7 Tips About How to Fix Microsoft Word Can't Type

Some people always wonder how to fix Microsoft Word when they can't type anything at all. As we know, Microsoft Word is one of the most widely used word processing software programs. In the field of education, Word is widely used to do work such as reports, research journals, theses, etc.

Also for work, Microsoft Word is the best choice for creating important documents like proposals, reports, licenses, partnership agreements, and more. But have you ever experienced problems with Microsoft Word? Or are you currently experiencing some problems while using it?

Through this article, we will explain a few things about Microsoft Word that is locked and cannot be used for typing. This problem is certainly confusing for some people because they can't create or finish their documents.

Causes of Not Being Able to Type in Word

Not being able to use Microsoft Word for typing happen because of several reasons, including the following below:

• Locked document file: In some cases, sometimes authors lock their documents so that they cannot be edited
• Protected View: Microsoft Office (including Microsoft Word) includes a Protected View feature by default to protect the computer from any downloaded documents from the Internet. For this, you need to make some changes so that there are no problems when editing documents
• Microsoft Word is not activated: The trial version of Microsoft Word will be available for one month. More than that, you need to activate it. Otherwise, all features will be locked and you will not be able to use them
• Keyboard malfunction: Another possibility could be happen because your keyboard's connection has a problem. This could be caused by a faulty connector (port), driver, or keyboard

How to Fix Microsoft Word Can't Type

Please note that the methods and explanations written here use Microsoft Word 2019 on the Windows 10 operating system. For those of you who are still using Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016 and the Windows 8 or 7 operating system, I think the differences are not that big.

1. Restart Your Computer

The first thing you need to do is restart the computer. It sounds simple, but you must try it. Who knows, your Microsoft Word could be back to normal. Because this issue can be caused by the startup services or programs not running properly. Usually, laptops / computers that have been used for a long time tend to experience these problems / errors when opening / running programs.

2. Checking Keyboard Connections

Next, try to check your keyboard status. You can test the buttons, drivers, and ports (if using a PC / desktop). Make sure your keyboard button is working properly. And then, check the driver section, whether there is an exclamation mark or not. To see it, you can access the Device Manager.

• Right-click the Start menu, then select Device Manager
• Look at the keyboard section, and see if the device has an exclamation mark or not.
• If there's no exclamation mark, then your keyboard driver is fine
• But, if you find an exclamation mark, just update the driver by right-clicking and choose "Update Driver"
• Update the driver by following the instructions in the driver update
• If by any chance you have that driver on your computer, you can choose to "Browse my computer for drivers"
• Follow the driver update procedure until the driver returns to normal
• Done

3. Disable Microsoft Word's Protected View

If you see the message "Be careful, files from the Internet may contain viruses. Unless you need to edit, it's safer to be in Protected View," perhaps your Microsoft Word has Protected Mode enabled. You can only edit it when you click "Enable editing". Or you can just disable the feature through the Trust Center.

• Open Microsoft Word and go to File > Options.
• Select Trust Center > Trust Center Settings
• Go to the Protected View feature section
• Then uncheck the following features:
• Protected visibility for files from the Internet
• Protected View for files located in potentially dangerous locations
• Protected View for Outlook attachments
• Click OK to confirm
• Done

If you don't see the Protected View message in Microsoft Word, you can skip these tips.

4. Enable Num Lock

If you are having difficulty with the key number, the Num Lock key on your keyboard is most likely disabled. For this problem, you can try enabling it so that the key number can be used again. If the Num Lock light is on, it means that the function is already active.

Each laptop or notebook has different types and settings. For this, you can test your keyboard by typing that key number in another program, such as Notepad or WordPad to see if your Num Lock works or not.

5. Change Document Format

Another possibility happens because your Microsoft Word is having problems. Try changing the format of the document you created with Microsoft Word, then save it as RTF (Rich Text Format). And then you can open it with WordPad (one of the free word processing programs). To do this, you can follow the steps below:

• Open your document in Microsoft Word
• Click File "Save As" Browse
• Then select the save location that you desire
• In the File Type section, change the format to RTF (Rich Text Format)
• Click Save
• Done

Try saving it in RTF format and open the document with WordPad. If it can be opened normally, and the keyboard can be used to type, the main problem can be caused by your Microsoft Word. You can fix it by utilizing Microsoft Office's repair function.

6. Using Google Docs

You can also try using Google Docs. This program can replace your buggy Microsoft Word. Apart from being free, you can access Google Docs from any device you want, either on laptops, tablets, or smartphones.

The functions and features are mostly the same, you can save the documents in .docx format, which can also be opened with Microsoft Word.

• First, make sure you have a Gmail account. If not, you can follow these steps to create a Gmail account here
• Sign in and access Google Docs with your Gmail account
• Create your new document by clicking on Blank
• You can add a title, and the file will be automatically saved in Google Drive
• Continue importing your document
• Done

7. Editing Documents Through the View Menu

The words "You can not make this edit because the selection is locked" appear because the author of the file has locked it, so we can't edit that file. In some cases, Word files are sometimes locked and cannot be imported by the creator.

If this happens, just follow the steps below to unprotect your files from being locked:

• Click "Show" at the top of the Word view
• Select Edit Document

Normally, Microsoft Word opens a new window containing the same text. But this time, you can edit and add text to the file.

 

That's all the tips about how to fix Microsoft Word can't type. The simplest solution you can do is by using Google Docs.