Word (Microsoft) Easter Egg - Change Cursor Appearance

1. Open Winword
2. Hold down Ctrl Alt then press +
3. Notice the mouse pointer appearance change into a clover leaf.
4. If this does not work, click Help, About
Repeat step 2

User Rating:
4.3
  4.3/10 with 1714 votes
Contributed By: Aries M Castillo on 07-20-1999
Reviewed By: Webmaster
Special Requirements: none
Please correct this Egg if you see errors.

Pictures and Videos

Clover Leaf - MS Word
Clover Leaf - MS Word

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Comments

J3X007 writes:
This is actually the "command" key from the Macintosh keyboard
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Misery Guts writes:
OK, so it does - but why?
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dolphin writes:
you can also press ctrl_alt_- (minus) and it turns into a minus sign
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badguy4 writes:
Actually, on mine, pressing ctrl+alt++ turns the mouse into the plus sign, while the - key turns it to a minus sign.
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geoffw606 writes:
I Know what this does: If you do this in Word 2000 then click on a button on the toolbar it lets you asing a shortcut key for that button.
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john pepper writes:
and...
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This isn't an egg. This is a feature - it lets you add a copy of a toolbar button to another spot. So do the egg and then click and hold on the 'B' (bold). Then drag it to another spot on the bar, and voila... a copy of the 'B'. As for the minus sign, im not sure.
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BritishJim writes:
The minus sign removes stuff. So running the "egg" with a minus and clicking on the bold button will remove the button. (Don't though, if you don't know how to get it back!)
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dpac writes:
OK, it works, but what does it actually do??
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Chipster writes:
If you use ctrl + alt + L you get an ascending list of roman numerals every time you press enter.
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You're right, it's not an egg. The thing about the roman numerals... that's just a keyboard shortcut for turning on the 'numbered' listing option. Hit control+shift+L for a bullet.
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Sarah3264 writes:
Ctrl-alt-shift-? does an upside down question mark. Ctrl-alt-. does a series of three dots.
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Cake writes:
if you right click on a toolbar, then go down to Customize... then click on the Keyboard... button, u get a complete list of all the keyboard shorcuts and can assign new ones. yeah this isnt an egg, merely pointing out to people why these things are hapening
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orc1 writes:
When you type ctrl+alt+2 you get font in italics and bold
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El Capitan writes:
Well, if we're going to confuse shortcut keys with real eggs try searching "keyboard shortcuts" in Word help and you'll find all sorts of "eggs". You can even print a list of them for future reference.
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J. de Groot writes:
This is a programmers feature. Try this: Press CONTROL+ Select an item from any menu and see what te actual (VBA) command is for that menu-item
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Trp writes:
No, if you hold down CTRL+ALT+L (NOT CTRL+SHIFT+L, McElroy), Word will spit spit out 1)a)i)(1)(a)(i)1.a.i.ii.iii.iv.v.vi.vii.viii.ix.x.xi.xii.xiii.xiv and if you keep holding it down it keeps on spitting out Roman numerals in their proper order...I don't know what this feature was placed in Word for, maybe someone could clarify on this. (This information based on WORD 97 SR-1)
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crud writes:
orcl-They do more than that. Look at your styles. Ctrl+Alt+1 produces Heading 1, 2 Heading 2, and 3 Heading 3.
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Grits writes:
Just like El Capitan pointed out, so many of these are documented features. The nearest they get to eggs are scrambling the minds of those who don't know much about the software. Just ask for Help on keyboard shortcuts. Easy.
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ATRiNOXX writes:
This is worthless crap, its just a Word feature.
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anonymous writes:
hey, in office xp professional, when i done this, it has a shape like....something where two freeway cross each other, and the road like..you know....(Yes, i don't know how to describe it, but if you can understand, you have good visual thinking).
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beeny writes:
TRP it "spits" out this stuff so you can list things. (why else).. or you can use it to learn your numerals
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Captain writes:
The "plus-sign" looks just like the function key on a Mac - must have been a funny guy at Microsoft thinking that anyone would care to see that ate-up apple.
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2001prawn writes:
Ah, the minus number deletes options on drop-down files. I deleted help-about. Does anyone know how to get it back, because I need it to play pinball.
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Rebel*Angel writes:
If you deleted a button or command with the minus sign (I did) then find the relevant button on the tool-bar, click it with the plus sign, and drag it into the menu.
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Big Al writes:
Also if you use the - sign, the cursor turns into a - sign
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Beth Melton writes:
These are keyboard shortcuts for Customizing the toolbars and menus. (On 10-key pad) invokes the Customize Keyboard Shortcut command. It will open the Customize Keyboard dialog box so you can assign or look up a keyboard shortcut for the next command you use. Removes Menu and Toolbar items Add the next command you use to it’s respective menu. For example if you click Bold then Bold is added under the Format menu. Then of course to remove it use the command. None are Easter Eggs. They are documented in Help under Keyboard Shortcuts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beth Melton Microsoft Office MVP
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Count® writes:
String S11=10 in extrasettings speeds up dialing.
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Count® writes:
(Ctrl - Alt - Num+) in Office XP change cursor in leaf. Do it again (Ctrl - Alt - Num+ - Num+) and you will see dialog to change Keyboard shortcut. It says: "Shortcut method for customizing keyboard settings". So,... it's not an egg. It's just shortcut. P.S. With holding Ctrl + Alt and minus in alfanumerical part of keyboard you'll get minus instead normal cursor. That's alsa shortcut. With this you can delete any menu in Word. This is great if you read some file in Word but don't want anybody to know what you have read. Just do this combination, then pres Alt + F to open File menu and then click name of a file you want to delete. This file is deleted only from the list in file menu not from disk. Hold Ctrl + Alt and Num-. You'll get long dash (two or more times longer).
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invisibleone writes:
If you all didnt notice they have shortcuts for some stuff. Ill try and list them down. -Ctrl+Alt+i=print preview -Ctrl+Alt+O=Outline layout -Ctrl+Alt+P=Page layout -Ctrl+Alt+S=seperates into two windows ( whatever you type in bottom window will also be typed on top window ) -Ctrl+Alt+N=Normal layout Well thats all i know right now...i cant really explain the others
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MG_Dragon writes:
All you people are doing is repeating things, try to come up with something new like Alt+157=¥, because they are all shortcuts allready to use if you know them.
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daunrealist writes:
This is not an egg. It is actually LISTED in the tools menu. Here is a picture for proof: http://us.share.geocities.com/ssnipers86/word.jpg
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Someone else already mentioned this, so I just thought I'd expand on it. The "egg" does work, but it's not really an egg. The CTRL ALT L thing is pretty cool and lesson learned... If you KEEP pressing CTRL ALT L it'll go 1. 1)a(1)i ii iii etc. It changes in the beginning but finally just goes through the list of roman numerals IF you do not do a new line. If you start a new line after "a", you'll do bullets a, b, c, d, etc. If you keep going to the roman numerals, you'll do bullets in roman numerals. All depends on when you stop hitting "CTRL ALT L".
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