gray box when selecting text for Mac (OS Monterey 12.7.5, Word for Mac 16.86)

Anonymous
2024-07-12T12:56:08+00:00

Same question as has been asked for an earlier version and there was no working answer.

I select text in a plain word text document and it creates a big gray box that covers the selected text and more. It doesn't happen always, but apparently unpredictably, perhaps more often if the document has been open for a while and I haven't used it and then come back to it, but that's just a wild guess, not statistics.
I have tried the solutions suggested in the older question (Preferences > View > Field Shading to Always, Format > Borders and Shading > None, although they don't appear to be relevant because my settings were already there) and reopened Word, none of it seems to affect the issue much.

This issue is new with my current version of Word; I had a (much) older version before and never ran into it, so it's not my computer per se.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | Other | MacOS

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 438.1K Reputation points
2024-09-23T23:53:33+00:00

Your ppoint is well made but it has no effect here. This is a Community of user-to-user support which is not monitored by any development personnel from Microsoft.

To send the message to where it will do the most good use Help> Feedback in the menu bar. Responsible Feedback goes directly to the development group for evaluation. You'll probably receive no personal reply but the information will receive consideration & very well may be acted on.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-09-23T03:22:44+00:00

    This problem has been reported many times before. It is present in every version of MS Word for macOS after 16.49 up to the current 16.89.1, on macOS 10.14 Mojave or later up to macOS 15 Sequoia. It occurs whenever there is no 'Metal' graphics acceleration present. 

    That's why it is easy to reproduce, just following the first advice above: 

    • Start up your Mac in Safe Mode, open a Word Document, and select some text.

    Instead of highlighting the selection, a solid grey box will appear, that covers the selection area. 

    The bug:

    Word since version 16.50 seems to use a Metal Shader to draw the translucent selection highlight by default and sadly assumes the presence of Metal graphics acceleration without actually checking for it. 

    The solution:

    Word should check for the availability of Metal, and if not present, fall back to the older method of highlighting the selection (that btw all other Office for Mac Apps are still using). 

    The most common reasons for Metal acceleration not being present are: 

    1. Mac started up in Safe Mode, therefore disabling all graphics acceleration.
    2. Mac with a pre-Metal graphics card running macOS 10.14 or later (eg by means of OCLP).

    Please fix this long standing software bug in MS Word ASAP. 

    Thank you!

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-07-13T10:02:52+00:00

    Dear SVWeber,

    Thanks for visiting Microsoft Community. 

    I understand that after you select a paragraph in Word, a large gray box will appear, covering the selected text.

    1. You mentioned that this situation does not always happen, so it may be that your Word is interfered with. Please try to start the Mac in safe mode to confirm whether it is caused by the software loaded when the Mac starts.

     Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support (SG)

    Disclaimer: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate and safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

    1. If the problem you mentioned still occurs when starting the Mac in safe mode, and you mentioned that you did not have this problem on an older version of Word, do you remember what version of Word you had before? If you accept the plan to roll back the Office version, you can try to roll back the version.

    Steps are as follows:

    First, follow the steps in this link to uninstall Office.

    Uninstall Office for Mac - Microsoft Support

    Click the link below and choose any of the two Office versions to install.

    Update history for Office for Mac - Office release notes | Microsoft Learn

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    Looking forward to your reply.

    Miyeon.S - MSFT |Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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