Windows 10: Spacebar & Backspace functions don't work at beginning of line in Word or Wordpad

I have an Acer laptop running Windows 10, purchased from Target in late 2017. I have just been doing some word processing, and I noticed that when I put the cursor at the beginning of a line along the left margin of a paragraph, the spacebar and backspace do not work. Nothing happens.


It works fine when I put the cursor in front of the first word of a paragraph, but not at the start of the fowing lines within the paragraph. I have tried this in MS Word, in Wordpad, and in OpenOffice word processor. It does not work in any of them.


The spacebar and backspace work normally at all other times, but just not at the edge of a line along the left margin. I have tried uninstalling the keyboard and then rebooting, but no change. I feel this is not related to the word processing apps themselves, but to Windows in some way? I even tried it right now when I'm typing this message online, and it is acting strange when I press spacebar or backspace when the cursor is on the left margin, but again, it's fine at the beginning of a new paragraph.


This is not normal, and makes editing difficult. Can anyone help? Thanks!

:)

 

Microsoft Hardware Debuts Windows 8 Keyboard With Split Backspace-Spacebar Key

Compaq used to bundle these keyboards with their professional "DeskPro" line in the late 90's.. they quickly dropped the idea after they found out no one, really no one is educated to use the backspace on that position... Especially those that type with ten fingers.

Even with the supplied software, you could disable the function (so you'd have a split spacebar.)

Guess how many people enjoy hitting the chasm between the spacebars all the time.. exactly.

 

Backspace, Spacebar, and Enter

So here is the problem:

1)When I am typing anywhere - in browsers, on sticky notes, Microsoft word, even this post- if I press backspace it will delete one letter then take me to the beginning of the line I am typing on. For example, if I were to backspace on the very top line
of this post -"So here is the problem:"- it will delete colon ":" and then put my cursor in front (to the left) of the "So".

2)When I press enter, the page automatically scrolls down. When I pressed enter to start this new paragraph I was taken to the bottom of the page.

3)When I press space it automatically takes me to the end of the line I am typing. For example, if I were to place the cursor between "So" and "here" in the first line I typed I would have an extra space between "So" and "here" and my cursor would be to
the right of the colon at the end of the line.

4) Discovered while typing this. If I use the arrow keys to move my cursor within the sentence I'm typing, my cursor jumps to the line above if I use the left arrow and to the line below where I am typing if I use the right arrow.

This is happening on an HP ProBook laptop. It doesn't happen when I use the onscreen key board, I've adjusted all the "sticky key functions", and I'm not accidentally touching the touch pad.

I've read several posts on different blogs, all with the same problem but none have offered a solution. Can this be fixed?

 

word to wordpad

The Word documents are showing up as .doc rather than .docx. I followed your suggestion, but when I tried to open the document I got the same song and dance from Microsoft, specifically, "Buy Microsoft Word". There must be some way out of this dilemma. Microsoft has hijacked all my documents and is holding them for ransom.