Help! Microsoft Word drop-down font menu is messed up!

Question

I recently got a new computer with Vista and all new programs. I have been using (and getting used-to all the changes in) Microsoft Office 2007 (student version). Yesterday when I was typing, I highlighted some text and went to the drop-down font menu to change the font, and most of the fonts appeared messed up. They look grayed out, white out or missing. However, if I select where the font was and type it still looks and prints fine. It is like that in all of the Office programs (PowerPoint, etc), but not in my other programs (like Photoshop).

So I assumed it was a virus and scanned, checked, and rescanned, but everything is fine. So then I uninstalled Office and reinstalled it. It still is messed up! (actually between yesterday and today I thing I have repeated scanning and uninstalling and reinstalling about 3 or 4 times).

What is wrong? Help!

Rebel9 · Answer

Open an Office application (eg. Word). Click the Start orb and click on Word Options at the bottom of the window. Click on 'Resources' and then click 'Diagnose' opposite 'run Microsoft Office Diagnostics'. See if this solves the problem.

LKOLKA · Answer

Thank you for replying. But no such luck. I had tried that last night and it said everything was OK, no problems to fix. I just tried it again just incase, but it still said everything was OK.

The weird thing is that I can still type and use the fonts, but I just can't see the names of the fonts or the font examples in the drop-down menu. I'm afraid to save anything or open any of my work, because I think I might corrupt the files.

Message Edited by LKOLKA on 08-23-2008 01:10 PM

Rebel9 · Answer

Do you have a default printer selected? Do you have the latest drivers for the printer? Have you installed any add-ons for Office?

LKOLKA · Answer

Yes, I got a new printer at the same time as the computer. It is a Dell Photo 926 and it should have all of the drivers. I don't think I have installed any add-ons for Office, but this new computer is constantly unpdating everything so, I'm not sure. The computer says that the last update was a '2007 Microsoft Suite Service Pack' and a few Office security updates before that.

Rebel9 · Answer

OK - did you actually install the software (drivers) for the printer? And if you did, did you install everything in the correct order? Check the setup sheet that came with the printer and make sure that you installed the printer properly. Normally (at least with most USB peripherals), you install the software first and then you plug the printer into the computer.

LKOLKA · Answer

I uninstalled the printer and reinstalled it and it didn’t fix anything.

But then I had an idea. I am currently logging in as the Administrator, so I tried logging in under my husband’s (just a Regular User). His Office Programs where all fine. So I logged back in as the Administrator, created another Administrator, and logged into that one. The font menu in Word, PowerPoint, etc was “fixed” (it looked normal). I already had all of my documents backed-up so I deleted my other User account.

Maybe I did this totally wrong, but everything is working now, so I’m guessing it is fixed. ????

Rebel9 · Answer

Great! I'm not sure why you had those problems with the 'other' admin account, but if everything is working now, then yep - it's 'fixed'. Ah - the wacky and wonderful world of computers! :smileyvery-happy:

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Help! Microsoft Word drop-down font menu is messed up!

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