MS Word: Strange mode where typeover inserts instead

Question

I seem to have gotten Microsoft Word (from Office 2003) into a weird mode.

If I select some text with the mouse and "type over" it, the new text is inserted before the selected text instead of replacing it. Same thing happens if I use the Delete or Backspace key to eliminate it.

The following do work as expected: 1. backspace over the characters I want to delete, one character per keystroke 2. Same thing with the Delete key 3. control-X to "cut" the text.

Does anybody know how to return to "normal" behavior? And for that matter, how I managed to get into this mode?

Answer 1

You have activated the overwrite function! https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Turn-on-or-off-overtype-mode-2fe125af-505f-4ce7-bbea-f0e64e381e75

Answer 2

The comment by MyDog led me to the right answer:

Tools menu ->Options, select the "Edit" pane and check "Typing Replaces Selection".

I have also found out what causes the problem -- at least the immediate cause. If I copy an image from another app (e.g., Irfanview or MS Paint) and paste it into the Word document, that turns off "typing replaces selection". I'm not sure why MS thought this would be a good idea, or if it's just a bug, but at least now I know what causes it, and that I have to turn typeover back on after pasting an image.