strange characters typing in Word

doctorcloudbase · External Since: Oct 12, 2006 Posts: 2

Hi.

My mum is getting numbers attached to letters typed in Word. This only
occurs intermittently, and then only with certain characters - i think its
't','y' and '-', which then produce something like T6, Y5, that sort of thing.

She is unaware of turning on or off any particular settings. Becuase its
systematic, in that it only ever occurs with the same characters giving the
same results, it cant be anything random like fuff in the keyboard of
whatever. Equally, because its random, in that it seems to occur or not
without pattern, seems difficult ot imagine its somethign to do with a
particular setting somewhere.

Consequently, we dont know whats going on!

Can anyone help? The obvious work-around is to use th 'replace' command
every now and then to replace the characters with those that should be there,
but its tedious!

Damian

Opinicus · External Since: Nov 19, 2003 Posts: 157

"doctorcloudbase" <doctorcloudbase DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote

> My mum is getting numbers attached to letters typed in Word. This only
> occurs intermittently, and then only with certain characters - i think its
> 't','y' and '-', which then produce something like T6, Y5, that sort of
> thing.

Whenever you have keyboard problems, the first thing to do is to try a
different keyboard on the same machine or try that keyboard on a different
machine...

--
Bob
http://www.kanyak.com

doctorcloudbase · External Since: Oct 12, 2006 Posts: 2

Thank you...but its a laptop. May take en external keybord though, so I'll
suggest it.

Any other ideas anyone?

D

"Opinicus" wrote:

> "doctorcloudbase" <doctorcloudbase.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
>
> > My mum is getting numbers attached to letters typed in Word. This only
> > occurs intermittently, and then only with certain characters - i think its
> > 't','y' and '-', which then produce something like T6, Y5, that sort of
> > thing.
>
> Whenever you have keyboard problems, the first thing to do is to try a
> different keyboard on the same machine or try that keyboard on a different
> machine...
>
> --
> Bob
> http://www.kanyak.com
>
>
>

Herb Tyson [MVP] · External Since: Oct 02, 2003 Posts: 2144

Some laptops have an embedded number pad in the main keyboard. The numbers
are activated by either pressing some kind of shift key or by toggling some
kind of locking key. The numbers usually are printed on the lower front of
the letter keys, and can be hard to see.

Do the numbers she's seeing coincide with the number pad? If so, then it
might indeed be that the keyboard is going south.

Most laptops will accept an external keyboard, either using a standard
keyboard connector or using USB ports. I would try plugging in another
keyboard to see if the problem still occurs.

I'm assuming, of course, that you've tried obvious things such as rebooting.

By the way... does the problem occur only in Word? If so, what happens if
you start Word in safe mode? (Also, if so, what version of Word is she
using?)

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
http://www.herbtyson.com
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
"doctorcloudbase" <doctorcloudbase.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:2ADE7A51-A00F-4366-8160-DB1B588FD306@microsoft.com...
> Hi.
>
> My mum is getting numbers attached to letters typed in Word. This only
> occurs intermittently, and then only with certain characters - i think its
> 't','y' and '-', which then produce something like T6, Y5, that sort of
> thing.
>
> She is unaware of turning on or off any particular settings. Becuase its
> systematic, in that it only ever occurs with the same characters giving
> the
> same results, it cant be anything random like fuff in the keyboard of
> whatever. Equally, because its random, in that it seems to occur or not
> without pattern, seems difficult ot imagine its somethign to do with a
> particular setting somewhere.
>
> Consequently, we dont know whats going on!
>
> Can anyone help? The obvious work-around is to use th 'replace' command
> every now and then to replace the characters with those that should be
> there,
> but its tedious!
>
> Damian