Canceling AutoOpen Macro Gives Hourglass--Appears Hung

ID: Q106470

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word for Windows, version 6.0

SUMMARY

If you create a template with an AutoOpen macro and open the template by one of these methods

Start it from File Manager
Start it from an icon on the Program Manager
Start it from a client application

and then cancel the macro by pressing ESC, Word will display an hourglass, making it appear that your system has hung (stopped responding). The hourglass will stay displayed until you click the mouse or press a key.

This problem does NOT occur if you open the file from the File menu.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Word version 6.0 for Windows. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

This is not a problem in Word version 6.0 for the Macintosh.

WORKAROUND

To avoid this problem, design your macro to trap the ESC key, and then use a SendKeys statement to send another ESC key when trapped. The following WordBASIC macro demonstrates this:

WARNING: ANY USE BY YOU OF THE CODE PROVIDED IN THIS ARTICLE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Microsoft provides this macro code "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

SUB Main

On Error Goto Trap:

 msgbox "Press ESC to cancel."
 Goto Bye

Trap:

 SendKeys "{esc}"

Bye:

End Sub

Kbcategory: kbusage kbmacro KBSubcategory: Additional query words: 6.0 hang crash winword word6

Version           : 6.0
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: July 30, 1997