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Hand cursor

Anonymous
2016-11-18T15:55:47+00:00

Hi,

I'd like to know whether there's a 'hand cursor' or similar option and how to enable it.

Otherwise, what alternatives do I have?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-11-18T16:40:34+00:00

    If you are referring to the "pointing hand" that appears when you hover over a hyperlink (such as Reply at the bottom of your post), you will get that when you mouse over hyperlinks in your text.

    If you're referring to the hand that allows you to pan a document (as in Adobe Reader), then no, there is no such mouse pointer in Word. You can use the vertical and horizontal scroll bars to change the portion of a document shown in the window.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-11-18T18:20:50+00:00

    you can replace the usual arrow cursor with a pointing hand throughout Windows and Office

    First of all, thaks for replying Jay.

    Does that pointing hand enables grabbing and moving around a document?

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  3. Jay Freedman 207.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-11-18T17:51:24+00:00

    While the pointing hand cursor is used only for hyperlinks by default in Word (and generally in Windows), you can replace the usual arrow cursor with a pointing hand throughout Windows and Office if you wish.

    • Open the Mouse Properties dialog box. In Windows 7, right-click the desktop and click Personalization; then click the "Change mouse pointers" link on the left side of the dialog. The same Mouse dialog is reachable through the Control Panel.
    • In the Mouse Properties dialog, click the Pointers tab.
    • By default the "Normal Select" pointer is highlighted, and that's probably the one you want to change. You can change the others, but I wouldn't recommend replacing the I-beam (Text Select) cursor with a pointing hand because that one needs to fit between characters.
    • Click the Browse button to open a file dialog, which displays the C:\Windows\Cursors folder.
    • Select one of the pointing hand cursors, whose names all start with "aero_link". Three of them are outlines, and the other three are solid black, as shown in the preview box. Click the Open button when you have selected the one you want.
    • Click OK in the Mouse Properties dialog.
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  4. Jay Freedman 207.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-11-19T02:16:00+00:00

    you can replace the usual arrow cursor with a pointing hand throughout Windows and Office

    First of all, thaks for replying Jay.

    Does that pointing hand enables grabbing and moving around a document?

    Yes, it does. The only thing that changes is the appearance of the cursor; its functionality remains the same. So if you replace the arrow cursor with the hand cursor, it still behaves as a "Normal Select" cursor, including the grab-and-drag action.

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