Mouse Stops Working in Word

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 19, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007


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.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Problems with Nested Subtotals

If you have a worksheet that has nested subtotals, you may have run across a problem where the subtotals and grand total ...

Discover More

Shading Based on Odds and Evens

You can use conditional formatting to add shading to various cells in your worksheet. This tip shows how you can shade ...

Discover More

Easily Entering Dispersed Data

Need to enter information into a bunch of cells that aren't anywhere near each other in the worksheet? Here's a handy way ...

Discover More

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!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Making Word Remember My Settings

Ever had the experience of setting some configuration option in Word, only to have the option revert to a different ...

Discover More

Avoiding the Update Links Message

Word allows you to establish links from one document to another. When you open a document containing these links, you may ...

Discover More

Jumping to a Relative Section

Navigating through a long document can be challenging, at times. Here's a way you can move forward or backwards in your ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 2 - 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

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.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.