Marlene notes that her touchpad and mouse do not work in Word 2007, but they do in all of her other Office 2007 programs. She has opened Word in safe mode and it showed that the OrgPlus plug-in was deactivated in safe mode, so she uninstalled OrgPlus. The touchpad and mouse still won't work, and only in Word. She also reinstalled Word, but to no avail.
It is a good thought to start Word in safe mode and disable any add-ins that could possibly be causing the problem. In this case, however, the problem seems to be with Word itself. What you are experiencing is a symptom of data key corruption in the Windows Registry. It is caused when Word does an automatic update of the program and Word was running while the program was installed and the system restarted. (Sounds like a strange confluence of events, huh? Such is the wacky, fascinating world of technical support.)
This problem is described in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940791
Interestingly enough, Microsoft includes a "let us fix it for you" link on the site, so you don't have to get your hands dirty messing in the Registry. If you prefer to edit the Registry yourself, instructions are included for that method, as well. (Editing the Registry to fix this problem is easy; you just need to delete a single data key.)
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7540) applies to Microsoft Word 2007.
Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!
Word has a gridline feature that can be helpful for aligning objects in a document. If you want to adjust the spacing ...
Discover MoreThe Print Screen key is a handy way to grab a screen shot. What if your keyboard doesn't physically have such a key, ...
Discover MoreIf you hear a sound when you start Word, it is because of some settings within Windows itself. You can use the Control ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments