Getting Rid of Overtype

Some days my fingers just don't hit the right keys. Try as I might, I cannot get them to behave. I hit the wrong keys without even realizing it, resulting in some obscure foreign language document instead of my normally pithy prose. The biggest irritation is when I am using Word 6 or Word 95 and I hit the INSERT key by mistake, thereby toggling Overtype Mode on. My documents can really get messed up then.

If you find yourself doing this, you may want to get rid of the Overtype Mode toggle completely. (After all--do you ever really use it?) You can turn it off by following these steps in either Word 6 or Word 95. (You don't need to do it in later versions of Word, since they don't use the INSERT key to toggle Overtype Mode.)

1. Choose Customize from the Tools menu. Word displays the Customize dialog box.
2. Click on the Keyboard tab. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. In the list of Categories, choose All Commands.
4. In the list of Commands, choose Overtype. The characters "Ins" should appear in the Current Keys list.
5. Select the Ins entry from the Current Keys list.
6. Click on Remove.
7. Click on Close.