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Word 2016 - Right clicking on highlighted text deselects it

Anonymous
2017-01-18T15:39:50+00:00

To put it lightly, this is driving me insane!!!  I just installed Office 2016, so I'm still getting used to it, but when I highlight a word or block of text, then right click to get the copy option, instead of giving me that drop down menu, it just deselects the text I just selected.  There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what does eventually cause the right click menu to appear and I have to either just keep selecting the text and right clicking until it eventually gives me the right click menu or I have to select the text and hit the copy icon on the top toolbar - which is a huge hassle when I'm doing this a lot and I have to move my mouse from the text all the way up to the toolbar instead of being able to leave my mouse in position and right click and get that right click menu.  This is such a hassle to me, that I'm seriously considering uninstalling Office 2016 and going back to Office 2010.  Please help someone!  I love the cloud feature to store my important documents on OneDrive so I always have a backup, but not so much so as to endure this right clicking problem.  My mouse is fine (brand new just before xmas in fact, trusted brand of Logitech) and all drivers are up to date.  I have checked settings on my mouse and there are no settings to do with this deselection and it is only happening in the Office 2016 products I have installed.  Of note, I am using Office 2016 on a computer with Windows 7, 64 bit version installed.

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Anonymous
2018-05-25T03:57:26+00:00

Had this issue myself.  Found a fix.

To fix this: Hit the File tab, go down to Options, and in the General section right at the top, there's a box that reads: "Show mini toolbar on selection".  Un-check this box, then hit okay, and the problem should be solved.  Right click should work properly again with no more text deselect.  Worked for me.

What people are saying is accurate in that it has to do with tiny mouse movements, BUT this is caused by a feature that was added recently.  It's that mini formatting toolbar that pops up automatically whenever you highlight something that's causing the problem.  This added feature creates an overlap of systems where Word thinks you're trying to select new text and interact with the new toolbar instead of just right clicking on the text that's already been highlighted.  Best way I can explain why I think the problem happens.  Turning off the mini formatting toolbar avoids this confusion, and the right click option is freed up again.  Not sure why this is even a feature since the mini formatting toolbar shows up just above or below the right click pop up window anyway.  I guess it was added to erase the need to right click at all?  This idea sounds like it would add greater efficiency, but in reality it seems to have just made things less efficient.  Poor design, in other words, but not necessarily a bug.  Oh well.  Anyway, that's the fix everybody.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-06-02T12:47:27+00:00

    No problem with the mouse.

    The problem is with the Word 2016.

    Root of this problem: Text can be selected equally with left mouse button and right mouse button. This is not the case with former versions of Word. Left click and hold while select or right click and hold and select. Both work in Word 2016.

    Suppose you select a text using the left button. Text block is highlighted. You click into the highlighted text with right button. Now this click is a problem. If you click without any small movement of the mouse a menu will pop up, as normally expected. However, if you push a mouse a little when clicking with a right button, Word will think you want to select a small range of text with the right button and forget about the former selection. It may happen that nothing will be selected just the former selection will disappear. It also depends on the sensitivity level you set with the mouse.

    The solution is to prevent the right button of mouse from selecting any kind of text.

    I have found no way to do so.

    It seems a bug built in Office 2016 Word.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-11-29T18:59:21+00:00

    I am sorry Doug. You are wrong. There is a lot to be fixed. Give this problem a second chance to replicate there.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-03-14T08:25:51+00:00

    I had the same problem.  It was happening on a .doc file.  The way to fix it is to save it as a .docx file.

    After reading about compatibility mode below, I tried it again. I was easily able to reproduce the problem on a .doc file.  Then I saved the doc file as a .docx file, and was then unable to reproduce the problem - it works!.

    It was not caused by a faulty mouse - the mouse worked OK in other apps.

    It was not caused by clicking in the wrong place: I was clicking on the text in the doc file. I tried clicking nearby on the docx file.  It works clicking nearby.

    Update: I was wrong. The problem still happens.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-01-22T09:31:08+00:00

    Yes, I have 2 other computers with this build of Office that don't have the problem. A restart has fixed the problem for now. My working hypothesis is that the issue is somehow triggered when working (esp. pasting) with documents in compatibility mode. I'll try to post more details if (God forbid) the issue reappears.

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