Microsoft Word 2003 – Tiny blinking cursor!
If you experience a teeny tiny cursor in Microsoft Word 2003 then I have a very simple fix for you! (Probably so simple you will curse yourself for not thinking of it earlier!)
On the Standard toolbar – Select the zoom option and set it to 500% and then set it back to 100%.
Your tiny cursor should now be blinking away in all its full size glory!
Ben
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A little follow up after a bit more research in to this one. If the problem appears frequently then you can add a small piece of code provided by Word MVP Graham Mayor.
Simply add the following code to run when Word opens.
With ActiveWindow.View
.Type = wdPrintView
.Zoom.Percentage = 500
.Zoom.Percentage = 100
End With
If you wish to use a different zoom than 100% simply change the second .Zoom.Percentage to reflect that.
Brilliant! Works like a charm! Thanks!
My morning is saved!
ARE YOU SERIOUS? I have been slaving over my thesis for several hours with a miserable little blinking dot. I have been going CRAZY searching for settings to reset it. My sister suggested googling the issue and I found this. While I feel like an idiot, YOU SAVED MY DAY! Thank you so much!
Thks a lot. To paraphrase some old saying about fighting dogs, it ain’t the silliness in the problem, but the happiness in its solution what matters
Brilliant!
why does this happen??? did the people on word just stick this stupid trick in every so often just to annoy us? THANK YOU SO MUCH for the solution!! it bugs me to death!
THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Never had this problem before until today, was going mad trying to find cursor settings, anyway this fixed it! Thanks! How did you figure this one out? So far I have not been able to replicate this bug….
Thank you!!!!!!!!
Hello,
I have Window Word 97. I tried to go to the “View” tab, then clicked on zoom to 500% then back to 100% but it still doesn’t work.
Do you have any advice for my Window version? Thanks!
thank you soo much.. it worked like brilliant!!!
YOU ARE MY HERO!! I’m reviewing reports that re 100+ pages and this was a TOTAL lifesaver!!! THANK YOU
I have used VBA in Excel but not in Word. So I would like to know where I put the module with Graham Mayor’s code. I cannot seem to find anything relevant in VBA help.
Brilliant. works like a charm.
Amazing. I was also very annoyed working on my thesis… and lost time with the very bad MS Office help. Rather than annoying us with Vistas and 2007s that we did not want and with their very bad user interface, they should be fixing bugs and improving what we know is bad !!!
Aghhh I LOVE YOU. Thanks soo much! These tedious annoying mishaps in the software, soo frustrating. Really glad to know i’m NOT the only one, and that there are solutions to it
yay! THANK YOU!!!
hahha….ur right…it’s so SIMPLE! Worked brillantly!
I LOVE YOU!!!!!! You saved my life!
There’s so many work to be done today and this tiny cursor makes me sick! But now I AM HAPPY ! Thanks to You!
Genius!!!
Worked Great.Good karma coming your way! Thank you
Thanks a lot!!!
Perfect!
You the man! Thanks for the helpful, life-saving I even dare to say, solution ^__^
Outstanding! Thank you!
Bless you Obe Wan Kanobe
although I agree that microsoft is massively silent on this aggravating more-than-four-year-old problem, I have ANOTHER piece to add. I’ve been plagued by the tiny cursor (in fact, I’ve become a larger curser) for the past several weeks. This morning’s research showed that when I saved a file at 33% view zoom (because it is mostly yada yada yada), that pretty much locked my future opening of documents into tiny cursor mode. I remembered that I had saved this yada yada file at 33% view zoom, opened it (with it’s 33% flashing therefore tiny cursor), made a change, and saved it at 100%.
- NOW my other documents, including the fixed normal.dot, they all open with a good cursor. Backwards-compatible software must just be very very hard to fix, or shirley microsoft would have fixed this problem by now.
I noticed that this happens to me when I hold down CNTRL and use the middle mouse wheel to zoom. I’d never seen the “tiny” cursor before I started doing this. Thanks for the fix! It worked!
AHH! Thank you so much! saved my life!
Still using Word 2003 and just yesterday this problem happened for the first time. I googled “blinking curor in Word” and your solution was first in the result list — and I am VERY glad about that. Elegant and entirely counterintuitive solution. Thank you.
Thanks Ben – BRILLIANT fix – so simple but works perfectly!
Thank you. It was annoying as all hell. Again, THANK YOU.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
thank you, Ben! I have justed wasted half an hour on the frustrating ‘Help’ that Word offers; you have saved my sanity.
Mahalo! (Hawaiian for “thanks”)
Brilliant!!!!
You’re the top!!!!
Nice one — it isn’t really a big problem but it was very annoying and distracting. Thanks.
Thank you very much!!!!!
(500% to 100% )on re-opening the word same problem of tiny cursor exists; please suggest
Thanks! It works!
I hate Word with all its quirks, but thanks! Problem solved.
I can only agree with everyone – T H A N K Y O U
Annoyingg problem, but simple fix. Thanks
Yep, that did it…thanks!
I laughed so hard at Caroline’s comment! LOL. But I totally agree. And Thank You SO Much Ben! It was bugging me periodically for months. I finally said, that’s it, I’m googling!
Doug
Over three years later, and your brief post is still helping people – THANKS!!
The weird and wonderfull ways of Microsoft…?
Anyway, your little trick worked wonders and makes me be able to see my cursos again. GREAT !
Man oh man, this works, and got rid of big headache.
Ben for President!
Still working that little trick. Thnx for posting this.
Anyone knows how you get that little cursor anyway?
Thanks a million Ben. Your tricks works like a charm!!
Thankyou
God bless!
but i wonder, why did this happen in the first place?
Thanks a lot!
Really helped me.
Thanks a lot!
Really helped me.
Amazing! It worked!
And it works!!
Brilliant!
Amazing! It worked! Thx a ton
It seems like nothing, but this tiny cursor drives you crazy! Such a simple solution – you’re a genious – thnx!
You hero, thank you.
Again – YOU ARE A HERO!
Thank you
brilliant work! you saved my day.
the greatest solution are the simplest solution…thnx
Not so obvious solution.
Very useful!
Many Thanks!
Molte grazie!
Amazing, thank you
Thanks!
Can Microsoft fix it through their updates?
Probably not – expensive software which must be modified by its users – still two three years and Microsoft = Linux.
Brilliant – thanks!
Amazing… and what a relief! Thank You!
OH My Gob thanx soooooooooo much i spent so much time looking at the freakin small cursor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh and u were right i did curse myself!
OH My Gob thanx soooooooooo much i spent so much time looking at the small cursor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh and u were right i did curse myself!
sorry i said the same thing twice!!!!!!! it waz an accident
best advice on net, ever
Benjie’s solution works for me ONLY TEMPORARILY. When I close and re-open the Word document, the cursor reverts to the small size. I can use Benjie’s solution to fix it, but again, the solution is only temporary — until I close the document.
How can I PERMANENTLY fix the problem?
It worked out; thanks a lot.