenUsed = True

End With

End Sub

nor my altered version makes any difference.

Sub MyAlteredVersion()

With ActiveDocument.Styles(Word.wdStyleTableLightGrid)

.Visibility = False

.UnhideWhenUsed = False

.Hidden = True

End With

lbl_Exit:

Exit Sub

End Sub

At other places on the web, I have read that you can perhaps "hide" these styles with the Manage Styles "Restrict" dialog or Manage Styles "Recommended" Dialog. I applied restriction to all List Tables styles and still all 49 List Table type styles doggedly persist in the Table Style gallery.

Attempts to hide using the visibility settings with the Style Manager Recommended Tab also fails:

You can select Table Styles that are visible in the Table Style Pane and try to make them hidden but the associated visibility buttons are dimmed.

All of my testing has been done with Word 2019. Does anyone have any evidence that any of these oddities/anomalies are resolved in new versions?

Thank you.

2 spacing after every full stop of a sentence

JennyTan — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 13:01:05 GMT

Hi,

I believe the old norm is to have two spacing after the end of a sentence before starting a new sentence. But nowadays many people are using only one spacing. I need to try to make it a consistent way to follow. Is there an easy way to scan through all the document and make sure changes are applied to follow at least one norm.

Style for Heading - Adding a straight line on the second row of the text

JennyTan — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:36:54 GMT

Is it possible to set a style that is meant for heading 1 and it has a straight line on the second row of the text? how can I do that so that it will appear automatically based on style updates?

There seems to be a bug in the WORD Index.

Sheri2 — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 13:07:48 GMT

Hello, I'm writing a document with an index. There are several Latin based names that require symbols, most notably a small e with an acute accent. The problem name is "Vélez." It will not index correctly putting a separate line for each entry. In troubleshooting the problem, I find that if I replace the symbol "é" with "e," it works okay. Interestingly, the name "Frémont" works okay too. Any ideas?

List Styles & Style Sets

bkhenley — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 11:22:50 GMT

Does anyone know if it is possible to include a list style within a style set? I know to add the styles I want to include in a style set into the style gallery, then save the style set under the design tab. However, even though the styles in my style set are linked to list styles for the numbering, those list styles do not get transferred to a document I add the style set to. I really need the list styles to also transfer to the document I'm adding the style set to. Of course, list styles do not show up in the styles pane or the style gallery (or at least I cannot determine how to get them to). Thoughts?

Index not formatting correctly when using the Latin Symbol small letter "e" with acute

Sheri2 — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:17:49 GMT

Hi, I'm writing a document with Latin based names that require symbols and creating an index. I am having trouble with the index in regards to the name "Vélez." It gives multiple entries instead of one entry with with all the page numbers and subentries. In troubleshooting the issue, I find that if I replace the "é" with "e" in the entry field, it works like it should, but then the name is incorrect in the index. Another name, using the Latin small letter "i" with acute (í) also works fine in the index. Seems to be a bug, but does anyone have any ideas?

Copy content of a locked file

RobinBClay — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:29:48 GMT

I have a team of transcribers; I send them images, they send me back a locked WORD documents.
I CAN unlock it, but prefer not to.
But I need to COPY the content and past it into my own document.

"Locking" should allow copying; it should only prevent changes.

BUT - sometimes Ctrl-A Ctrl-C in theirs and Ctrl-V in mine does work.

And sometimes it does not !

Q1: What am I doing wrong, and what am I doing right ?

Q2: If I have to unlock it, how do I re-lock it ?
Or does it stay locked if I don#t save it ?

Word Document Scrambled

Jedifoot — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:06:52 GMT

I have been using the online version of Microsoft Word via Onedrive.com. The document I have been working on does not exist on my harddrive. It only exists on my OneDrive. The word document is 67 pages long and 31,788 words in total. It is a cumbersome document to review, to say the least.

So, of course I was devastated when I discovered that Microsoft Word had glitched. Its not a minor glitch either. Its a radnomized duplication glitch. In some places one sentence is duplicated, one after the other. In some places a paragraph is duplicated, one full paragraph after the other. In other places, its all messed up. It has copied a single sentence and pasted it in the middle of another paragraph 1 or 2 pages away. One paragraph I saw was composed of sentences copied from at least 2 other paragraphs. This glitch has made a chimera out of a year of hard work.

I had a chat message conversation with a customer support agent today while I was at work. We were unable to fix it. Although, he only offered me two things to try. He wanted me to log onto Onedrive.com from a different computer (in private web browser) and then log onto Onedrive.com from a different internet source. I was unable to log onto Onedrive.com from a different computer (in private web browser). It wanted me to either insert a USB passkey or scan a QR code with my phone for the pass key. I don't have the USB and when I tried my phone it just said that my phone doesn't have a passkey. My passkey is stored on my laptop. So, I was only able to log onto Onedrive.com on my laptop. Next, I tried a different internet source (in private web browser). It didn't work. The document is still scrambled eggs. After that, the customer support agent was all out of suggestions. He sent me here.

The customer support agent did seem to think he knew what the glitch was from. He listed a few things. The ones that sounded possible were either Onedrive.com/word document timed out (maybe when the PC went to sleep) or the internet connect dropped. And supposedly those can cause a duplication problem.

Does any of this sound familar to anyone? Suggestions? I'm begging for a quck fix so I don't have to scrutinize 67 pages and 31,788 words.

Document Headers

Bfearr — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 04:24:47 GMT

I'm just about finished a book. I have the headers formatted a certain way that includes being bold. The problem is that the listing of headers in the TOC also show in a bold font. What do I need to do to not have the TOC font the same as they appear as headers?

VBA concern: support for macros or controls not installed

SA3 — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:52:34 GMT

Background: installed Zotero, a citation manager, to use on Word but it uses macros

My Word doesn't seem to have VBA installed. Every time I open the app, error boxes appear. Screenshotted below:

I have tried a few things to fix this but without benefit:

Macros enabled in the trust centre
VBA enabled in the trust centre
Rapid and online repair completed
I have attempted to 'change' the program in the Control Panel in order to access the 'expand/add features' option but this does not exist as an option for me. When I press 'change' only repair options appear for me. Screenshotted below:

My impression is that somehow VBA was not installed when I downloaded Office form my account. I appreciate VBA is downloaded automatically but this has not been the case for me.

Please advise on next steps.

Thanks in advance.

VBA concern: support for macros or controls not installed when software was installed

SA3 — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:42:41 GMT

Background: I want to use Zotero, a citation manager, on Word but it uses macros.

I get an error message every time I open Word saying VBA wasn't installed at the time I downloaded Office. Image of the error message screen shotted below.

I have tried a number of different things:

Macros are enabled in the trust centre
VBA are enabled in the trust centre
I have ran rapid and online repair on Office on the control panel

I have attempted 'change' office on my control panel to access the 'expand/add features' with the hopes of getting VBA but this does not appear as an option for me. When I select 'change' in the Control Panel the follow pop up appears:

My current impression is that I must download VBA to be able to use VBA. I appreciate that VBA is supposed to automatically download with Office but this does not seem to have happened in my case.

Please advise on what I should do next.

Thanks in advance.

In Cabin font family, horizontal lines move downwards when exporting to PDF

rcoady — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 10:45:48 GMT

I am trying to create my CV in Microsoft Word, but I'm running into an issue: the horizontal lines under my section headings (created by typing three hyphens and then hitting Enter) are being lowered too much when exporting to PDF. To see what I mean, see the below images.

The first is an image of the section heading and the text below it as it appears in Word:

There is a decent level of space between the heading, the line, and the text below.

However, when I export the document to a PDF, the horizontal line moves downwards to the point where it is almost touching the text below:

This seems to be a problem with the Cabin font family that I'm using; I tried the same with Calibri (a native Word font) and Source Serif 4 (from Google Fonts) and the horizontal line stayed where it should.

Word VBA, Unreachable table style setting?

Hakana — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 18:02:59 GMT

I've noticed something that may be a missing feature in the Word VBA Object model.

Styles in word can be of different kinds set by the WdStyleType when adding a style via expression.Add (Name, Type) method of the Styles Object (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/word.styles.add).

Using

wdStyleTypeTable

gives a Table Style.

Table styles differ somewhat from other styles since you build up the style of a table by setting the formatting for different parts/features of the table. E.g. the first, or last row may differ in their style compared to the rest of the table.

These kind of settings are reached via the Condition method of the TableStyle object (reachable from the Style.Table property).

Specifying different "conditions" (of data type WdConditionCode) give you access to ConditionalStyle objects handling the settings for different parts of the table.

In word you can modify the table styles by for example <right-clicking> a table style and selecting "Modify Table Style"

This presents you with the following UI.

Modify Style, Table edition.

The setting I am unable to reach via VBA is tied to the Condition "First Row" which can be reached by selecting the pull-down menu "Apply formatting to:" to Header Row, then clicking the button menu "Format" at the lower left and selecting "Table Properties...".

This gives us the "Table Properties" UI in which we in the tab "Row" is given the options to enable "Repeat as header row at the top of each page".

The effect of this can be seen in the "Description field" in the previous "Modify Style (Table Edition)" view. (You might have to select something else in "!Apply formatting to:" menu and then re-select "Header row" again to get the description field to update).

We now have a "Repeat as header row" shown in the description for "Header rows".

This is a setting which in VBA can be reached for an inserted Table via a Rows property:

table.rows.HeadingFormat

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/word.row.headingformat

However, it should be possible to set for the table style as well.

In the resulting XML file (styles.xml) of the .docx file we find it in a <w:trPr> block as a <w:tblHeader/> tag.

Note that this is the definition of a style in the styles.xml, not the declaration of an inserted table.

Have anyone managed to reach this style setting via VBA or know of how it can be done?

I've scanned through the methods and properties of Style, TableStyle, and ConditionalStyle object definitions and not found anything allowing me to set this "Table property" as part of the style. It would make most sense if it was available in the TableStyle object (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/word.tablestyle) since that is where properties such as "AllowBreakAcrossPage" can be found.

Maybe something they missed in the Word VBA model.