Cannot delete text/spaces

[Zeretul1]

Using Word 2003 for work documents, and IT cannot fix this.

I edit documents, many times created by other users, and I have run into
several formatting issues.

I sometimes see extra space between lines with no formatting lines (i.e.
Enter, Page Break, etc.) and cannot remove this space. I cannot select it,
and sometimes deleting the entry right above the "dead" space result in a
loss of formatting in the text beneath the dead space.

I have read some of the posts, and I checked a few options:

I DO NOT have any boxs related to WordPerfect checked
I DO have the "Typing Replaces Selection" box checked
I DO NOT receive any status bar message asking to confirm the deletion.
Using Ctrl+X/Cut button does not work, nor does using Backspace or the
Delete key.

I have attempted in the past the transfer the text into a fresh document
with some sucess, but this is impractical due to my documents being heavily
formatted for business, and in excess of 20-30 pages in length.

Any help will be appreciated.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello-

Two other possibilities to check into;

1- Look in Format>Paragraph--Indents & Spacing to see if Spacing
Before/After paras has been used &/or if Line Spacing has been set to
something other than Single, but before making any changes, determine whether
the formatting has been applied by the use of Style(s). How you address the
issue most effectively will depend on how it was applied.

2- It is possible that content has been copied & pasted from an HTML source
which dictates something other than 'normal' spacing... less likely, but
possible.

Post back with your findings and you'll get recommendations on how to proceed.

Regards |:>)

 

[Zeretul1]

Thank you for your reply:

1-Spacing is set to 12point before and after, and line spacing is single.
This formatting is part of a Numbering Style. Strangely, this formatting also
is applied to the blank space just above the heading that I can see with the
"Show All" button. When I attempt to clear the formatting of the blank space
above the heading, the headings formatting is cleared.

2-We do not cut and paste from HTML.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

[CyberTaz]

Assuming that you want to retain the other formatting incuded in the style,
you could just edit it to change the before & after settings to 0 (or
whatever value you prefer). It seems to be a user-defined style, but might be
"based on" one of the default List Number styles. That should be revealed in
the Modify Style dialog box... Although that propably makes no difference.
What might matter is if any other styles are 'based on' the one you are
editing, as they may be affected by the change, as well.

It sounds like there may be nested styles which determine the style applied
to the next paragraph. I believe that if a 'parent' style is applied to an
empty paragraph and determines the style applied to the paragraph below it,
deleting the 'parent' para will cause the style of the following para to be
removed as well. That could be what is happening here.

There could be several ways to approach the problem, but I'm honestly not
sure which would be best. Hopefully this info will help you get a better
handle on what has been done in the doc & that might give you the insights to
correct it. I would also be surprised if one of the more specialized regular
don't jump into the thread with some useful suggestions... they love a
challenge.

Regards |:>)