Microsoft KB Archive/299339

= You cannot change ruler measurement unit from character units after upgrade to Office XP =

Article ID: 299339

Article Last Modified on 1/31/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office Word 2003
 * Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q299339



Important This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry



SYMPTOMS
After you upgrade from Microsoft Office 2000 to Microsoft Office XP, the ruler in Microsoft Word is displayed in character units. You cannot change this unit of measurement.



CAUSE
When you upgrade from Office 2000 to Office XP, the Use character units check box is automatically selected. However, you can change this setting only if you have an East Asian language turned on on your computer. If you do not have an East Asian language turned on, you cannot clear the Use character units check box. Therefore, any change you make to the units of measurement for the ruler has no effect.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem use either of the following methods.

Method 1: Turn character units off from Visual Basic Editor
 In Word, press ALT+F11 to run the Visual Basic Editor. On the View menu, click Immediate Window.  In the Immediate Window, type the following command Options.UseCharacterUnit=False and then press Enter. 

Method 2: Delete the Data Settings registry key
This method allows Word to re-create the default settings, which, in turn, allows you to edit the measurements on the ruler. To delete this registry key, follow these steps.

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.  Make sure that you quit Microsoft Word before you edit the registry. Click Start, and then click Run.</li> In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.</li> In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\Data\Settings

</li> In the right pane of the Registry Editor window, click the Settings value entry.</li> On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click Yes to confirm the deletion. Quit the Registry Editor.</li> Start Microsoft Word.</li></ol>

<div class="status_section">

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the &quot;Applies to&quot; section of this article.

Keywords: kbprb kbupgrade KB299339

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