Chaos using Word for Mac 16.97.1 with Sequoia 15.5

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Chaos using Word for Mac 16.97.1 with Sequoia 15.5

Chaos breaks out when I try to produce a simple, uniform-point-sized, properly character-spaced document on my MacBook Air, using Word for Mac 16,97.1 from my MS 360 subscription. Is my recentl installation of Sequoia 15.5 to blame? When I highlight all of the copy, then check a font as well as point size, things go haywire. A peculiar blue-border-lined box springs onto the screen, followed by keys sticking, inability for words to separate when typed, and sometimes the screen rapidly and illogically changes to the screen of an unrelated website. Any nominal progress is halted. Also, spacebar to separate words is not working anywhere !((Pages; email; word, though miraculously here! What can I do? I’m on deadline and stuck…just like my spacebar within Word and Pages!Thank you!

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.5

Posted on May 26, 2025 1:02 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Old Toad

Level 10

216,710 points

May 26, 2025 1:08 PM in response to DavidinNOLA

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following;

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

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