Hello,


For some reason my UI customization keep resetting. I am trying to keep copies in separate locations, outside the templates folder, and even .bak copies within those folders just in case, to hopefully remedy that problem.


However, when trying to reconstruct my previous shortcuts I tried to assign Ctrl+Shift+R for Color: Red, as I have done in the past, but now Word will not let me assign this combination of keys.


I cannot figure out what it is assigned to, and why I cannot just reassign it to Color: Red as I have always done. I thought I would ask here before just giving in and retraining my fingers to a new, not as friendly, shortcut.





Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Which version of Word are you using? Ctrl+Shift+R is available in my system although already assigned to ToolsCountRecount.

Does it work if you start Word is Safe mode?
Open Office apps in safe mode on a Windows PC - Microsoft Office
(This is a diagnostic question, not a recommendation to use Word in safe mode.)

See my article: Assigning Keyboard Shortcuts in Microsoft Word 2007-2021 (365)
For different colors, first consider creating character styles, to which you can assign keyboard shortcuts. For the shortcuts consider using a Prefix key as described in my article so you could have one prefix key to set a color and a second followup key to actually pick the color. In my article, I describe doing this for symbols for card suits.
Read the article previously linked. When you try to set something as a shortcut, the dialog will tell you if it is assigned to something else. If it is not reserved, it will let you click on Assign.

On a more basic level I suggest storing your keyboard shortcuts in a separate Global Template. If they refer to macros, the macros should be stored in the same template. This is discussed in the article as well. This is a bit more trouble than storing in the default Normal template but is much easier to share/transfer to a new computer and is also less vulnerable to the things that mysteriously happen to the normal template.

Here are additional resources for your consideration.

• Backup Normal.dotm template using a macro
• Chris Woodman's Keyboard Shortcut Organizer
• The Importance of Styles in Microsoft Word