My old P.C used Windows 7 as the O.S and was loaded with Office 365 Pro and I had absolutely no difficulty grouping dead straight lines that I inserted on a word document using the "Select Objects arrow" located on the top ribbon of screen (right hand end). I have just purchased new computer that uses Windows 10 as the O.S and is loaded Office 365 Pro and I have found that the Select Objects arrow does not recognise dead straight lines (horizontal or vertical) as objects so it will not allow me to group the lines? With further investigation, I found that if the drawn lines were even 1-pixel off being straight then "Word" would see them as objects and grouping the lines was permitted??? It was suggested that I upgrade to Office 2019 and that this "might" fix the problem but unfortunately it didn't! I am a practising Chemical Engineer and I need to write Operating manuals and have a need to insert complex interconnected shapes in the word document so I am reliant on the capability to group shapes and dead straight lines. Can anyone in the M.S community offer a solution? Eg: Is there a tick box somewhere in Office set up options that I need to acknowledge to make the operating system treat dead straight lines as objectsto enable their grouping? As I said above, thi s was never an issue with Windows XP / Office 2003 or Windows 7 / Office 365. ..... It only appears to be an issue with Windows 10 / Office 365 and Office 2019 All assistance most welcome. A family of Microsoft word processing software products for creating web, email, and print documents. Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question. Anonymous 2019-10-10T23:44:54+00:00 Thank Doug but I know this procedure well as its how I've been working the system for the last 3- months. The problem arises when I prepare complex diagrams because I sometimes omit lines during the grouping steps. I then have to go back and ungroup the diagram and restart whole process of individually highlighting each object in the document such as the one below: Its far more convenient and time efficient to use the Select Objects Arrow and group all the elements of the diagram in one go. I have been doing this way for over 20 years using XP / Office 2003 and Windows 7 / Office 2007 and 365 What I find so frustrating is that Windows 10 O.S / Office 2019 (or 365) allows me to group all objects INCLUDING diagonal straight lines using Select Objects arrow but it does not recognise dead straight horizontal or vertical line in the grouping REGARDLESS of the text wrapping selection (ie, Through text / Behind text / Top bottom, etc. ....AAAHHH 0 comments No comments Thank Doug but I know this procedure well as its how I've been working the system for the last 3- months. The problem arises when I prepare complex diagrams because I sometimes omit lines during the grouping steps. I then have to go back and ungroup the diagram and restart whole process of individually highlighting each object in the document such as the one below: Its far more convenient and time efficient to use the Select Objects Arrow and group all the elements of the diagram in one go. I have been doing this way for over 20 years using XP / Office 2003 and Windows 7 / Office 2007 and 365 What I find so frustrating is that Windows 10 O.S / Office 2019 (or 365) allows me to group all objects INCLUDING diagonal straight lines using Select Objects arrow but it does not recognise dead straight horizontal or vertical line in the grouping REGARDLESS of the text wrapping selection (ie, Through text / Behind text / Top bottom, etc.

Anonymous 2019-10-10T07:44:03+00:00 Thank gents for the quick reply. Dave: The procedure you described is EXACTLY what I'm doing. Its just that the lines will not group. IE: I open up a blank word document (no text at all), insert two perfectly straight lines onto the work sheet (horizontal or vertical or combination of both - it doesn't matter) then try to group them using the Select Objects Arrow tool. Windows XP / Office 2003 - The lines will group together as a single object Windows 7 / Office 365 - Ditto above Windows 10 / Office Word 365 Professional or 2019 Professional - The lines won't group ! (Its as if the lines are not recognised??? I've tried this on 2-completely separate machines and I get the same result. What's interesting though is that the lines will group providing there they are inclined .... its only the dead straight lines that wont group together for me. Thx - gr 0 comments No comments Thank gents for the quick reply. Dave: The procedure you described is EXACTLY what I'm doing. Its just that the lines will not group. IE: I open up a blank word document (no text at all), insert two perfectly straight lines onto the work sheet (horizontal or vertical or combination of both - it doesn't matter) then try to group them using the Select Objects Arrow tool. Windows XP / Office 2003 - The lines will group together as a single object Windows 7 / Office 365 - Ditto above Windows 10 / Office Word 365 Professional or 2019 Professional - The lines won't group ! (Its as if the lines are not recognised??? I've tried this on 2-completely separate machines and I get the same result. What's interesting though is that the lines will group providing there they are inclined .... its only the dead straight lines that wont group together for me. Stefan Blom • 351.7K Reputation points • MVP • Volunteer Moderator 2019-10-13T10:09:37+00:00 I believe that the underlying problem is complex; in other words, there is probably not a single explanation/solution. A few versions back (perhaps in Word 2007, if I remember correctly), the Select Objects tool did not work at all for *.docx files, so it has been flawed for some time. 0 comments No comments I believe that the underlying problem is complex; in other words, there is probably not a single explanation/solution. A few versions back (perhaps in Word 2007, if I remember correctly), the Select Objects tool did not work at all for *.docx files, so it has been flawed for some time. Stefan Blom • 351.7K Reputation points • MVP • Volunteer Moderator 2019-10-12T23:20:17+00:00 I have seen the Select Objects tool fail to select certain lines but I don't remember the specific version of Word. However, you should be able to select objects in the Selection pane instead (click Home > Select > Selection Pane). 0 comments No comments I have seen the Select Objects tool fail to select certain lines but I don't remember the specific version of Word. However, you should be able to select objects in the Selection pane instead (click Home > Select > Selection Pane). Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services • 323.6K Reputation points • MVP • Volunteer Moderator 2019-10-11T00:14:49+00:00 Hi Graeme, Can you send me a document with such a diagram so that I can investigate the issue. 0 comments No comments Can you send me a document with such a diagram so that I can investigate the issue.