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:

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

  4. Make sure the Navigation Keys for WordPerfect Users check box is cleared.
  5. 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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Forcing Input to Uppercase

If you type information into a workbook, you may want to make sure that what you type is always stored in uppercase. ...

Discover More

Tracked Changes Won't Go Away

Track Changes is a great tool when editing a document, but the ways that it affects your document can sometimes be ...

Discover More

Copying Dates a Year into the Future

Need to copy a range of dates and update them to a different year? Here are a number of ways to accomplish this task with ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Sharing Headings with Others

Headings form the outline of your document and hopefully give it an easy-to-follow organization. If you want to share ...

Discover More

Slowing Down Mouse Selection

We've all experienced the problem: You start selecting a large block of text using the mouse, and before you know it the ...

Discover More

Adding Half Spaces to Punctuation

Want a little more space just before some of your punctuation characters? You can add that spacing in a variety of ways, ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is five more than 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.