Can’t tell which doc active in Word 2010

Topic

New Reply

Since I upgraded to Windows 10, I can’t tell which document is active when I have 2 docs open side-by-side in Word 2010 (unless I search for the flashing cursor). I tried changing the color scheme from silver to blue and even to black but that didn’t help. The title bar (where it says Document 1) stayed white. I almost always have 2 docs open side-by-side and before Windows 10 it was never a problem because the title bar was always a different color on the active window and it made it easy to tell between the two. Now, I am constantly typing in the wrong document because I mistakenly think the doc I want to work in is active when in reality the other is.

Is there some way to fix this? Firefox finally fixed their tabs/windows to make those more easily noticeable but now I need to get this fixed. Then I think I’ll finally be able to really enjoy Windows 10. Those are the 2 things that have been really driving me nuts about it. Not being able to tell which tab/window was active in Firefox and not being able to tell which document is active in Word.

Reply | Quote

Replies

N.B.E.,

On my machine it’s subtle but the active document has a White background on the ribbon while the inactive document has a light grey background. This is the area with the document title and the Tabs for the ribbon not the ribbon itself. Actually, I’m amazed that I noticed it (although I was looking very hard for differences) at all it’s that subtle and my color vision isn’t what it used to be and it was never very good! HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

See the attached screenshot with two documents. Note the differences in the title bar and in the background color. This is very subtle. If you are not typing, there may be a vertical scroll bar showing as well.

Reply | Quote

Is there a way to make it less subtle? I don’t think mine works the same way as yours. I’ve attached a screen shot showing what mine screen looks like with 2 blank docs side-by-side and I honestly can’t tell which one is active. I know that Doc 2 was the last one I opened so it was active but it doesn’t show those subtle differences (at least not that I can see). I didn’t have this problem before Windows 10 so maybe the upgrade screwed something up or maybe I did.

Reply | Quote

N.B.E.,

Don’t know how I missed it the first time but…
41875-WordActiveDoc
HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Unfortunately, mine doesn’t have such an obvious red X. I wish it did! Mine just has a black or grey X (depending on which is active).

Reply | Quote

Unfortunately, mine doesn’t have such an obvious red X. I wish it did! Mine just has a black or grey X (depending on which is active).

N.B.E.,

Sorry about that I was using Office 2010 on Win 8.1 not W10! :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

There is no way to make it less subtle that I know about.
My screen shots were from Word 2013 on Windows 10.

The color difference is very slight, except in the title bar. Not only is the close (X) grey in the inactive document, but everything in the title bar (the title of the document, the minimize and maximize buttons and the close button) is grey. In the active document, these are black.

This is apparently the result of the wish to make Windows 10 and Office 2013 more tablet-friendly. Unfortunately, it leaves us dinosaurs using traditional computers with a less user-friendly experience.

Reply | Quote

N.B.E.,

Ok I tackled this on Win10 Home w/Office 2010 and I came up with a kludgy workaround which may or may not be useful to you but here it is.

Place this Macro in a Module of your Normal.dotm file.

Code:

Option Explicit

Sub HighlightActiveWindow()

   Dim iWindowCount As Integer
   Dim iCntr        As Integer
   
   iWindowCount = Application.Windows.Count
   
   For iCntr = 1 To iWindowCount
   
      If (Windows(iCntr).Caption = ActiveWindow.Caption) Then
        ActiveWindow.DisplayRulers = True
      Else
        Application.Windows(iCntr).DisplayRulers = False
      End If
      
   Next iCntr
   
End Sub

Create a shortcut to it…here’s how. I used Ctrl+Y since that isn’t used by anything else that I know of.

Now when you have multiple Word Documents open just press Ctrl+Y or your key combo of choice and it will turn off the scroll bars on all but the active window.
41877-WordHighlightWindow
Note: Yellow Highlighting Added.

I tried to find an event which would fire and activate in Normal but couldn’t come up with anything that wouldn’t require you to place the macro in every document and I’m sure you don’t want to do that. Maybe someone else has the answer to that. HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Ok, so basically that macro will act as a toggle key to turn the rulers on and off so I can check to see which window is active?

Reply | Quote

N.B.E.,

Yes that’s the idea. If someone can come up with an event that will detect the change of document from Normal then we can make it automatic. :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

This would require a Class Module to expose the Word Application object. The event to trap is DocumentChange. This is not something I would advise putting in the Normal template. A template for the Startup folder would be preferable.

The following link gives instructions, albeit for Word 2003 and earlier. (The code would be the same for current versions.)

http://word.mvps.org/faqs/macrosvba/appclassevents.htm

Reply | Quote

BTW, Ctrl+Y is used for ReDo or repeat typing. I mostly use it for undoing an undo.

Reply | Quote

BTW, Ctrl+Y is used for ReDo or repeat typing. I mostly use it for undoing an undo.

Charles,

Thanks! I’d forgot about that one. I haven’t used Word much since 2009 when I stopped teaching MS Office classes. I took a stab at this one since it gave me a chance to use VBA in Word, more skills that are rusty! I’m really bummed that I couldn’t find an event to trap via Normal to make this automatic. :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Ok, I think I’m finally ready to try to tackle this. But first, what do you mean by

Place this Macro in a Module of your Normal.dotm file.

? More specifically the “Module” part. Can you explain this a little simpler for me? Thanks!

Reply | Quote

Ok, I think I’m finally ready to try to tackle this. But first, what do you mean by ? More specifically the “Module” part. Can you explain this a little simpler for me? Thanks!

See the links I gave you in response to your other post.

[*]Creating a macro with no programming experience using the recorder
[*]How to modify a recorded macro
[*]Getting to grips with VBA basics in 15 minutes
[*]Distributing macros to other users
[*]Macros and VBA (Visual Basic for Applications)

Reply | Quote

Yup, I use the heck out of it I was thinking more along the lines of ALT+1 or something like that.

Reply | Quote

N.B.E.,

[*]Open Word
[*]Press Ctrl+F11 {this opens the VBE – Visual Basic Editor}
41899-addmodule
[*]Click on Normal in the left hand window.
[*]Click on Insert in the menus.
[*]Click on Module.
[*]In the Right hand window paste the code from the post from above.
[*]Assign your desired shortcut keys per post above.
[*]Done.

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Well, it works sometimes LOL. It works when I have 2 blank documents open side-by-side. But when I open the 2 documents that I always use the most (1 is only 1 page, the other is over 1700 pages long) it doesn’t. I’ve ran into this type problem before where some of my styles wouldn’t show up in one of the documents or one of the macros I created wouldn’t work in one but it was when I had created the style or macro while in one of those documents. Never from a blank document before. I figured it would be best to start from a completely blank document before following the steps above so that’s what I did.

Reply | Quote

Well, it works sometimes LOL. It works when I have 2 blank documents open side-by-side. But when I open the 2 documents that I always use the most (1 is only 1 page, the other is over 1700 pages long) it doesn’t.

My thought here is 1,700 pages. You mentioned in post 29 that you have tables. Do you also have a lot of manual formatting, ie you don’t use styles?

That’s a big document, and maybe very big depending on how you do your formatting. So maybe the intermittent occurrences are due to system memory problems. How much RAM is in your machine?

When memory gets tight, or the page file [hard disk “memory”] is needed frequently, odd things can start to happen. Intermittent occurrences might be due to varying other programs and processes running in the background while you’re working in Word.

Is it an option for you to split the big file into a number of smaller ones? That would reduce memory load.

If you could mention the model of the computer you’re using, that might provide a clue to it’s general power level. I doubt this is the issue, since upgrading toWin10 coincided with the start of your problems, but you never know.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

Reply | Quote

Also, when I closed out of the second doc I got the “file is in use” message re: normal.dotm error again. I saved the file as a “-revised” version. Do I delete the old one and then rename the revised one as just Normal.dotm?

Reply | Quote

N.B.E.,

Check the files in:
[noparse]C:UsersYourUserIDAppDataRoamingMicrosoftTemplates[/noparse]
This is where you want your Normal.dotm file.

You can try creating it again from a blank document. When you go to save DO Not save from the Document screen but rather from the VBE screen.

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

I clicked the save icon on the VBE screen before closing out of it. Then tried the macro on 2 blank docs and it worked. Then I opened the 2 docs I always use and tried the macro but it didn’t work. When I closed those docs to exit word completely that’s when I got the normal error.

Reply | Quote

N.B.E.,

Did you check the folder to see if there was more than one Normal.do* file. It may be that those documents have Normal.docx attached vs the Normal.dotm. If you have both in your folder MOVE the .dotx to someplace save and retry. HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Up until last night (after installing the macro you graciously created for me), I only had 1 Normal file. After I got the error last night I renamed the Normal file so I now have 2 Normal files. They are both .dotm files. I didn’t change the extension. All I did was add “-Revised” to the name. Whenever I got the error about saving normal before I just ignored it. I didn’t know if it was ok to save the file or not so I didn’t. I’ve learned since that it is ok so last night I did.

Reply | Quote

Up until last night (after installing the macro you graciously created for me), I only had 1 Normal file. After I got the error last night I renamed the Normal file so I now have 2 Normal files. They are both .dotm files. I didn’t change the extension. All I did was add “-Revised” to the name. Whenever I got the error about saving normal before I just ignored it. I didn’t know if it was ok to save the file or not so I didn’t. I’ve learned since that it is ok so last night I did.

It is important that your active normal template be one that was created as a normal template by Word. You can have modified it, but you can’t take another document or template and rename that to be the normal template. Word stores part of its program in that file.

Reply | Quote

Use “Save” in the VBE when you do any changes there that you want saved.

When you get the message about saving changes to the template when you are in Word it is generally not safe to save changes. You only want to be saving changes to the normal template when you have deliberately made changes. The most likely user changes come from recording or editing a macro or changing a style and saying it should apply to all documents based on the template.

Reply | Quote

Ok, here’s what I did last night. Following the instructions provided by Retired Geek in his post dated 2015-08-30, 15:20, I opened Word. It was a blank document. I pressed CTRL+F11. Nothing happened. I pressed it again. Nothing happened. I clicked on the developer tab and then clicked on visual basic. Then I clicked on Normal in the left hand window. Then I clicked on Insert in the menu. Then I click on Module. Then in the right hand window I pasted the code from his earlier post. Then I clicked on the blue save disk (just below the edit menu) in the VBE screen. Then I clicked the X at the top of the screen to close the VBE.

Then I clicked File>Options>Customize Ribbon. Then beside Keyboard Shortcuts I clicked Customize. Under Categories, I scrolled until I saw Macros. In the Macros box, HighlightActiveWindow was selected. I clicked in the “Press new shortcut key” box and pressed “ALT+8” and clicked Assign and Close. Then I clicked Ok. Then I tested it on 2 blank documents. It worked fine. Then I opened the documents I use all the time. It didn’t work. Then I closed out my documents. That’s when I got the error. That’s when I saved the Normal file as “-revised” and closed out of word.

I now have 2 normal files. I’m NOT using the revised file. It hasn’t been used since I renamed it but I didn’t delete it because I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I also wasn’t sure if I should just re-record the macro in the normal file again. I didn’t want to record it using the files I use all the time in case it caused them to crash or become corrupted somehow (no offense Retired Geek). Since I have no idea what I’m doing I didn’t want to take a chance with those 2 docs so I didn’t have anything open on my screen. I just opened word and left the blank doc there and followed the steps as I stated above.

Reply | Quote

Read the links I gave you. It won’t take much time. Less time than it has taken you to work on this so far.

I pressed CTRL+F11

Try Alt+F11 to get to the VBE.

I clicked on the developer tab and then clicked on visual basic. Then I clicked on Normal in the left hand window. Then I clicked on Insert in the menu. Then I click on Module. Then in the right hand window I pasted the code from his earlier post. Then I clicked on the blue save disk (just below the edit menu) in the VBE screen. Then I clicked the X at the top of the screen to close the VBE.

So far, so good. This should have saved the normal template with your new macro.

Then I clicked File>Options>Customize Ribbon. Then beside Keyboard Shortcuts I clicked Customize. Under Categories, I scrolled until I saw Macros. In the Macros box, HighlightActiveWindow was selected. I clicked in the “Press new shortcut key” box and pressed “ALT+8” and clicked Assign and Close. Then I clicked Ok. Then I tested it on 2 blank documents. It worked fine.

Still going strong.

Then I opened the documents I use all the time. It didn’t work.

Uh-oh. See if you can run the macro directly from the Macros dialog. If so, there is something about these documents that is intercepting your keyboard shortcut.

It didn’t work. Then I closed out my documents. That’s when I got the error. That’s when I saved the Normal file as “-revised” and closed out of word.

What is the exact language of the error message?

Reply | Quote

Ok, next time I get the error message I will take a screen shot. The error isn’t showing up every time now. That’s the problem. It’s not consistent. Also, the macro is now working with my documents. Maybe it was just a fluke the other night. Or maybe I’m just nuts. That’s entirely possible LOL.

I promise I’ll look at all of the links you’ve been kind enough to provide for me. It will probably be this weekend before I can do it though.

I really appreciate everything you and RetiredGeek have done to help me with this and the normal error I was getting.

Reply | Quote

Ok, I just got the error message again. I was working on my booklist. Which is the larger of the 2 files that I use all of the time. I had copied the date line row from the table in the Author file (the other small file that I use all the time) and inserted it into one of the tables in the booklist and instead of it inserting it as a new row it put it in as though it were part of the text in the existing row with hard returns around it. I pressed CTRL+Z to undo then was going to close out of the Author file since I was going to have to recreate the table that I use for that file to get it to stop doing that. When I tried closing that file, that is when the error popped up. I saved it as “-revised-2” since I still have the other “-revised” file and then it let me close out of word.

I have not changed any styles or added or changed any macros. All I was doing was typing. That’s all I am typically ever doing. It has been working fine for days now. But I noticed one of the tables had split funny across the pages and then the date line was acting goofy so I tried to close out of the Author file and that’s when I got the error. I’ve been using the files all day today. I’ve been inserting tables into the booklist and saving it every half hour or so. This is what I do most of the time with word and it worked fine until I upgraded to Windows 10. That’s when all my problems with it started.

I still haven’t looked at the links you provided yet. I had a bunch of medical stuff to deal with this week so I knew my head wouldn’t be clear enough to concentrate on those articles. I’m going to try to read through them tonight and tomorrow.

Reply | Quote

It sounds as if you may have multiple instances of Word open. I think we have gotten far-afield from your original question. If so, I would suggest posting a new question.

As for problems with Windows 10 and Word, see here.

Reply | Quote

I usually open my docs with shortcuts on my desktop. (Or sometimes from the Quick Access screen in File Explorer if I happen to have it open.) Is that what you mean by “multiple instances of Word open”? I had 2 posts going but I really think that they kind of went hand-in-hand. I couldn’t tell which doc was active and then when I installed the macro that RetiredGeek provided it didn’t work every time and then I got the normal error when I closed out of the blank doc I used to record the macro in. But if you would rather continue the conversation about the normal error in the other post we could do that.

Reply | Quote

What I am saying is that we are on a different problem now than what you originally posted about. You will get the best answers by posting a separate question. Neither I or RetiredGeek is the font of all wisdom; other contributors are not going to even see your current questions.

Below are two screen shots showing the Task Manager and my task bar which I display on the side of the screen. Both show two Word documents open. The second shows two instances of Word open in the Task Manager; the first shows one instance of Word open.

One way to have this happen is to open two documents from Windows at the same time or close to it when Word is not already open. This will start Word twice rather than starting Word once with two documents open.

Reply | Quote

Ok, that may have been what happened. I just opened both of my documents from the shortcuts on my desktop and did them both one right after the other without waiting for either of them to completely open (like I have a sometimes before). Then I opened task manager and I had 2 instances of Word in the task manager like your screen shot shows. I’ll just not do that anymore and see if that fixes the problem.

As far as posting a separate question, I already have the normal question in another post. I don’t think I need to post it a second time. Unless you think I need to word it differently to get a better response? Or is it posted in the wrong forum?

Reply | Quote

I have an Asus X75A laptop. I’ve attached a screen shot showing the basic info about my computer. As far as splitting the file into smaller files, I’ve thought about that but it would be a pain. It is a list of books that I have and others that I would like to get and the authors that have written those books. Each author has their own individual table. There’s a table of contents. The authors name is marked for the TOC to make the document easily searchable by author. Since a lot of authors have several pen names I have those listed under the authors actual names as (… writing as …). If I were to split the document into smaller documents and then try to search for an author I might not find them and it would be a pain to have to go back and forth between the 2 docs especially since I am constantly adding to the list every day. Today the page count is 1803. So I really don’t see how I could do that and still make the doc work without making a lot of mistakes in it.

Reply | Quote

The key point made by Mike is: Are you using Styles? If the bulk of your formatting is done through direct formatting rather than styles, you are making your documents much more complex.
Understanding Styles
Tips for Understanding Styles

Trying to use Word without understanding and using Styles is like trying to push a string. The longer your string, the harder the task.

Reply | Quote

Oh, sorry, yes, I do use styles throughout the document. Initially, though when the document was first created over 20 years ago I didn’t but I think I’ve gone through and corrected all of that. Although since there’s not an actual reveal codes like Word Perfect it’s not as easy to tell for sure if you’ve gotten everything. At least I haven’t figured out a way yet. Sometimes the search and replace feature will work for some things but not everything can be found that way.

Reply | Quote

I read the instructions at that link and it’s waaaaayyyy over my head LOL. I’m not a blonde but you might want to talk to me like I am because frankly I didn’t understand a thing you said. Sorry

Reply | Quote

Class modules are not for beginners. Sorry.
I can use them, with a lot of hair-tearing.

Whenever I want to create one, I need to read through that article (and links from it) to have any hope of having something that works.

Here we are definitely talking about programming, not recording macros.

Reply | Quote

I do this without hair-tearing now. I created a template with the class module and object declaration, plus the standard module with the AutoExec macro. I saved that template and use it as my starting point whenever I need to trap Word events. My favorite use is to trap the double-click event and use it to toggle return addresses on labels (font color = white or auto), or to toggle letterhead on letters (image brightness – 0 or .5).

Reply | Quote

I figured as much. I knew it was Greek to me LOL!

Reply | Quote

Richard,

Care to share? :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Sure.

This is the code from the Class Module:

Code:

Private Sub app_WindowBeforeDoubleClick(ByVal Sel As Selection, Cancel As Boolean)
    On Error GoTo ExitHere
    Select Case LCase(ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate)
        Case “label toggle.dotm”
            ToggleSingleReturnAddress
            Cancel = True            
        
        Case “rb-lh.dotm”
            If Selection.Information(wdActiveEndPageNumber) > 1 Then
                Cancel = False
                Exit Sub
            End If
            If TopOfLetter = True Then
                Cancel = True
                Application.Run “ToggleLH”
            Else
                Cancel = False
            End If            
            
    End Select
ExitHere:

End Sub

This is code from the standard module where I determine which cell the user has double-click in, and subsequently toggle that single return address. Each return address is in a dedicated table cell.

Code:

Sub ToggleSingleReturnAddress()
    
    If Not Selection.Information(wdWithInTable) Then
        MsgBox “Please ensure that the cursor is in a label sheet.”, vbCritical + vbOKOnly, _
        “Toggle Return Address”
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    If Len(Selection) > 0 Then
        Selection.Collapse wdCollapseStart
    End If
    Dim rngReturn1 As Range
    Dim rngReturn2 As Range
    Dim rngReturn3 As Range
    Dim rngReturn4 As Range
    With Selection.Tables(1)
        Set rngReturn1 = .Rows(1).Range.Cells(1).Range
        Set rngReturn2 = .Rows(1).Range.Cells(3).Range
        Set rngReturn3 = .Rows(5).Range.Cells(1).Range
        Set rngReturn4 = .Rows(5).Range.Cells(3).Range
    End With
    Select Case True
        Case Selection.InRange(rngReturn1)
            ToggleRange rngReturn1
        Case Selection.InRange(rngReturn2)
            ToggleRange rngReturn2
        Case Selection.InRange(rngReturn3)
            ToggleRange rngReturn3
        Case Selection.InRange(rngReturn4)
            ToggleRange rngReturn4
        Case Else
            MsgBox “This is not a return address cell.”, vbCritical + vbOKOnly, “Toggle Return Address”
    End Select
End Sub

ToggleRange (called from above) colors text white and shows/hides the picture (logo) that comprise one return address.

Code:

Function ToggleRange(rng As Range)
    
    If rng.Font.Color = wdColorWhite Then
        rng.Font.Color = wdColorAutomatic
        rng.ShapeRange.PictureFormat.Brightness = 0.5
    Else
        rng.Font.Color = wdColorWhite
        rng.ShapeRange.PictureFormat.Brightness = 1
    End If

End Function

This function determines (after determining — in the class module — that the document is based on the letter template) whether the user has double-clicked at the top of page one. (Paragraphs 1 – 4 are usually the date, direct dialg, email address and other standard letter stuff. We can’t determine a click “over the header”.) We don’t want the LH to show/hide if the user happens to double-click in the middle of page 17.

Code:

Function TopOfLetter() As Boolean
    On Error GoTo Trouble
    Dim rng As Range
    With ActiveDocument
        Set rng = .Range(Start:=.Paragraphs(1).Range.Start, End:=.Paragraphs(4).Range.End)
        If Selection.Range.InRange(rng) Then
            TopOfLetter = True
        Else
            TopOfLetter = False
        End If
    End With
    Exit Function
Trouble:
    TopOfLetter = False
End Function

Reply | Quote

You might like to try the Office add-in Office Tab – see website – I think that my $ 29.00 has been well spent.

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

Reply | Quote

I can’t tell from the screen shots, does this allow multiple documents to be edited at the same time in the same window, i.e., side-by-side?

Reply | Quote