[Update: Jan 04] MS Word text box resize issue after recent update a known problem, Microsoft allegedly working on fix (workaround inside)

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…

Original story (published on December 29, 2021) follows:

MS Word is one of the most popular word processors in the world. However, in the last few days, its users have been facing an annoying issue that limits its capabilities.

According to multiple reports, it all started from a recent update. As it appears, MS Word users are unable to resize any text boxes that are inserted into the document (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).

Many MS Word users report the text box resize issue. This situation is limiting the productivity of those who need to use this feature on a daily basis for the professional or student field.

I’ve been using MS Word since God knows how long. I usually download a pdf, convert it to docx and proceed to do whatever business I have with the docx. The problem started a week ago when I did the usual and I found out that when I put a textbox, I can’t resize it. I tried going out and in the document but it just won’t resize.
Source

Now, users must deal with a text box wich size is non-modifiable. So, it is problematic since they must adapt to the text box size, when the opposite should be the case.

A moderator of the Microsoft support forums replied that the problem is already known. Also, Microsoft could be already working on a fix. In the answer also add a potential workaround.

This is a known issue with documents in compatibility mode (especially *.doc documents). Microsoft is working on a fix.

The workaround is to “upgrade” the affected document to the most recent *.docx format.
Source

Apparently, the problem occurs mostly in documents with a .doc extension. So, the workaround is to change the extension of the affected document from .doc to .docx.

However, there are users who suffer the same issue in .docx documents as well. But, this reportedly happen only with new documents and not previous ones. So, another workaround is to use an old document as template.

I am using Office 2013 on Windows 10. The document is saved as a .docx as are all my Word Documents. The text box function behaves the same way in all newly created documents. I think it could be a bug after an update but as I have all updates happening at 2am on a Wednesday night, I don’t know when or which update except to say that it must have been in the last few weeks.

Interestingly, older documents still function normally with the text box function and I can add a new text box to it without issues. There’s an idea – use an old document as a template for new files until the bug is fixed!
Source

To conclude, if there is any change related to the subject in the next few days, we will update this article with the pertinent information.

ISt 12:03 pm: A workaround has since been floated that seems to be addressing this issue for affected users. This involves upgrading the file format from doc to docx.

Featured Image: Microsoft

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