How can I eliminate page breaks?

[EdEdits]

I transfered a document from WordPerfect (a terrible program that had
inserted a bunch of unnecessary page breaks), so now I'm stuck with a
200-page document. Can someone tell me how to remove page breaks in Word?
Thank you.

 

[Ed]

One way to delete all the page breaks is to use Edit>>Replace (Ctrl+H), put
^m (Shift+6 and lowercase "m") in the upper box and ^p in the lower box, and
click "Replace all". This would replace all page breaks with paragraphs.

HTH
Ed

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Better perhaps to replace with nothing. Otherwise you'll end up with a lot
of useless empty paragraphs.

 

[EdEdits]

Thanks for your suggestions, HTH. I did a find-and-replace, as suggested,
putting ^m in the "find" window and ^p in the "replace" spot. Any suggestions
as to why this didn't work?
Ed

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

What Word usually inserts in WP docs is section breaks. Search for ^b and
replace with nothing.

 

[EdEdits]

Makes sense to me, Suzanne, but this didn't work, either. Could it be that
your approach is right, but there's some other symbol I should be typing in?
Also, is there something I should be typing into the "Replace With" window
that means "nothing"? Thanks again,
Ed

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To replace with nothing, you leave the "Replace with" box empty. To find out
what you need to be replacing, it would probably be helpful to display
nonprinting characters (see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/NonPrintChars.htm), but in my
experience, what you usually have to deal with in converted WP docs is
section breaks, and ^b should find those. One way to see if this is what
you're up against is to check the status bar as you move through the
document to see if there is more than one section.

 

[EdEdits]

Thanks again, Suzanne. I'm still struggling with this 8,000-word document
that's been chopped into 200+ pages. I know this'll sound naive, but I must
ask you how to check the status bar, as you've suggested.
Thanks again,
Ed

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Assuming you have the status bar displayed (Tools | Options | View: Status
bar), you look at the left end, where on page 1 it will say "Page 1 Sec 1."
If subsequent pages say "Sec 2," "Sec 3," etc., then there are section
breaks in the document.

If it turns out that there are no section breaks or manual page breaks,
check the first paragraph on each page for "Page break before" or "Keep with
next" formatting (Format | Paragraph | Line and Page Breaks).

 

[Ed]

That would be the text at the bottom left that tells you what page you're on
and what section you're in. Right now, mine says
"Page 36 Sec 4 40/74".
The page number of the page I'm currently working with is 36.
I'm in the 4th section of my document.
I'm working on the 40th page of 74 pages.

If you click on either side of a strangely-placed page break and the section
number changes, then you have a section break inserted. You should be able
to see all of these if you click the backwards P button on the toolbar, or
go to Tools>>Options, View tab, Formatting Marks, select All.

Also at the bottom right is the up and down double arrows and the circle in
the center. Click the circle and select the icon that looks like pages
changing from portrait to landscape - as you mouse over, it should say
"Browse By Section". Now as you click the up and down double arrows, you
will go from one section to the next or previous. If there shouldn't be a
section break, you can delete the break.

Ed

 

[EdEdits]

Suzanne, I'm learning a lot from you, and everything you're saying makes
sense. The one thing I can't seem to do, though, is this: Having identified
where the unnecessary breaks are, I don't know how to delete them. Or,
rather, I thought I knew how, but it's not happening. How would you do it?
Thanks,
Ed

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Assuming they are section breaks, I would delete them the way we've been
saying from the get-go--by searching for ^b and replacing with nothing.