Word 2007 - Add-in causing keyboard shortcuts to stop working

[niteowl]

Hello,

We have a macro-enabled file (.dotm) file set up at our firm which loads several firm letterhead template files. While this add-in is loaded in Word, it's preventing any keyboard shortcuts from working (i.e. Ctrl+P for print, etc).

When I remove the file from C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\STARTUP, keyboard shortcuts work as expected. I opened the template file and did Alt+F11 to check the properties, but I'm not exactly sure what to check for since I'm not that familiar with VB.

Any ideas on what I should look for to try and restore keyboard shortcuts while keeping the file for our letterhead templates?

Thanks!

[Teeroy]

It's difficult to tell from your description (it could be many things) but I'm no Word VBA guru. Here's a couple of things to try to get more information;

1. Does the add-in perform any function on keyboard inputs? If so it may be constantly running and holding the focus while checking the key press, discarding it and not letting the Application see it.
2. With VBE open (Alt+F11) check the Windows Task manager to see whether the Word Application is running code.

I usually like to try the simple things first; when you hear hoof beats think horses, not zebras :)

[niteowl]

The add-in only loads template files that we use for letterhead/memos, etc. It does not perform any other function that would lock those keys up.

I checked Task Manager while opening VBE and no new processes were started. :(

[fumei]

"preventing any keyboard shortcuts"

Any? Are you sure? It has ALL of them remapped?

You can check what is happening by using the Customize dialog. Not sure how to get that with 2007. Open the dotm file itself, and get Customize. Click the keyboard shortcut button. Make sure the dotm file is showing in the Save changes in: box. The deafult is Normal. Then try a keyboard shortcut, for example Ctrl-P. What it does will show. Obviously some of them have been remapped.

If you really want you can do a full reset.

[niteowl]

Very few of the keyboard shortcuts work. The vast majority of the typical ones (Ctrl+P, Ctrl+S, and a lot of the formatting ones) do not work at all. I realize I can reset them and map them myself, but that will take quite some time with all of the different keyboard shortcuts in Word.

The .dotm file does show in the Save dropdown menu, but I'm not sure how that's relevant. If I completely remove this file from the STARTUP folder, all of the keyboard shortcuts (including Ctrl+P, Ctrl+S, etc) work without problems, so this specific .dotm file is preventing the majority of keyboard shortcuts to work. I'm not sure how else I can explain this. Is there anything specific I can check in the .dotm that would be disabling the majority of the keyboard shortcuts?

[fumei]

"Is there anything specific I can check in the .dotm that would be disabling the majority of the keyboard shortcuts?"

Yes, just as I described. Open the .dotm file and check in the Customize dialog. There is nothing that changes a "majority", each shortcut is independent.

[niteowl]

Ah, ok! I went ahead and reset the keyboard shortcuts for the .dotm file and the shortcuts are all now working even with our firm templates loaded from this file.

I'm just curious on why this specific .dotm overrides the normal.dotm file, which has all of the keyboard shortcuts intact. Any insight would be great.

Thanks.

[fumei]

"I'm just curious on why this specific .dotm overrides the normal.dotm file"

ANY specific document OR template can override what is in Normal. If you make a shortcut in any document that changes one of the defaults, then that overrides what is in Normal...for THAT document.

Any shortcut in a template that changes what is the default in Normal, then that overrides what is in Normal, for a document cloned from that template.

The point being is that someone changed something (or a bunch of things) in the template. Which may be something you want to check up on. It is not common that shortcuts are done without some kind of reason. Especially those changing standard default shortcuts.