What does EXT indicator on status bar of MS Word indicate?

EXT indicator indicates whether or not Extend Selection Mode is turned off or on. Pressing F8 turns it on and it anchors the cursor. If we press any arrow keys at that point the text will be selected from the anchor point. The Status Bar indicates that we are in Extend Selection mode. (In versions of Word earlier than 2007, the status bar indicates EXT.) Pressing the Escape key will take us out of Extend Selection mode.