Asking for Delete Confirmation

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 19, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

If you are a new Word user, you may have noticed an annoying message that appears every time you try to delete a block of text on the screen. For instance, you may select a block of text, press the Delete key, and then you see a message in the status bar asking you if you want to delete the block.

This message is not displayed when using Word normally; it is only displayed if you have WordPerfect navigation keys turned on. You can also tell if you have the WordPerfect navigation keys turned on if the letters WPN appear in Word's status bar.

Microsoft's idea of WordPerfect seems to be from the old DOS version of WordPerfect (5.1). Unfortunately, using the WordPerfect navigation option creates havoc with many of Word's commands. As well as the Yes/No question when deleting a block of text, some of the other keyboard commands that are messed up include Ctrl+Home, Home, GoTo, and the Esc toggle out of Print Preview. There have been a host of other very weird effects reported and as the options are usually turned on by default during installation, always make sure that the options are deselected if you see any odd behavior using Word.

To turn off the WordPerfect navigation keys, follow these steps:

Select Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
Click on the General tab. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The General tab of the Options dialog box.

Make sure the Navigation Keys for WordPerfect Users check box is cleared.
Click on OK to close the Options dialog box.

Word should now function as normal, without the modifications to mimic WordPerfect 5.1.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (970) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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. Learn more about Allen...

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