How do I make "Profession" formatting work in Word Equation Editor

Question

I read the question posted here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5383724/equations-in-word
The second response from Microsoft talks about "professional" versus "linear" format. I've found that it frequently automatically switches an equation to linear, sometimes while you are adding other elements to the equation.

I followed the instructions, clicking on the equation, then clicking on Professional (in the right-click menu). This does not work - either before, during, or after editing the equation using the drop-down menus.
I recognize that there is a \tags solution, but I do not prefer this.

I would like to turn "Professional" on permanently for a Word document containing hundreds of equations... or at least be able to do it for each equation.

Comment: why would anybody want anything other than "professional"?? It is standard math notation; "linear" is not.

Answer 1

I get the same result as the other methods of toggling between linear and professional.

I think the problem is that the software considers -both- of the following to be professional, and it auto-converts from the one I want (the first one) to the one I don't.

This seems like a bug since both explicitly exist in the pull-down menu (first image below) and in the Equation Options (second image below), and I explicitly chose the one I want. And I've turned off auto-convert in the Equation Options (third image below).

The bug may be an unwanted auto-convert?

You must be an admin to get Microsoft Technical Support. That person is somebody hidden across a large university campus from me. I will try to find them to get them to report this (apparent) bug.

Answer 2

The keyboard shortcut did the exact same as the other menu methods that I now think successfully convert from Linear to Professional.

I think the problem is that my unwanted format -is- the default Professional, and my desired format -always- auto-converts to the unwanted format (despite my explicit attempts otherwise).

In my previous comment, I show how I explicitly chose my desired format from the pull-down menu. I also showed how I set Equation Option defaults to my desired format and turned off auto-conversion.

This feels like a bug.

In order to get Microsoft Technical Support, I need to go through my university Microsoft admin. I'm going to try that convoluted route.

Answer 3

Hi @Hole, John,

Thank you for your response. I’m sorry that the methods I previously provided haven’t worked for you. To make it easier for you to find your school’s administrator, please see the following information:

Typically, the school administrator belongs to the IT department. In this case, you can contact the IT department and follow these steps:

Step 1: Go to https://admin.microsoft.com

Step 2: Click Help and Support

Step 3: Enter the title: Need assistance checking the Equation feature in Word on macOS

Step 4: Click Contact Support

Step 5: Choose your preferred contact method (email or phone number)

Once the IT department completes these steps, a live agent will proactively contact you using the method you selected. They will assist you with a deeper check on this issue.

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.

I look forward to continuing the conversation.

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