copying text in Word 07 creates bookmarks??

paul1149 · 19 Apr 2012

Suddenly, whenever I copy anything in Word 07, the copied text is bracketed with square brackets. They are gray color, and they are not reflected in the clipboard contents, so I believe they are non-printing characters.

I have never had this happen before, and can't figure out what is going on.

This occurs when using the mouse or CTRL-c to copy. It shows in Print, outline, and Web views.

It doesn't really seem to be breaking anything, but it is a nuisance!

Ok, I just realized that copying is creating bookmarks, named like this: ole_link_20. What on earth is that about?

Neutron16 · 20 Apr 2012

I would try to reset normal.dot* template.

Close any Word instances.

Press Start orb, copy
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\templates
in search field, hit enter.

In a that folder find NORMAL.DOTM file, make a copy of it (just in case, to restore this template in the future if something goes wrong), then delete original.

Start Word. Template should be reset to default and a new normal.dotm created.

paul1149 · 20 Apr 2012

Thanks, Neutron. That didn't do it, however. I've found that what has changed is that I set my clipboard extender, CLCL, to handle Rich Text format. In so doing, Word now records the location of the text, via bookmark, as if it were an OLE object to be accessed, for some reason. I've found many instances of people complaining about it, and MS appears to be unmotivated to change the behavior.

What I've done is hide bookmarks, and then attach a macro to the CTRL-s Save function wiping all the OLE_Link# bookmarks.

Be well,
p.

intrepidis · 05 May 2018

There is a macro which can fix this, and a guide for how to install it in this blog:
Nasher the intrepidis: MS Office Word - copy text and it puts OLE bookmarks - a handy macro to stop this