Find doesn't work

Question

Hi, I am using Office 2010, and the "find" option stopped working.  Both the tab button and the shortcut don't work. It worked fine before. Is it something I accidentally did, or something else? Please help.

Answer 1

Have you rebooted your computer since the problem started?

If you have, the next simple thing to try is repairing Office:

Repair Office 2010 / 2007 - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/repair-or-remove-office-2010-HA010357402.aspx?CTT=1

If that doesn't fix the problem try some of the following trouble shooting processes:

Trouble Shoot Word problems that occur when you start or use Word 2010, 2007, 2003, or 2002http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541  (no %temp% folder)

**NOTE:**part of this procedure is disabling addins. If you want to take a shortcut, check to see if you have a BlueTooth device driver or addin, ie “send to Bluetooth”, installed. Disabling BlueTooth is rapidly moving to the top of my Office trouble shooting process. Blue Tooth drivers have been identified as the cause of problems with many different “random” symptoms. If you have BlueTooth, disable it in control panel, device manager and possibly as an addin in Office apps.  It’s not that I think there is anything inherently bad with Blue Tooth. The problem is with the people writing the drivers.

Bluetooth Fix: “Microsoft Word has stopped working” - http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-microsoft-word-has-stopped-working Example of a problem caused by Bluetooth

Alright, well, I found the answer to this final issue: I only needed to disable the Bluetooth add-in on Options. I have no idea why that would have been the problem, but I found it as a suggested fix here. Now every single thing opens quickly and without error.

Thanks for all your help everyone.

As a recap:

• My Office 2010 was a Click-to-Run version
• Word suddenly giving me messages about "Downloading the Required Feature," freezing up, slowing down...
• Ultimately had to uninstall Office
• Reinstalled it from the Microsoft website with my product key, choosing the 64-bit version instead of the Click-to-Run version
• Installed all new updates from Windows Updates
• Restarted computer
• Word working quickly with no messages, but became unresponsive when trying to open old files
• Went to File->Options->Add-Ins->Go-> and unchecked Bluetooth.
• Everything seems to be back to normal, if not better than before.

A beginner's guide to trouble shooting problems in Word http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322743

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Support for Office 2010 and 2007 technical problems - Many links-http://support.microsoft.com/gp/gp_off_main

How to trouble shoot problems that occur when you start or use Word 2003 or Word 2002 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=820919

Solving Crashing Problems - http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm

Systematic Method of Fixing Common Problems & the Data Key -http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wrd&Number=197827&Search=true&Forum=All_Forums&Words=197827&Match=MessNum&Searchpage=0&Limit=40&Old=allposts&Main=197827

Starting point when Word does something unexpected

As a general rule, when something seems to be going wrong, or at least not the way you want it to go, in Word, any version, go to Tools and then Options and study all the settings on all the tabs. You may even find some settings that you want to try that have nothing to do with the current problem.

When I was teaching Word and other Microsoft Office programs at a private business college, I had three rules:

1.         Always check Tools Options

2.         When in doubt, right-click on something

3.         If you're wondering how to set up a special kind of material in a document, consider whether Word tables are suitable. The placement officer of the school came to me several times and asked how I thought she should set something up. Each time the answer was, "I'd use a Word table." By the fifth time she had stopped asking--she got the point.

What to do When Word Crashes****http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

Use a Spare User Account to Trouble shoot Windows Problems -http://www.pcworld.com/article/218437/reader\_qanda\_trouble shoot\_windows\_tweak\_office\_add\_usb\_ports.html?tk=nl\_sbx\_h\_cbstories

Recently a couple readers wrote to me with very similar problems. One was having trouble getting Internet Explorer to run; the other, Windows Explorer.

In other words, a couple of Windows' own built-in tools were broken. (Note to Microsoft: That should not happen. Come on!)

Usually, for situations like these, I recommend an end-run around the problem. Internet Explorer won't work? Install Firefox or Chrome and use that instead. Can't load Windows Explorer? Switch to any number of even better Windows Explorer replacements.

Of course, that doesn't really solve the problem. If you're hoping to fix your broken tool, you'll need to do a little trouble shooting. To start, I recommend switching to (or creating) another user account, then seeing if Explorer runs properly. If it does, you've narrowed down the problem significantly (and should consider "moving" to a new user account permanently). If not, well, back to square one.

Either way, it's a simple method of figuring out how deeply rooted into Windows the problem is. And that will help considerably as you Google-search for an actual fix (assuming there is one--sometimes these things can be resolved only by reinstalling Windows).Make the Office 2007/2010 Toolbars More Familiar