ARGH! Need some Word help before I throw this computer out the window!

[Dee*Jay]

 

[CJ2008]

Is it possible that they''re headers or footers?

Do you see them in the print preview?

 

[Dee*Jay]

CJ, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately they aren''t headers, and they also aren''t footers (although they do show up at the bottom of almost every page beyond a certain point). I did just find a way to get rid of them by highlighting a section of text that doesn''t have them and then using "format painter" on the remaining text, BUT all of the italics and different colored font goes away. ARGH!!!

 

[CJ2008]

Hmmm...how annoying!

If you''re using Word 2007: go to Word Options, Display, Show All Formatting Marks

See if that shows you anything weird going on

 

[Dee*Jay]

That sounds like exactly what I''m looking for. Is there any equivalent way to do this in Vista?

 

[CJ2008]

Vista is your operating system though, has nothing to do with your word processor...are you using Word, but an earlier version than 2007?

 

[Steel]

Are you in 'Normal View'? This shows all page breaks etc.

Under view you may have selected normal view, click on print layout or reading layout to see the virtual pages.

That should make looking at the document easier. Now are the page breaks in the right place or do you have gaps on the pages where you don't want them?

ETA: Generally you can just highlight and delete unwanted breaks when in normal view, but you can have issues doing this when a page break is actually required. Then you just fiddle about with what lines you want above or below the page break(end). (This is what I do - I hope it is accurate

)

 

[Dee*Jay]

CJ, OK... gotcha. (Can you see why this might be a problem for me?

)

According to what it says I'm using 2007 but the choices at the top aren't what I'm used to (tools, options, etc., rather I have things like insert, page layout, references... ). I'm going to email this thing to myself tomorrow and open it on my other computer where I think my version of word has the choices you're talking about.

If you hear a loud scream from coming from the midwest in the morning you'll know (a) I am wrong about having these choices, or (b) I do have these options and it didn't work for some reason.

Steel, there aren't "gaps," instead there are these "lines" that are made of of a row of tiny black squares that go the whole way across the page. Imagine the dotted line from my first post made up of squares.

 

[Steel]

Oh! I hope I am helping here....

Let me rephrase.

Page or section breaks look like dots across the document when you view the document in normal view (you see the document as one long page). When you look at the doc in print or reading layout these dots disappear and you look at virtual and separate pages on the screen instead.

So if I am right (

) pop over to your view option and select print or reading layout. Does that look better? Am I off base here?

 

[Dee*Jay]

Steel, the "lines" appear in the review view, the print preview, and on the actual pages when I print them out... (I hope I''m answering the question you''re asking, LOL!)

 

[Steel]

Ok I understand now.

I don''t suppose you have added lots of fullstops to your document when you weren''t looking did you........Steel runs and hides

Ok here is my last suggestion (it is after 3 here

). On the tool bar there is an icon just before the % zoom icon which looks a bit like a stylised P, I don''t remember what is it called (formatting icon?) but I use it when writing letters to show my spacing etc. If you have it selected you will have lots of other characters in view on the page - like dots representing spaces and the stylised icon representing paragraphs. If this is selected AND you have selected to print all formatting icons on your printer then hey presto you are printing odd dots. Deselect it. Also check your printing options and see if you have clicked anything odd there.

What do you think?

 

[CJ2008]

Dee*Jay, we're getting there! (I've gotta help you, your dog's begging me! LOL)

Look at the left top corner when you're in Word - see that round thing? Click on it. You'll see Word Options at the bottom of the window that opens up, click on it, then go to Display.

 

[Steel]

Go CJ......I hope you can fix it for Dee Jay!

 

[CJ2008]

Steel, hopefully, between the two of us we''ll solve her issue - I can feel the frustration in her posts! And like I said, her dog is adorable, so I''ve gotta help!

 

[Steel]

I''m out. Sorry I have no more ideas and it is crazy late here.

I wish you both good luck and bid you goodnight.

 

[Dee*Jay]

We''re making progress! I figured out how to get the formatting marks to show. Strangely enough there are no marks associated with the lines of squares. I can move text up and down around the lines by deleting the paragraph marks, but I can''t get the lines to go away. Hm...

Steel, I hate to ask this because it just feels like a *bad thing* based on the way you said it, but what''s a full stop?

Worst case I can chunk big pieces of the text into another document and just retype the really problematic stuff, but damn I hate to do that.

I swear, I''ve spent more time f*cking with the lines in this document than I did writing it!!!

 

[CJ2008]

DJ

How about Selecting All, copying, and pasting all into a NEW document? Sometimes documents act strange for no reason.

Maybe you could do that twice - one document with "regular" paste, and one document with paste special/unformatted text...

 

[Dee*Jay]

CJ, thanks for the idea. I''ve actually done that, and also copied it into an email, sent it to myself, and then copied that text into another version of word just to see if that would fix it, but no dice.

Oh well. Thank you both SO MUCH. I guess I will just have to copy/paste as much as I can and retype the rest. Fortunately I''m a fast typer. And honestly, with the time I''ve spent screwing around with this thing I probably could have done that by now. I think this is the third night in a row where I''ve spent HOURS with the completed document and just messed with the lines. How sad is that?!

 

[portia]

Hi DeeJay, I'm a little late to this thread but I was also going to suggest removing all formatting by copying all text in your document (CTRL A) and pasting it into Notepad (Start --> Accessories --> Notepad). This will remove ALL formatting. Then you can start a new Word doc and then copy/paste from Notepad into the new Word doc. I know that sometimes when you copy/paste text from other applications or web pages into Word it can also carry with it some weird formatting (tables always get me - such a pain to remove!). Sorry I'm probably too late to help and not sure if this would work for you, but just wanted to offer some assistance. Good luck!

 

[pocahontas]

Date: 12/29/2008 11:13:12 PM
Author: portia
Hi DeeJay, I''m a little late to this thread but I was also going to suggest removing all formatting by copying all text in your document (CTRL A) and pasting it into Notepad (Start --> Accessories --> Notepad). This will remove ALL formatting. Then you can start a new Word doc and then copy/paste from Notepad into the new Word doc. I know that sometimes when you copy/paste text from other applications or web pages into Word it can also carry with it some weird formatting (tables always get me - such a pain to remove!). Sorry I''m probably too late to help and not sure if this would work for you, but just wanted to offer some assistance. Good luck!

Deejay, sorry I''m late to this thread too! I ditto Portia''s suggestion. I don''t get why or how the formatting gets screwed up, but doing exactly what Portia has suggested has worked for me on many occasions Good luck!

 

[Dee*Jay]

OH MY GOD IT WORKED!!!

I LURRRRRRVE you guys (gals!)!!!

The only thing I have to do is go back and make sure the words I''ve italicized are redone, but that will be easy enough from a printed copy.

What a b!tch this turned out to be, and the worst thing is I don''t know how I did it so I can''t be sure I won''t do it again (but at least now I know how to fix it!).

Where but on PS can you get help like this?!?

Have I mentioned yet that I LOVE you all???

(Now I just hope the text itself doesn''t suck, ha ha... )

 

[CJ2008]

That''s awesome DJ...now you can get a good night''s rest!

 

[Dee*Jay]

You guys have no idea how glad and grateful I am right now!

(The HH is like, um, why are you doing the happy dance NAKED in the bedroom? As you can see I take my laptop to bed with me and work here!

)

 

[portia]

Yay DeeJay!! Glad you got it resolved!

 

[strmrdr]

html view was on and they were page breaks,
They can be shut off under borders and shading.
and or...
Either that table borders is on and you pasted in a table(this often happens as pastes will often create a table)

 

[Steel]

Woo Hoo!

I am glad you fixed. Isn''t it strange how computers have a life of their own?

 

[pocahontas]

Deejay, it seems like I''m always late to this thread, but I just turned on my laptop and immediately came here to check in on you. I''m glad everything worked out and you didn''t lose anything or have to redo your whole document. Yah for team work

 

[scarleta]

Dee Jay: I just read your post.I can''t help you with computer, but few years back I almost threw one away over the bridge and then someone told me to donate it to local school as kids take it apart and learn about it that way.
That is what I did then.I do hope you get it fixed though.Good luck hope it never gives you any troubles again.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Thank you all SO VERY MUCH again! Seriously, you guys were the only thing that stopped my computer from having a date with the Chicago River last night, I was so mad! I'm off to a coffee shop with a hard copy to make sure I get all the formatting back in where it belongs, but I am SO greateful to you guys!

Scarleta, thanks for that tip. When it does come time to ditch the technology I will definitely look into donating it.

 

[scarleta]

Dee Jay:Glad it is working fine now.Hope it keeps going and going for you trouble free.Wishing you Happy New Year.