Microsoft Word question

simu

OK, this is kind of tricky to explain:

Say you want to correct mistakes in a Word document. When the cursor is in the middle of a word and you start typing, there are two possibilities:

1. As you type, each letter to the right of the cursor moves one place further right (or onto the next line) and so nothing is deleted

or

2. The new letters you type in replace the text you already had.

Word seems to switch between these two options randomly.

My question:

Where can you adjust the settings for this so that you get option 1. above all the time?

Thanks!

jd

It is not a MS Word setting- the insert key on your keyboard changes this mode.

simu

Thank you so much! I'd never have guessed!

ogy

nah its in tools---options----edit make sure overtype is checked
id say insert is a shortcut to this or something

simu

Originally posted by ogy
nah its in tools---options----edit make sure overtype is checked
id say insert is a shortcut to this or something

Well, pressing insert works, I've just tried it.

secret_squirrel

ogy's wrong - jd's right. The insert key has behaved like that for more years and on more OSes than I care to remember.

jd

Originally posted by secret_squirrel
ogy's wrong - jd's right. The insert key has behaved like that for more years and on more OSes than I care to remember.

To be fair, changing the setting suggeted by ogy will change the behavious of ms word, but the INSERT key is a better bet, cause it is easy to hit accidently (and when you are not watching what you are typing )
.