# Weird MS Word problem - deleting blocked text

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381169>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 20, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381169 "2006-11-20T16:38:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**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, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381169/1 "2006-11-20T16:38:42Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381169/2 "2006-11-20T18:01:17Z")

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As they like to say in Redmond, failure isn’t an option. It’s bundled with the software.

Seriously, yeah, stuff like this happens from time to time. Some _schmutz_ has gotten into the document coding - at a level we’re not allowed to see - and it’s throwing off the program. The only solution is to find an alternate method for doing what’s going sideways, as apparently your friend already has (Edit - Delete from the menu bar was another option), and move on.

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**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, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381169/3 "2006-11-20T19:54:20Z")

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Forgive the double post. Here is the larger of the two threads on this:

[Other Post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7983268#post7983268)

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**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ms-word-problem-deleting-blocked-text/381169/4 "2006-11-20T20:52:57Z")

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Closing duplicate.