# Weird MS Word problem - deleting blocked text **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381167 "2006-11-20T16:32:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381167/1 "2006-11-20T16:32:09Z")
I have a friend who is having problems in MS Word. As I understand it, he cannot delete a block of text. He can block and cut and it works, he can delete individual characters, but he can’t block and hit the delete button and have the text deleted. Has anyone ever seen this? Anyone know how to fix this? ---
**Author:** ![bhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c2a13f/32.png) [@bhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bhal)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381167/2 "2006-11-20T18:20:40Z")
I don’t know the details but I have encountered that problem when editing text that has been formatted into a table. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381167/3 "2006-11-20T19:34:18Z")
[QUOTE=bhal] I don’t know the details but I have encountered that problem when editing text that has been formatted into a table. [/QUOTE] That’s one possible explanation. Can your friend delete block text from a new document? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381167/4 "2006-11-20T19:52:06Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] That’s one possible explanation. Can your friend delete block text from a new document? [/QUOTE] Nope. And he just sent me a sample and I can block and delete from that document, so it has to be some setting on his MS Word. ---
**Author:** ![bhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c2a13f/32.png) [@bhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bhal)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381167/5 "2006-11-20T21:17:03Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] Nope. And he just sent me a sample and I can block and delete from that document, so it has to be some setting on his MS Word. [/QUOTE] I don’t know about that. The MS programs do plenty of weird things that can’t be controlled with settings. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381167/6 "2006-11-20T21:54:16Z")
I used to have a similar problem in Word: I’d select, hit delete, and get “Delete block? Yes/No” in the status bar. Are you (or your friend) getting that? As I recall, it was a problem with some setting that purported to make Word act like WordPerfect (I was weaning myself off WP at the time) but really just futzed up the works, and disabling it returned me to one-click block deletion. Try going into Tools \> Options and disabling anything having to do with WordPerfect (there are two checkboxes on the General tab, for instance). ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381167/7 "2006-11-20T22:29:29Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] I used to have a similar problem in Word: I’d select, hit delete, and get “Delete block? Yes/No” in the status bar. Are you (or your friend) getting that? As I recall, it was a problem with some setting that purported to make Word act like WordPerfect (I was weaning myself off WP at the time) but really just futzed up the works, and disabling it returned me to one-click block deletion. Try going into Tools \> Options and disabling anything having to do with WordPerfect (there are two checkboxes on the General tab, for instance). [/QUOTE] I have passed on your post to my friend. I’ll let you know if it works for him. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381167/8 "2006-11-21T14:42:26Z")
**Scarlett67** , you were right on. Here is the response from my friend: > [@](#): > > on the money…Tools: Options: General: Help for word perfect users was checked…unchecking gave me back my block delete function…thanks very much for your help! ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381167/9 "2006-11-21T16:30:15Z")
Cool! Glad I could help. Word can be so frustrating.