SoftMaker.com

Hi,

I like Softmaker Office 2008, but am not happy about the fact that when I need to change font, font size or style for instance, the drop down menus will not remain expanded when I click on the drop down arrow on the right of the boxes. I must keep my mouse left hand button pressed down to keep the boxes expanded, and then with my mouse button still pressed, drag the mouse pointer down the list to land on the required font on point size. I notice that this only happens in Windows XP. I have installed Ashampoo Office 2008, which I was using previous to upgrading to Softmaker Office 2008, on to a laptop running Windows Vista, and the Select Font, Font Size boxes work perfectly on that windows system. I have to say that Ashampoo Office 2008 did exactly the same as Softmaker Office 2008, when it was installed on Windows XP, i.e., the Select Font etc. boxes did not remain expanded when the mouse button was released. Is there anything I can do to get Softmaker Office 2008 Select Font, Font Size and Style boxes working correctly in Windows XP?

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Robert L Watson

For what it's worth, using SoftMaker Office 2008 on a Windows XP machine with SP2, the drop-downs for style, font, and font size work as they should. I can click the drop-down button and they stay dropped. I do not have to hold the mouse button down to keep the lists displayed.

It is certainly the case, on my PC running Windows XP with SP3, that the Font, Font Size and Style drop down menus of Softmaker Office 2008 don't stay expanded when I click the 'drop down' button, and then release my mouse button. That was also the case with my previous version, i.e., Ashampoo Office 2008, with Windows XP SP3, but also when Ashampoo Office 2008 was running on Windows XP SP2, previous to my upgrading Windows XP to SP3. Softmaker Office 2006, also had the same flaw when I was running that on Windows XP SP2. I live with that small inconvenience, since Softmaker Office is an excellent alternative to Microsoft Office.

Since it appears, from the previous correspondent, that not all PCs running Windows XP, cause the Font, Font Size and Style menus not to remain expanded, when the 'drop down' arrow button, is clicked and then released, I wonder what could be different with my machine running Windows XP SP3 (formerly Windows XP SP2), to cause that to happen? Perhaps it's something to do with the processor. On my desktop PC the processor is an AMD Athlone 64 bit processor 3500+. On the laptop where I'm using Ashampoo Office 2008, running on Windows Vista, and where the drop down menus work perfectly, the processor is an Intel Celeron chip.

When you click (not: double-click) on the little dropdown arrows, the lists should definitely stay open. You are the first to report otherwise.

I could only imagine an a bit off-standard mouse driver being responsible for this.

What happens if you press Ctrl+D in TextMaker? It should open (and keep open) the font list. Does that work?

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Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

I can NOT duplicate this behaviour on any platform sorry. Is there a special utility you are using with your mouse per Martin's comments?

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Cheers
Jim

There might be something in what you say regarding the mouse being the problem. When I use Ctrl+D as you suggest, the 'Select Font' drop down menu opens up (expands downward) giving a view of different fonts, and remains open. When I place my mouse pointer over the opened list, it instantly disappears, however, without me being able to select a font. Just to see if the same things happens on another wordprocessor, I tried Microsoft's Wordpad. There is no problem regarding the Font List drop down using my mouse on that programme, and, come to think of it, I had a look at the Openoffice.org Office suite recently, and had no difficulty with the mouse and Select Font etc. etc. with that software (I uninstalled OpenOffice because of it's bloated feel and slow response).

I am not using any special utility with my mouse. The mouse is the one which came with my PC, a logitech T4A126, manufactured, I notice, in 2002. I suppose I could look for an updated driver for it.

In the past, I have had odd issues with logitech products. I think they must add some additional "functionality" that on some occassons, such as your current situation, result in odd behaviour. I think you are right to go to the logitech website though. If you google this particular mouse, you may inadvertantly find a solution, based on someone else's problem, even if they experience it with another product.

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Cheers
Jim

Thanks for the advice, I can't find any information on the logitech website. I will get hold of another optical mouse and try that to see if the problem persists. I notice that my mouse is using the Microsoft HID compliant Widows XP mouse driver.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't mean google logitech, I meant the web. Sometimes similar problems are experienced in different environments and they have similar solutions. I'm not surprised that you can't find it on Logitech's website.

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Cheers
Jim

Unfortunately, I've tried a couple of other different manufacturers' mice and both of them react the same way as the logitech mouse, i.e., Select Font, Font Size etc. boxes don't stay expanded when I click the drop down arrow. I can simulate that action if I adjust the mouse settings in the contol panel, by turning on 'Click Lock'. If I then click and hold for a few seconds, the the down arrow next to the Select Font boxes etc., the expanded lists stay expanded until I click my mouse again, although I can't scroll through the list with my mouse wheel.

do you happen to have adjusted you mouse settings from the default somehow? I'm still not sure why this is happening.

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Cheers
Jim

No, I've checked my mouse settings, and they are definitely on default. It's a mystery.

I don't know what else to say. Have you tried it on another PC? I've had this on my notebook and I thought I tried it on one of my desktops, but just haven't encountered this.

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Cheers
Jim

Yes, I've tried it on a laptop (notebook) running Windows Vista, and the Select Font, Font Size etc. boxes work perfectly, i.e., stay expanded and scroll after I click the down arrow of the relevant box. I should maybe try the programme on another computer running windows XP, to see if the problem occurs there.