Microsoft is not my favorite company. Still, for some things, I’m stuck using it.

I recently upgraded from Office 2000 to Office 2003. I opened Word to find that, in the process of upgrading, Microsoft decided my ruler bar settings were not what they should be, and it switched the ruler from inches to characters. “Fine,” I thought. I’ll just switch it back. Tools–>Options–>General and off I go. Default unit: inches. I close the dialog. The ruler is still in characters.

A little snooping on the internet turns up this gem from Microsoft support:

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.

The 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.

So how do you fix it? Either you have to use the Visual Basic Editor, or you mess with the registry:

Using the Visual Basic Editor

1. In Word, press ALT+F11 to run the Visual Basic Editor.
2. On the View menu, click Immediate Window.
3. In the Immediate Window, type the following command “Options.UseCharacterUnit=False” and then press Enter.

Delete the Data Settings registry key

1. Make sure that you quit Microsoft Word before you edit the registry.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
4. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoft Office10.0WordDataSettings
5. In the right pane of the Registry Editor window, click the Settings value entry.
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click Yes to confirm the deletion. Quit the Registry Editor.
7. Start Microsoft Word.

Now this is fine — I’m comfortable doing either. (I used the VB Editor as it seemed quicker.) But let’s look at this fine “support” advice.

First of all, if I am a “normal” user, I’ll probably have no idea what the Visual Basic Editor is. Thankfully, M$ gives me instructions on how to access it. But what’s this “Immediate Window”? That makes no sense…

The second method is not much better for the average user. Does M$ really want people who don’t know what they’re doing snooping about in the registry?

Out of curiosity, I sent Microsoft an email about it. I received the following reply:

Dear Gary,

My name is Shiraj. I have taken the ownership of the case SRZ060822001181 in order to provide fastest resolution to this issue

I am eager to know if the suggestions I provided helped you in resolving the issue. Since I haven’t heard from you on the status of this issue, I have not closed this case. I want your feedback to make sure we have met your expectation on this issue.

If you are unable to reply to this e-mail, please send an e-mail to my e-mail address v-9shifa@mssupport.microsoft.com

Thank you for using Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS),

Have a great day!

Sincerely,
Shiraj

“What steps?” I wondered, rereading it.

Then I looked at the sender: “Compass Rule Manager.” Hum. It took only a few seconds to find this in my spam folder.

Thank you for using Microsoft Word Support.

My name is Shiraj, and I will be assisting you with this service request.

As per our records, you have not provided any contact number of yours. You can specify one and I will update it in my records.

From your problem description what I understand that even though the measurement using in Word application is set to Inches, you still see it in points.. Is that correct?

Please let me know if I have understood the issue correctly.

I understand how something like this can really try your patience. I am going to do my best to make sure you receive all the help you need.

Gary, let’s check certain settings on your Word program.

1. Please open Word. Click on TOOLS menu and click on OPTIONS.
2. Click on GENERAL tab. Let me know the measurement unit set there.
3. If it is already set to Inches, please set it to Point and click on OK.
4. Open the window again and set it back to Inches and let me know if that helps.

If not, perform the following steps.

Steps to start Word in safe mode:

1. Click on start
2. Click on run
3. Type in winword.exe /a (note there should be a space between exe and /a)
4. Now click on ok
5. This will open Microsoft Word in safe mode, where if you are asked to enter the initials, enter the details.
6. Check if the measurement unit is in Points or Inches.

Please perform the above steps, and update me with the results at your earliest convenience. If you need additional information on this issue, feel free to let me know. It is my pleasure to be of assistance.

After you respond by posting a supplement to this case, you will receive a response as quickly as possible.

If you have any feedback regarding Microsoft support, I would be glad to hear from you.

If you would feel more comfortable speaking with someone else regarding my service, Upyukta, my manager, would be very happy to hear your comments and suggestions.

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Technical Support

Sincerely,
Shiraj

Had it been sent from a Microsoft address, my spam control might not have sent it into oblivion. Then again, considering the quality of assistance, it was probably for the best.