I can usually use either find or replace once. The next time I try it, Word crashes. Frequently, the find and replace functions don't work, as they report nothing found, but when Word restarts after the crash, I find it.
My guess is that the tables have something to do with it.
Really frustrating. Is Microsoft working on a fix for this? (It would be nice if they allowed the search window to float while as well. Having to close it, fix the document, then open it again is really tedious.)
A possible work-around is to use the find function to find each instance of the target. Then close the search window, do the replace, and open the search window again. I have successfully used that technique.
I doubt MS is working on a fix because it isn't broken... At least not here
in 2 separate installations of 12.1.0, and this is the only report of any
such problem (here, at least). I don't question what you're experiencing,
but it isn't a bug in the program. It must be something local to your system
causing the behavior. Once we find out what that is we can help you correct
it with no need for a workaround.
First thought - Are you using the OS X feature called Spaces? If so, turn it
off, restart your Mac & see if the problem continues. Office 2008 is
admittedly incompatible with Spaces at the present time. That's a known
issue that MS is working with Apple to resolve. If that isn't it...
Try the steps offered on the link below which pertain to "Unexpected quit
while in use". Try those steps in the order they're listed.
http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html
The one point that may seem like a PITA is that the F&R dialog doesn't stay
in the foreground if you click in the document. However, you should need
only key Command+` or Command+F or Shift+Command+H to bring it back to the
front. Or you can just click the up/dn Browse Objects button (at the bottom
of he vertical scroll bar) to resume Finding without having the box covering
any content at all.
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
On 6/22/08 7:52 PM, in article 59b51...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
You are correct: if a document corrupts, it is most likely that the problem
will appear in or around the tables.
However, I can use Search/Replace all day without a crash. And the Search
window DOES float for me, so I can leave it open.
And the Browse function enables me to repeat a Find or Replace with a single
click, without having to open the Search window at all.
So I am sure we can solve your problems, but we need lots and lots of detail
about what is in that document, and what you are trying to do.
Right at the moment, "No" Microsoft is not working on any problems with
Search and Replace, because they are not aware that there are any.
If you work with us, we'll get this solved for you.
Cheers
On 23/06/08 9:52 AM, in article 59b51...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"kyu...@officeformac.com" <kyu...@officeformac.com> wrote:
--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/
Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:jo...@mcghie.name
Also, in order to be of any assistance we need to know the specific version
of Office & OS X as well as a complete & accurate description of what the
problem seems to be. Any other details about the situation will also enable
someone to help you resolve it most quickly.
Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
On 6/23/08 9:31 AM, in article 59b51...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
The Search/Replace mechanism does not do that here.
I suspect there is something else wrong: we need lots of detail so we can
help you sort it out.
I am not aware of any bug reports on Search/Replace issues, so I think the
support people might have been a little confused: I don't think there are
any fixes on the way for an issue like that. Not that I would necessarily
know if there are, but one of us would usually know.
Cheers
On 23/06/08 11:01 PM, in article 59b51...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"kbr...@officeformac.com" <kbr...@officeformac.com> wrote:
--
Well, as a heavy Find and Replace user over the course of many years,
I know that something *is* indeed the matter with the function in Word
2008. I've had a number of strange occurrences I'm currently keeping
an eye on in order to rule out particular files or formatting as the
cause, but so far, something that is definitely not file-dependent is
this: with the Replace window frontmost, the focus randomly passes to
the document window, so that pressing Command-A to Replace All does a
Select All in the document window instead- or crashes Word altogether.
A Command-W to close the Replace window -which remains frontmost-
closes the document instead.
Patricio Mason
Santiago, Chile
I'm glad to see this. Word crashed about half a dozen times on me
while using Find (I wasn't replacing anything). I had the window
split--that's the most complex it got. I didn't observe the document
window jumping in front of the F/R window, but it did crash repeatedly.
And the Auto-save didn't work a single time. I got to the point that I
was cmd-S'ing after every modest change to the text that I made.
I'm using the exact same setup as you, except that I see I'm behind a
version on Word--I'm still on 12.1.0. Will grab the update soon,
although it's clear it won't solve this particular problem.
_dennis
That's a classic sign of a corrupt document!
To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing wrong with Find/Replace (and I
am a very serious user of it... Large complex documents...)
But if the document is corrupt, it will indeed go bang if you are processing
it at such a speed that Word cannot catch up with itself: Find/Replace is
one mechanism that does this.
Cheers
On 28/06/08 7:14 AM, in article 270620081444518536%a...@ifyouneedit.com,
"Slipface" <a...@ifyouneedit.com> wrote:
--
After running that utility, everything worked fine for a while, then I had trouble again. I ran the disk utility again, and again I was fine. After a few iterations, things seem to be normal, knock on wood.
Someone may be able to offer an alternative approach based on your specific
situation, but they can't do so unless they know what that situation is:-)
Be sure to include what does/doesn't happen as a result of following the
previous suggestions.
Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
On 7/1/08 3:13 AM, in article
F5949DF9-1DCB-4A36...@microsoft.com, "John"
Repairing permissions is not a one time thing:-) Every time you update or
install anything - especially updates from Apple or other complex software -
permissions are likely to change. Running the utility should be a follow-up
to any such update or install.
If permissions are repeatedly getting out of whack you might also run the
Verify Disk feature in the same utility. If you find any errors follow the
instructions in Disk Utility Help if you aren't familiar with it.
Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
On 7/1/08 3:24 AM, in article 59b51...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
I'm not *heavy* user of F&R nor do I mean to contradict your findings, but
just for additional information:
I've had the same positive experience as John McGhie reported - essentially
F&R works consistently as advertised. In fact, I just ran about 20
consecutive operations using the same keystrokes you're having the problem
with. Every occurrence went without a hitch. [Although I am currently in
10.5.3 on an Intel MBP, but I don't recall having any such issues on my G5
It's still running 10.4.11 & I'll try on it this evening.]
I can't help but wonder if the focus issue isn't OS related. The application
doesn't do anything but define the dialog window as modal & present it. I'm
not sure, but I tend to think it's the job of the OS to not allow the focus
to shift while such a dialog is displayed. Have you pursued it from that
direction?
Additionally, what happens if you use esc to close the dialog rather than
Command+W? What happens if you click in the document window while the F&R
dialog is displayed?
Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
On 6/27/08 11:53 AM, in article
4e44870f-1eac-47c7...@34g2000hsh.googlegroups.com,
But you will anyway. :-D
> I've had the same positive experience as John McGhie reported - essentially
> F&R works consistently as advertised.
I said randomly. Random events are, well, random. ;-)
> I can't help but wonder if the focus issue isn't OS related.
If it is, it involves both Tiger and Leopard (and only Word 2008).
> not sure, but I tend to think it's the job of the OS to not allow the focus
> to shift while such a dialog is displayed. Have you pursued it from that
> direction?
Since out of the fairly wide array of applications I run I've only
seen this happen in Word 2008, that's not what my instincts would tell
me to pursue.
> Additionally, what happens if you use esc to close the dialog rather than
> Command+W?
I'll let you know next time I'm using Word 2008, which I can't afford
to do too often lest my work suffer.
> What happens if you click in the document window while the F&R dialog is displayed?
The usual, that's not an issue.
Patricio Mason
Santiago, Chile
Bob,
It's happened again -the funny Find & Replace window stuff- but this
time I took a snapshot. You can see it here: http://www.ics.cl/icsweb/movs/.
It also contains a snapshot I took yesterday of a Tools menu going
south, something else I'm keeping an eye on.
And no, it's not a put-on.
Patricio Mason
Santiago, Chile
Command + A? To Repeat Find?
I would be disappointed if it did NOT Select All. I must have missed
something, but Command + A is the default assignment for Select All.
Repeat Find is F4?
Cheers
On 3/07/08 7:12 AM, in article
0f4aa711-4902-44af...@m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com,
"etc...@gmail.com" <etc...@gmail.com> wrote:
--
On 7/3/08 6:51 AM, in article C492E53B.16B60%jo...@mcghie.name, "John McGhie"
<jo...@mcghie.name> wrote:
> Hi Patricio:
>
> Command + A? To Repeat Find?
>
> I would be disappointed if it did NOT Select All. I must have missed
> something, but Command + A is the default assignment for Select All.
>
> Repeat Find is F4?
>
> Cheers
Not to Repeat a Find...
He means -while- the F&R dialog is displayed in the foreground - Cmd+A is
supposed to "switch" it's assignment to Replace All instead of Select All.
I've experienced it *once* in some of the testing I've been doing, so I have
confirmed what he's reporting but I haven't been able to determine what
caused it nor can I force it to occur. I'm trying to construct a bug report,
but it's one of those vaporous issues that makes it hard to formulate any
"steps to reproduce" - without which bugging won't get much attention:-(
To quote myself: "...so that pressing Command-A to Replace All does a
Select All in the document window instead".
With the Find and Replace window frontmost, Command-A is the shortcut
for "Replace All", not a default assignment for "Select All".
Try it sometime, you'll like it.
Patricio Mason
Santiago, Chile
> I've experienced it *once* in some of the testing I've been doing,
That sounds like a seriously corrupted document! :-D
Sorry, couldn't resist. :-)
>so I have confirmed what he's reporting but I haven't been able to determine what
> caused it nor can I force it to occur. I'm trying to construct a bug report,
> but it's one of those vaporous issues that makes it hard to formulate any
> "steps to reproduce" - without which bugging won't get much attention:-(
Good to know I wasn't seeing things, after all. As I said when I said
"randomly", I too haven't been able to discern a pattern yet.
But wait, this is not all. It gets better:
Typically after a global Find and Replace, certain key combinations
will randomly become unresponsive. These include the arrow, modifier
(Command, Option, Shift, Control), Page Up/Page Down, and Home/End
keys. Pressing combinations of these (such as Shift-Command-Arrow key
or Command-Home) does nothing at all. Keys such as Option and Shift
still work in combination with letter keys, however.
Command-F works, for example. In fact, bringing the Find window to the
front clears the problem and all the above keys become responsive
again -until the next Find and Replace. Qutiing and restarting Word
will clear the problem for a good while, but it eventually comes back.
I first noticed this behavior a few weeeks ago when working on a
complex, 99-page document full of graphics, charts and tables, so I
chalked it up to that and/or to some setting that needed tweaking. But
my work was suffering, so instead of investigating further I just went
back to Word 2004 to complete my work. However, I have since seen the
same problem with harmless, two-page documents containing nothing but
text.
I have tried:
1. Removing both the 2004 and 2008 Normal templates to the desktop so
Word can create a brand-new Normal template.
2. Trashing com.microsoft.office.plist and com.microsoft.Word.plist.
3. Removing Microsoft Office 2008 Settings.plist from the Office 2008
folder (which curiously enough didn't get recreated).
4. Working on .doc and .docx versions of the same document.
5. Doing a Find and Replace on several other unrelated documents,
which produces the same results.
I do not have a bad keyboard. If I switch to any other open
application, these key combinations work. Switch back to Word, and
they don't.
Patricio Mason
Santiago, Chile
I don't doubt it may be caused by a corrupt document.
How do I fix a corrupt document?
[Sorry, if I missed it in an earlier post. I did a search in Entourage on
"corrupt" and found nothing.]
Chris Kuhn
On 7/1/08 6:21 AM, in article C48F7D60.3E397%onlygen...@com.cast.net,
On 3/07/08 11:55 PM, in article
638f3dd1-c1a9-4c0b...@34g2000hsh.googlegroups.com,
"etc...@gmail.com" <etc...@gmail.com> wrote:
--
You can customize your keyboard shortcuts any way you like, but that
doesn't mean that everyone else is using the same key assignments.
Furthermore, under Apple GUI guidelines Command-All is not the default
for "Select All"; it's the default for "All', whatever it happens to
be. Example: in Word's own Accept or Reject Tracked Changes window,
Command-All is the shorcut for "Accept All" --and so on and so forth.
With a modal window frontmost set to accept "Command-All" as a shorcut
for an action specific to it, there is no reason (and no precedent)
for "Command-All" to trigger another action in the window underneath.
"Command-All" has worked as advertised through many iterations of
Word; it doesn't in Word 2008. In other words, it's a -gasp- bug.
Patricio Mason
Santiago, Chile
On 7/4/08 6:23 AM, in article C4943044.16BD6%jo...@mcghie.name, "John McGhie"
<jo...@mcghie.name> wrote:
> Nup! I use F4, Command + A Selects all :-)
I've got to side with Patricio on this one:-), especially since Apple
commandeered F4 as an Exposč operator. But even if that weren't the case:
By default F4 in Mac Word is associated with the EditPaste command, so you
may very well have reassigned it somewhere along the line [or perhaps you've
been dabbling a bit too much on the Dark Side lately?]. SHIFT+F4 is assigned
to RepeatFind but only works when the Find & Replace dialog is not
displayed. It doesn't call up the F&R window, either, but repeats/continues
the last Find performed... the equivalent of the Browse Object button's
operation to Find Next.
Corrupt doc fixes:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/DocumentCorruption.html
I'm using MacOffice 2008 on an iMac (PowerPC G5, Leopard [10.5.2]).
I have been experiencing exactly the same crashing phenomenon after running a Search + Replace command in a long (200+ page) document containing only text. This problem is NOT isolated and not unique to documents containing tables or graphics.
Whether the issue relates to OSX or to Word 2008, I find myself kind of lost here. Everyone but me seems to be an expert user. I am not an expert user, and I find it terribly difficult to locate solutions that my minimal competence allows me to try.
- If my document is corrupt, how do I fix it (permanently)?
- If the problem relates to OSX or Spaces, how do I prevent crashes in the future.
I will be happy to try the solutions proposed here and report back.
So did you try <http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html> as suggested?
Send me a copy of that document to jo...@mcghie.name and let me have a look
at it. Before advising you, I want to see what's wrong with it.
Cheers
On 11/07/08 4:52 AM, in article 59b51...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"Joh...@officeformac.com" <Joh...@officeformac.com> wrote:
--
"kyu...@officeformac.com" wrote:
> Version: 2008
> Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
> Processor: intel
>
> I can usually use either find or replace once. The next time I try it, Word crashes. Frequently, the find and replace functions don't work, as they report nothing found, but when Word restarts after the crash, I find it.
>
> My guess is that the tables have something to do with it.
>
> Really frustrating. Is Microsoft working on a fix for this? (It would be nice if they allowed the search window to float while as well. Having to close it, fix the document, then open it again is really tedious.)
>
> A possible work-around is to use the find function to find each instance of the target. Then close the search window, do the replace, and open the search window again. I have successfully used that technique.
>
In article <02FD211E-03B9-4112...@microsoft.com>,