I am a fellow user. I've given you one way to work around this. That is making shading of fields active for the selected field.



I have no idea why you are seeing what you are seeing. Microsoft keeps messing with us trying to "improve" things. In addition, other programs, called Add-Ins, make changes on a regular and unannounced basis to Word. Inless you are very unusual, you have Add-Ins, even if you did not intentionally install any.

You and your wife would be ahead, regardless of resolving this issue, using Content Controls.

If neither the work-around nor using Content Controls work for you, try starting Word in safe mode and see if the problem is the same. That is a diagnostic step to work on troubleshooting.
Open Office apps in safe mode on a Windows PC - Microsoft Office

I appreciate your help. I did a chat with MS including having an agent log into my PC to show the agent the issue. After deleting a normal.dotm and other files, and repairing the Office 365 install, there was no change. He said he would pass it on to engineers and they would get back to me (I am not holding my breath). The Alt-F9 workaround is painless, and once I get some time to understand Content Controls , I am sure that will help. I see that there are various types of controls in the Development ribbon option, and I want to learn how each one is valuable.

Thanks again,
Ken K