Word 2011 "save as" screen too large

After upgrading to El Capitán my word documents get hidden behind the Dock when I try to "save as." I have to "save as" and then click an arrow on the new screen that comes up to change the location, click it again, and then I can actually save the document because the page moves to be in front of the dock.

The open document also has no red, yellow, green dots on the upper left corner. The top tool bar (to minimize or close the page) is not available on new documents and the page ATTACHES ITSELF TO THE TOP TOOLBAR so I cannot even move it around. After clicking on Windows/Zoom and it fixes itself. I should not have to do this!

Help!!!!!!!

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Jan 27, 2016 10:31 AM

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22 replies

Mar 14, 2017 11:16 AM in response to rswc90

you are correct. I have the same problem. Anyone telling you that you are in FSM evidently is not experiencing the same problem because they don't understand the problem. It is a bug somewhere. As a workaround until its fixed I grab the whole Word screen and slide it to the right or left until I can see the Save or the Cancel button to the right or the left of the Dock.

Jan 27, 2016 3:24 PM in response to Eau Rouge

I am not in FSM. ESC does nothing when I press it. The menu bar does NOT drop down. That is a good thought if I were in FSM. 😐 And the "Save As" stays BEHIND the dock -- that's even more frustrating because if I happen to have several things open, the dock is spread across the bottom of the screen and I cannot get to the "save" or "cancel" button. Thanks for the thoughts, though. We'll get there -- El Capitan is the issue, I believe -- I does not do this with Yosemite on my other computers.

Jan 27, 2016 5:42 PM in response to rswc90

I'm seeing the same thing. The box to tell it to save or cancel is below the bottom of the screen. I found that hitting a Return will cause it to save. You do have to know which program you are in to do the save. I think this is a bug with Office 11 running under El Capitan. The latest upgrade (tonight) did not fix this problem.

Jan 30, 2016 6:11 AM in response to Eau Rouge

In "save as" holding the shift key still only allows me to move the screen side to side, which I could already do. The issue is that it is BEHIND the dock so unless I hide my dock, I cannot get to the save as button. The window is as tall as the screen so there is no place to move it to pull it up and away from the dock.


Also, in editing mode, the page is "stuck" to the top ribbon and cannot move around the screen like it should. For example, I cannot move it out of the way or even minimize it to work on something else.


THIS IS UNIQUE TO EL CAPITAN.

Jan 31, 2016 12:19 AM in response to rswc90

So are you taking the cursor to the right edge of the Save As dialogue box, then hold the shift key down and move the cursor to the left,

the save as dialogue box should now reduce in size proportionally in width and height.


User uploaded file


User uploaded file


The alternative would be to set the dock preferences to automatically hide and show the dock. Whilst the dock is hidden, carefully place the cursor

at the bottom of the screen, hopefully you should see a little upward pointing arrow, when you see that you can drag the bottom of the dialogue

box up. Just so you know I have tested these methods, and they work. you can also set Dock preferences to allow you to double click a windows title bar to minimize it. What are the options under the View menu item.

Jan 31, 2016 2:08 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Go to SystemPreferences > Displays and change size of your display. This should bring the bottom of the screen into view. I think if you adjust the size of the screen after you change the display size to something smaller, it often will "remember" the sizing so it is usable when you go back to your original screen size.


In addition, you could collapse the Save or Save as field by selecting the arrow key to the right of the field asking where to save file. I would have to agree, this is one of many Microsoft "glitches"

Jan 31, 2016 6:14 AM in response to Eau Rouge

I just updated to OS X 10.11.3 (I was using 10.11.2) and it "appears" anyway, that these things have been corrected. I did not want to resize my display and believe there should not be any reason for me to have to hide my dock to get to the screen I want. These are certainly programming errors. I appreciate the ideas of workarounds, though! I am hopeful that the newest updates will now have fixed them. I will report back they haven't. Thanks to you all for the suggestions.

May 3, 2016 5:34 AM in response to Eau Rouge

The "taking the cursor to the right edge of the Save As dialogue box, then hold the shift key down and move the cursor to the left,

the save as dialogue box should now reduce in size proportionally in width and height.." technique worked for me using OS 10.11.4 with Office for Mac 2011 ver 14.6.3. The fix was permanent through close of WORD and restart of Mac Mini...

Sep 8, 2016 5:26 PM in response to rswc90

I have this question but instead of the bottom of the "SAVE AS" window hiding behind the dock, it expands beyond the bottom edge of the screen. The top of the "SAVE AS" window is also cut off. Word is NOT is full screen.


User uploaded file


The suggestions to click this and shrink that... those are great work arounds, but I am not really hunting extra steps to accomplish what should already be. A "SAVE AS" window should not require manipulation per individual file when needed. It should fit the screen.


Is there an answer/solution that will accomplish: File > Save As... > [select folder] > [type file name] > Save = DONE?? Solution to create this simplified default action without extra steps? I simply want the "SAVE AS" window to view properly each time I need it.

May 14, 2016 7:47 AM in response to tsihtyma

5 months after the original posting, I see that after I do the "resize dance" by holding the shift key while clicking, holding and dragging the left or right side of the box inwards to make the screen smaller and the "SAVE" button visible, this smaller size is remembered by the program. I just tried this by starting a new document. I also shut down Word and then opened it up again and the size was remembered. I did not yet try restarting my entire system. That may set it back to default (i.e. HUGE and HIDDEN mode!).

Sep 7, 2016 1:46 PM in response to rswc90

I was having the exact same problem and after reading all the replies I finally tried clicking on and off the display settings in preferences. I realized that the problem had begun when I started using a second monitor with my MacAir at work. Even though the correct display size had been selected, unchecking it, and rechecking it seemed to fix it. I can now see the save/cancel buttons in the Word "save as" dialog box. Phew!

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Word 2011 "save as" screen too large

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