WD2000: Nothing Happens When Dragging or Copying/Pasting Text

When you try to drag (or copy and paste) text from one location to another in a document, nothing happens.

NOTE: If you use the Cut command to cut text, the text is removed from the document, but you cannot paste the text back in.

Then, when you create a new document or open an existing document, the following error message appears: When you quit Word, error messages similar to the following appear: When you click Details, the following message appears: NOTE: The actual memory address may vary.

The Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) environment in Microsoft Word is damaged. To reproduce this problem, perform the following steps:

1. In a new blank Word document, type "=rand()" and press ENTER.NOTE: If sample text is not entered into your document similar to the following:
   The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
   then do the following steps and repeat step 1:
   
   
   1. On the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect.
   2. On the AutoCorrect tab, click to select the Replace text as you type check box and then click OK.
2. Press PRINT SCREEN to copy the screen image to the Windows Clipboard.
3. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Paint.
4. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
5. In Paint, use the Select tool and select a piece of the picture.
6. On the Edit menu, click Copy.
7. Quit Paint and do not save any changes.
8. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Clipboard Viewer.
9. On the File menu, click Save As and save the clipboard as a Clipbrd File (*.clp) file.
10. Quit the Clipboard Viewer.
11. In Word, select some text and try to drag (or copy and paste) the selected text to a different location.

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods:

Method 1: Restart Word

Quit and restart Word. If you perform steps similar to those listed in the "Cause" section of this article again, you have to restart Word to correct this problem.

Method 2: Do Not Save a Clipboard File

Please refer to the steps listed in the "Cause" section and do not save the Clipboard file as in step 9 of the "Cause" section. Instead, replace steps 7-10 with the following steps:

NOTE: Use these steps when you want to save a copy of the picture to a file. Remember, do not save the clipboard image as a clip file.

1. In Paint, click New on the File menu to start a new picture.
2. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
3. On the File menu, click Save As and save the picture in a format supported by Paint. For example, save the picture as 256 Color Bitmap (*.bmp, *.dib) and then click Save.

To use the saved picture, do the following steps:

NOTE: If you just saved this picture in Paint, the image should still be on the Windows Clipboard. However, if it is not, then continue with the following steps.

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Paint.
2. On the File menu, click Open and open the picture you want.
3. Using the Select tool, "frame" the picture.
4. On the Edit menu, click Copy. This places the picture on the Windows Clipboard.
5. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Paint.

In Microsoft Word, you can now paste the picture as you would normally.

NOTE: Using these steps, you saved the picture as a graphic file. Instead of opening Paint and copying the picture to the Windows Clipboard, you can insert the picture using the following steps:

1. In Word, point to Picture on the Insert menu, and then click From File.
2. Select the picture you saved from Paint and click Insert.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.