Using the Insert key to switch between insert & overwrite mode invarious Word reversions

  • Thread starter Thread starter SlickRCBD
  • Start date Start date
S

SlickRCBD

Back with Word97 I was dismayed to find that Word did not recognize
the standard usage of the INSert key to switch between insert mode and
overwrite. When I finally got Word 2003, having skipped purchasing the
intervening versions and having limited exposure at community college,
I was elated to discover that they had added a feature to allow me to
do so.

Now I'm taking some night courses to try to get a better college
degree and I just had occasion to use Word 2007 in a lab. I haven't
been this frustrated since the time I tried Word XP and found that it
wouldn't let me format the outline using the number and letter scheme
my teacher insisted on me using and I wound up doing the thing in
Wordpad.

I digress. I've discovered that once again I can't use the INSert key
to toggle between overwrite and insert modes. The teacher for the
class I'm doing wants the papers to have a standard format and I've
created a template using that format, but the template has several
placeholders to make sure the text is formatted correctly. When I try
to use the highlight and delete method of getting rid of the text
placeholders, it often also deletes the formatting changes. In Word
2003 I'd solve this problem by switching to overwrite mode and simply
type over the placeholders.
How do I do that in Word 2007 or is it too much of a PITA to do so to
change two lines of text before switching back to insert mode?

Also, was there a way that I never learned of to be able to use the
INSERT key in Word 97 to serve the same function as it did in Word
2003?
 
Not far enough into your course to find the option to re-enable the use of
INS to toggle Overtype? The reason for it being disabled is because of the
thousands of support calls by novice users who accidentally toggle on
Overtype mode and didn't know what they had done. So now 'experienced' users
who want the feature need to enable it under Word Options.

It's another case of Word being tuned to the lowest common denominator. Wait
till you try Word 2007!
 
AFAIK, the Insert key has been enabled in every version of Word by default,
so in Word 97 you must somehow have checked the box to "Use the INS key for
paste." In Word 2007, you'll need to go to Office Button | Word Options |
Advanced: Editing options and check the box for "Use the Insert key to
control overtype mode." Note also that in any version of Word you can
double-click OVR on the status bar to toggle modes.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
Back with Word97 I was dismayed to find that Word did not recognize
the standard usage of the INSert key to switch between insert mode and
overwrite. When I finally got Word 2003, having skipped purchasing the
Click to expand...
....snip...

My Word97 switches between insert and overwrite using that key.
 
Note also that in any version of Word you can
double-click OVR on the status bar to toggle modes.
Click to expand...

In my version of Word 2007, a double-click won't work. But a single click
does!
 
But in Word 2007 it doesn't say OVR, either, but "Insert" or "Overtype."

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
My point is that reference to double-clicking OVR does not apply to
something that says Insert/Overtype instead of OVR. I was not talking about
Word 2007.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
My point is that reference to double-clicking OVR does not apply to
something that says Insert/Overtype instead of OVR. I was not talking about
Word 2007.
Click to expand...

You wrote exactly this:

"In Word 2007, you'll need to go to Office Button | Word Options |
Advanced: Editing options and check the box for "Use the Insert key to
control overtype mode." Note also that in any version of Word you can
double-click OVR on the status bar to toggle modes."

I am sorry but I find it difficult to dissociate Word 2007 from
"double-click OVR" in your post, coming as it does on the heels of "In Word
2007" and "in any version of Word". How could "any version of Word" not
include Word 2007, especially as you¢d just been talking about Word 2007?
We just read posts, we are not mind-readers.

What's more, I find the distinction between "OVR" and "Overtype" rather
specious. As I understand things, "OVR" is only a kind of acronym for
"Overtype".

Whether you call it "OVR" or "Overtype", that mode can only be toggled with
a single click in Word 2007. I know. I learnt it the hard way. I had been
so used to double-clicking "OVR" ("Overtype") on the status bar of previous
versions that I instinctively did it in Word 2007. It did not work. I found
out that it now required a single click when I failed to do a proper
double-click, and single-clicked by mistake. :)
 
You are right. I should have written, "In any previous version of Word."
When I wrote that, I hadn't checked the status bar in Word 2007, which I did
after I posted (and saw that it doesn't have OVR). But it is also true that
the state of the setting on the status bar in Word 2007 is much more obvious
than in earlier versions (OVR black or dimmed), and that all the other
status bar buttons require a single rather than a double click (as in
previous versions).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
...snip...

My Word97 switches between insert and overwrite using that key.
Click to expand...

I've read all the posts in this thread. I'll reply in order.

The contents of the course I'm taking has nothing to do with Word. I
was simply given a syllabus that specified that all papers are to be
submitted with standardized headers, double-space (not 1.5) text, page
numbers, and a specific font. The teacher also took us to a lab that
had a choice of Notepad or Word 2007 and gave us time to work on the
papers when she was there.

I've played around with the current install of Word97 on my old
computer, and found that the Insert key seemed to do nothing at first.
I went to the option, clicked on the option to make it use the INS key
to paste things in, then unchecked it and it started to work as
described in the post above. Unfortunately, exiting Word and
relaunching it caused the INS key to go back to doing nothing until I
toggle the option twice. The standard double-click on "OVR" works. I
can only assume that this would work similarly on my ancient laptop,
but didn't feel like digging it out of the closet as I don't think
I'll be using it anytime soon.

I won't be returning to the school until Monday, and I won't be
returning to that specific class until Tuesday, so I can't try
anything related to Word 2007 until then unless I go to somebody
else's computer. My choices at home are Office 97 Professional or
Office 2003 Student (from when I went to Community College some years
back). Now I've gone back to school to get better degree than the one
I've got.

I'll probably make another follow-up post on Tuesday as I expect to be
doing some more typing then. I plan to do all my other assignments
here at home using Office 2003.
 
If the Insert key doesn't toggle between Insert and Overtype (even though
you don't have it assigned to paste), it's possible it's still been
unassigned. One way to check is to go to Tools | Customize | Keyboard, pick
a command at random, and press Insert as the shortcut key. "Currently
assigned to" should show "Overtype." If it does not, then find Overtype in
the All Commands list and assign the Insert key to it. (Note that the
description of the deceptively named "Overtype" is "Toggles the typing mode
between replacing and inserting.")

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

...snip...

My Word97 switches between insert and overwrite using that key.
Click to expand...

I've read all the posts in this thread. I'll reply in order.

The contents of the course I'm taking has nothing to do with Word. I
was simply given a syllabus that specified that all papers are to be
submitted with standardized headers, double-space (not 1.5) text, page
numbers, and a specific font. The teacher also took us to a lab that
had a choice of Notepad or Word 2007 and gave us time to work on the
papers when she was there.

I've played around with the current install of Word97 on my old
computer, and found that the Insert key seemed to do nothing at first.
I went to the option, clicked on the option to make it use the INS key
to paste things in, then unchecked it and it started to work as
described in the post above. Unfortunately, exiting Word and
relaunching it caused the INS key to go back to doing nothing until I
toggle the option twice. The standard double-click on "OVR" works. I
can only assume that this would work similarly on my ancient laptop,
but didn't feel like digging it out of the closet as I don't think
I'll be using it anytime soon.

I won't be returning to the school until Monday, and I won't be
returning to that specific class until Tuesday, so I can't try
anything related to Word 2007 until then unless I go to somebody
else's computer. My choices at home are Office 97 Professional or
Office 2003 Student (from when I went to Community College some years
back). Now I've gone back to school to get better degree than the one
I've got.

I'll probably make another follow-up post on Tuesday as I expect to be
doing some more typing then. I plan to do all my other assignments
here at home using Office 2003.
 
If the Insert key doesn't toggle between Insert and Overtype (even though
you don't have it assigned to paste), it's possible it's still been
unassigned. One way to check is to go to Tools | Customize | Keyboard, pick
a command at random, and press Insert as the shortcut key. "Currently
assigned to" should show "Overtype." If it does not, then find Overtype in
the All Commands list and assign the Insert key to it. (Note that the
description of the deceptively named "Overtype" is "Toggles the typing mode
between replacing and inserting.")

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USAhttp://word.mvps.org




I've read all the posts in this thread. I'll reply in order.

The contents of the course I'm taking has nothing to do with Word. I
was simply given a syllabus that specified that all papers are to be
submitted with standardized headers, double-space (not 1.5) text, page
numbers, and a specific font. The teacher also took us to a lab that
had a choice of Notepad or Word 2007 and gave us time to work on the
papers when she was there.

I've played around with the current install of Word97 on my old
computer, and found that the Insert key seemed to do nothing at first.
I went to the option, clicked on the option to make it use the INS key
to paste things in, then unchecked it and it started to work as
described in the post above. Unfortunately, exiting Word and
relaunching it caused the INS key to go back to doing nothing until I
toggle the option twice. The standard double-click on "OVR" works. I
can only assume that this would work similarly on my ancient laptop,
but didn't feel like digging it out of the closet as I don't think
I'll be using it anytime soon.

I won't be returning to the school until Monday, and I won't be
returning to that specific class until Tuesday, so I can't try
anything related to Word 2007 until then unless I go to somebody
else's computer. My choices at home are Office 97 Professional or
Office 2003 Student (from when I went to Community College some years
back). Now I've gone back to school to get better degree than the one
I've got.

I'll probably make another follow-up post on Tuesday as I expect to be
doing some more typing then. I plan to do all my other assignments
here at home using Office 2003.
Click to expand...

Wow, that worked. I REALLY wish I'd know I could do that 10 years ago
when I used Word 97 as my primary Word Processor. I don't use it as
much anymore since replacing it and the computer it's installed on
with Word 2003 back in 2004 (or was it 05, I can't recall).
Thanks. I'll have to see if I can get the overtype mode to work in the
labs at school. I'm not going back there until Monday however.
 
Of course, the real mystery is how it got unassigned.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

If the Insert key doesn't toggle between Insert and Overtype (even though
you don't have it assigned to paste), it's possible it's still been
unassigned. One way to check is to go to Tools | Customize | Keyboard,
pick
a command at random, and press Insert as the shortcut key. "Currently
assigned to" should show "Overtype." If it does not, then find Overtype in
the All Commands list and assign the Insert key to it. (Note that the
description of the deceptively named "Overtype" is "Toggles the typing
mode
between replacing and inserting.")

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USAhttp://word.mvps.org




I've read all the posts in this thread. I'll reply in order.

The contents of the course I'm taking has nothing to do with Word. I
was simply given a syllabus that specified that all papers are to be
submitted with standardized headers, double-space (not 1.5) text, page
numbers, and a specific font. The teacher also took us to a lab that
had a choice of Notepad or Word 2007 and gave us time to work on the
papers when she was there.

I've played around with the current install of Word97 on my old
computer, and found that the Insert key seemed to do nothing at first.
I went to the option, clicked on the option to make it use the INS key
to paste things in, then unchecked it and it started to work as
described in the post above. Unfortunately, exiting Word and
relaunching it caused the INS key to go back to doing nothing until I
toggle the option twice. The standard double-click on "OVR" works. I
can only assume that this would work similarly on my ancient laptop,
but didn't feel like digging it out of the closet as I don't think
I'll be using it anytime soon.

I won't be returning to the school until Monday, and I won't be
returning to that specific class until Tuesday, so I can't try
anything related to Word 2007 until then unless I go to somebody
else's computer. My choices at home are Office 97 Professional or
Office 2003 Student (from when I went to Community College some years
back). Now I've gone back to school to get better degree than the one
I've got.

I'll probably make another follow-up post on Tuesday as I expect to be
doing some more typing then. I plan to do all my other assignments
here at home using Office 2003.
Click to expand...

Wow, that worked. I REALLY wish I'd know I could do that 10 years ago
when I used Word 97 as my primary Word Processor. I don't use it as
much anymore since replacing it and the computer it's installed on
with Word 2003 back in 2004 (or was it 05, I can't recall).
Thanks. I'll have to see if I can get the overtype mode to work in the
labs at school. I'm not going back there until Monday however.
 
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