"Stop Highlighting" is grayed out

Question

Once there's some highlighted text on a line, there's no way to stop highlighting being applied to all additional text typed on the same line. The option to Stop Highlighting is grayed out and hitting Esc doesn't work either. Compatibility mode, or lack thereof, doesn't matter. Option to automatically select a whole word is not checked, nor is smart paragraphing. Typing in a table or not doesn't matter. View mode doesn't matter either. Of course, the same problem occurs in Outlook. My version is Office 365 Enterprise E4, fully updated. Windows 10 is fully updated as well.

Example:

• I type a single letter at the beginning of a new line and then highlight it yellow
• Then I hit the space bar ten times, which gives me 10 unhighlighted blank spaces preceding the cursor position.
• I select No Color on the Highlight drop-down. "Stop Highlighting" on that menu is grayed out. It is actually grayed out 100% of the time.
• Finally, I type a single letter at the cursor, now 11 spaces from the first highlighted letter on the same line.

Result: the letter I just typed, along with all 10 blank spaces in between the two letters, are all highlighted yellow.

Answer 1

This isn't an add-in issue so starting Word in Safe Mode, as advised in this thread, is a waste of your time. Text highlighting doesn't work like the Bold or Italic format does. It's a format that's intended to be used after you've typed text, much like you would a real highlighter. When you turn it on, it's locked in for multiple uses.

After you've typed all of your text, click the Highlighter to turn it on, select the text to highlight, select the next, and so on. When you're done, press Esc or click Stop Highlighting.

For single use, select the text you want to highlight and then click the Highlighter.

Answer 2

Hi marcd7,

To exclude the impact of third party plug-ins, please open Word in safe mode, then check if the issue still exists.

For a better understanding of your situation, please provide us with the information below:

1. Click Windows icon > Settings icon > System > About, capture a screenshot and share with us.
2. Open Word > File > Account, capture a screenshot and share with us.

Regards,

Rosen