WD: Column Selection Lost After Formatting Characters

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.1a, 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1
• Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Word, if you press CTRL+SHIFT+F8 (Windows) or COMMAND+SHIFT+F8 (Macintosh) to select a column of text and then apply character formatting, the text does not remain selected after you apply the formatting.

CAUSE

When you press CTRL+SHIFT+F8 (Windows) or COMMAND+SHIFT+F8 (Macintosh), the Column Selection mode is activated, and you can use the arrow keys to select a column of text. If you apply character formatting to the selected text, the width of the characters changes. This can cause the column selection to no longer be accurate. Therefore, the text selection is lost when character formatting is applied.

NOTE: You can also perform a column selection by holding the ALT key while clicking and dragging with the left mouse button (Windows) or holding the OPTION key while clicking and dragging the mouse (Macintsoh).

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word for Windows User's Reference," page 318

"Microsoft Word for Windows User's Guide," page 106