Compare system settings between users

[monokakata]

I think this is a Tahoe issue in the sense that it's a user settings issue and I'm on Tahoe.

Recently, when working in MS Word (latest 365) the insertion bar will show on the first click or typed character, then disappear after a hard return. A mouse click will bring up the insertion point, but only if there's already a blank line there. This makes working in Word very difficult -- but this isn't about Word, I think.

I thought it might have happened after 26.5.1, because my MacBook is on 26.4 and Word works properly there.

I thought it might be because I updated to the latest 365, so I went back to the version on my MacBook. No change.

So I tried the "make a new user account," test, and in the new user account Word works properly.

I uninstalled 365 using CleanMyMac, and reinstalled. No change. I copied the new user Word prefs over to my old account, and that didn't fix it. (I'll try that again, in case I made a mistake.)

I think there's something in my user settings that got set wrong, and I never noticed, or has barfed, but is set properly in the new account, which is completely generic in the sense that after I created it and logged into it, I changed nothing beyond signing into 365.

I checked the obvious places (screen, pointer, etc.) but they match between old and new account.

So I'm at a loss. As in completely at a loss. Maybe there's some simple thing I'm missing? (My life with computers began in 1981, and this wouldn't be the first time I've missed a simple, obvious solution, so I know I might be missing something entirely.)

Some googling for "transfer settings from one account to another" implies that that's not practical.

This is a real problem for me; I take in book design work for a few small presses, and the initial stages always involve Word. Yes, I can make Word show me the hard returns and that shows me where my insertion point is.

Anyway -- help!

 

[chown33]

What if you remove your Word preferences / settings file, say by dragging it to the Desktop. Do this only when Word isn't running. The file may be in ~/Library/Preferences, or somewhere else under ~/Library. The goal is to get Word to create entirely new settings files.

Another way to find it is to run Word under a new account, change a couple settings in Word, then quit Word. Then, do a search in ~/Library for any file modified in the past 5 minutes.

 

[monokakata]

What if you remove your Word preferences / settings file, say by dragging it to the Desktop. Do this only when Word isn't running. The file may be in ~/Library/Preferences, or somewhere else under ~/Library. The goal is to get Word to create entirely new settings files.

Another way to find it is to run Word under a new account, change a couple settings in Word, then quit Word. Then, do a search in ~/Library for any file modified in the past 5 minutes.

I've done the remove thing multiple times, including again today, removing all traces of Office, reinstalling...no change -- meaning good in new account, still bad in mine. But I haven't tried the "change in new account" mode you suggest. I'll try that.