Deleting words removes rest of document

[NGM]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I'm revising a grant application, and all of the sudden deleting certain random words/characters results in all of the text from that page to the document end to be erased. It only happens in some cases, and there's no clear correlation between where on the page/what the text is and the problem.

If I scroll down, the empty pages (still with header) continue indefinitely, even though the page count stays at 16. I've tried the delete key, highlighting and typing over, and Cmd-X to try removing the text, but all with the same result.

Additionally, I've had the document hang, saying it's repaginating. This has only started today, and I haven't made any major format changes/additions in the last few days. I'm up to date on Word (12.2.1), I have 4 .jpeg pictures inserted, and I'm using Endnote X2 for citations. The grant is due in 5 days, and still needs considerable revision, so any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[John McGhie]

OK, that document is in a bad state, and we need to proceed slowly and
carefully here, otherwise you'll lose the lot.

First: Make a copy of the document, so if any of the below doesn't work, you
have something to go back to

Turn on your "Show/Hide" so you can see your paragraph marks, and go into
Preferences and turn "Field Shading" to "Always" so that you can see what
you are doing.

Then you will probably be able to see what is happening.

My guess is that you have a document containing fractured cross-references,
and when you delete one word, the entire cross-reference goes with it,
because it is not "normal text" it is the result of a generated field (the
cross reference).

To confirm this, go to Preferences and turn your Field Codes to ON. Chances
are the text you are trying to edit will suddenly vanish, replaced by a set
of codes.

If that's the case, that's the issue. Unpicking it needs you to first
resolve the muddle so you have only one copy of the text ion the document,
and then convert the field to normal text.

To convert a field to normal text, select just that field and hit Command +
Shift + F9.

However, this may turn out to be simply too much work, especially if you are
not practised at doing this.

In which case, you need to rescue the text and start again:

1) Save As and specify the format "Plain Text".

2) Set the "Encoding" to "Other" and choose "Unicode 5 UTF-8" (Otherwise
you will lose all your special characters).

3) Close the document.

4) Open the bad document, and the TXT version side-by-side.

5) Save the TXT version as .DOCX

6) Re-apply the formatting by looking at the bad version.

Each time you come to a different kind of formatting, choose or define a
style for that kind of formatting. Perform all of your formatting by
applying the style you have defined or chosen for each kind of formatting:
that's an important part of preventing this mess from happening again.

Reserve the built-in styles "Heading 1" through "Heading 9" for the headings
in the document (NOT the Headers!!). That's another important part of
preventing these issues: the Heading series has hard-coded properties that
ensure the heading numbering works right.

Hope this helps

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I'm revising a grant application, and all of the sudden deleting certain
random words/characters results in all of the text from that page to the
document end to be erased. It only happens in some cases, and there's no clear
correlation between where on the page/what the text is and the problem.

If I scroll down, the empty pages (still with header) continue indefinitely,
even though the page count stays at 16. I've tried the delete key,
highlighting and typing over, and Cmd-X to try removing the text, but all with
the same result.

Additionally, I've had the document hang, saying it's repaginating. This has
only started today, and I haven't made any major format changes/additions in
the last few days. I'm up to date on Word (12.2.1), I have 4 .jpeg pictures
inserted, and I'm using Endnote X2 for citations. The grant is due in 5 days,
and still needs considerable revision, so any help is greatly appreciated.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]