Ctrl+F12 disable in MS-Word ?

[bawldiggle]

My apologies, this should be in "Software" sub-forum

I am using an app "DeskPins" that uses Ctrl+F12, but MS-Word uses "Ctrl+F12 to create a new (orphan) document. The Word keys-combo is only available while Word is open and the active window.
Ctrl+F12 does not open Word.


Curiously "Ctrl+F12 is not listed in Word-2010 existing shortcuts for "FileNew" command
In Word 2010 I have added a new shortcut-key combo Ctrl+N for "FileNew" (command) and on the settings dialog all existing "FileNew" command shortcuts should be disabled

At startup a pest alert is displayed by "DeskPins) that Ctrl+F12" is in use by another application.
- there after "Ctrl+F12" works perfectly with DeskPins"
- the pest alert is not a life or death issue, but it is annoying

What I don't understand is how Ctrl+F12 in Word presents as global scope, ie hogs the Ctrl+F12 keys exclusively for Word, even when Word is not open. ?

Is there a registry tweak to kill off the Word Ctrl+F12.
- I don't want to remap/disable F12 as it is a useful key.

Would appreciate any help ... thank you in advance

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DeskPins = always on top program, where individual Windows (incl WinExp) can be maintained on-top

 

[HiTechCoach]

Do you use Outlook 2010 for your email?

If yes, Do you have the Ctrl+F12 conflict when Outlook is running? Do you have Word set as the default email editor on Outlook?

 

[bawldiggle]

Hi

Thank you for your response
- "We" are using Office 2010 ... "we" = this is my wife's machine, she is not PC savvy at all.

Do you use Outlook 2010 for your email?

No
Machine is using PostBox (commercial fork of Thunderbird) for eMail

Do you have Word set as the default email editor on Outlook?

I don't know. Is that a a setting in Word ?
- I am not a fan of the "ribbon" and don't know where to look

Do these images help to identify if Outlook is installed





I installed PostBox 4 years ago, and Postbox is the default mail-client.
- would I be right in assuming if Outlook is installed it would appear in Add & Remove and/or in Start> Programs

I did a web search for Ctrl+F12 and found some contradictory leads ...
FileNew ... works when Word is open ... but why would it be active globally even when Word is closed
FileOpen ... allegedly for XP, but there is no XP on this machine

Is there a registry tweak to disable Ctrl+F12 in Word only ?
- I have created a "FileNew" shortcut key (Ctrl+N) in Word, but Ctrl+F12 was not listed as existing

Every time this PC boots an alert shows warning of the conflict (source: DeskPins at startup), but the alert is stopping some other apps from "starting", but curiously DeskPins then works with Ctrl+F12

I appreciate any help you can offer

--------------

Win7 PRO x64
MS-Office 2010
LibreOffice 4.0
custom built desktop rig by our local PC shop ... 2 internal drives
- extra crud installed by the pc shop)
C:\ SSD
D:\ 500GB spinner​

 

[HiTechCoach]

If you were using Outlook and Outlook was set to use Word as ther email editor, that could explain how Word is running except int eh back ground.

Since you are are not using Outlook for email then Outlook can't be what is launching Word as the email editor.

In Word 2010 to display the Open dialog box shortcut keys are Ctrl+F12 or Ctrl+O

Create a new document shortcut is Ctrl+N.

I did some testing for ctrl-F12 on several Windows machines running Win7 32 and 64 bit, Win8.1 64, Win10 32 and 64, and Windows Server 2008R2. I also used my test machines running Win 7 and Win10 that only have Office 2010 installed.

On every machine I test here is what I did:

1) booted machine.
2) Pressed Ctrl-F12. Nothing happened.
3) Opened Word.
4) Maximized Word full screen.
5) Pressed Ctrl-F12. Got the File Open dialog for word. Opened a file just file.
6) Minimized Word.
7) single click the Desktop to make sure Word did not have the Focus.
8) Pressed Ctrl-F12. Nothing happened.
9) Restored Word to full screen.
10) Pressed Ctrl-F12. Got the File Open dialog for word. Opened a file just file.
11) resized Word to a window covering half the screen.
12) single click the Desktop to make sure Word did not have the Focus but still visible
13) Pressed Ctrl-F12. Nothing happened.
14) Click ont he Word title bar to set the focus to Word.
15) Pressed Ctrl-F12. Got the File Open dialog for word. Opened a file just file.

In all my testing, Ctrl-F12 only functions when Word has the focus (is the active program).

I also tested with Office Word 2013 32-bit with the same results.

Since you are getting New document when you press Crtl-F12, even when Word does not have the focus, I am thinking there is some other program controlling the Ctrl-F12 not Word.

 

[bawldiggle]

DeskPins is supplied with Ctrl+F12 as the default "toggle-always-on-top"
Last suspicion is that "DeskPins" is corrupt ... so it looks like a clean re-install of DeskPins

I will let you know of the outcome

Thank you once again for you generous help

Regards "the-bald-won"

EDIT:
Just noticed DeskPins has not started with startup, there in lies a clue

 

[HiTechCoach]

Thanks for the update.

Let us know what you figure out.