Microsoft Word formatting display issues

Question

Several weeks ago, Word's display of formatting marks became very unreliable. I am using Microsoft 365, Word Version 2606, Build 20131.20154, Windows 10 Pro.

Here's how a sample paragraph should (and does when the file is first opened) display with all formatting marks turned on:

Note that the "keep with next" mark to the left of the first line disappears, and the tab on the second line moves to the right. However, that's not actually where the tab is. With the cursor at the P, typing Delete removes the o in Perform. With the cursor at the left of the tab symbol, where the P is in the first screen shot, typing Delete removes the P.

The faux tab issue seems to affect the first line of only one level of a multilevel list, in this case the A throughout the document but not the B and following.

Even more annoyingly, it seems some pages of a document will change while others do not.

Answer 1

Hi Leon,

Based on your sharing, Word still knows where the real tab and text positions are, but the visual layer is drawing the formatting marks in the wrong place. Combining with the fact that the faux tab affects only one level and inconsistently persists in some pages of a document, I suspect the problem may be related to the Word app installation itself.

Therefore, I suggest you first trying to repair the Word app:

• Close all Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, etc.) and press Windows + I to open Windows Settings
• Go to Apps > Installed apps > Find Microsoft 365 / Microsoft Office in the list > select the three dots (…) next to it and choose Modify.
• If prompted by User Account Control, select Yes > choose Online Repair > then select Repair.

• Follow the on‑screen instructions until it completes and then test again to see if the checkbox shows up

If the Office Repair doesn't help, since you are using the latest Word version and the issue is said to happen not long ago, the issue would be likely due to the compatibility issue with the latest Excel version. In that case, you can try rolling back to older Office version to see whether it works:

Step 1: Download and Extract ODT 

• Download the .exe file from Download Office Deployment Tool from Official Microsoft Download Center 
• Run it to extract two files: setup.exe and configuration.xml (sample) 

Step 2: Create Your Custom Configuration File 

• Open Notepad and paste the following XML:

<Configuration>  
<Updates Enabled="TRUE" TargetVersion="16.0.xxxxx.yyyyy" />  
</Configuration> 

• Replace the xxxxx.yyyyy part with the exact build number of the previous version that you prefer. For example: if you want Version 2604 Build 19929.20172, replace xxxxx.yyyyy with 19929.20172
• You can find the version list from Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date) - Office release notes | Microsoft Learn

• After that, save the file as Config.xml in the same file location as the Setup.exe file in step 1

Step 3: Run the Installer 

• Open Command Prompt as administrator, navigate to the folder in step 2 where setup.exe and your XML file are located, then run: 

setup.exe /configure config.xml 

• This will install the specified version of Office/Excel. 

Step 4: Disable auto updates

• Open Excel. 
• Go to File > Account > Update options. 
• Select Disable updates to prevent reverting to newer versions. 

You can watch this tutorial video to easily follow the steps above: https://youtu.be/3KUlOsN1IAI?si=sKOk-YkSu-f-2v23

(This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.)

Please give it a try and let me know whether it works. If not, please feel free to reach out again in the comments on this post. I'm happy to assist you further

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. I'm looking forward to your reply.

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Answer 2

See http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/NumberAlignment2007.htm#NumberedLists .