How to Solve Endnotes Error Message?

[schwine]

At the end of my document there are two blank pages that I cannot
delete. When I try to delete them, the following message appears: "This
is not a valid action for endnotes." Now I realize that Word thinks that
my endnotes don't end until the bottom of the second blank page.

When I activate the end of line line symbol (sorry, I don't know the
name of this symbol), the symbol appears throughout the two blank
pages.

Now I'm trying to figure out why I can't backspace or delete these
symbols from the two blank pages at the end of the document. Again,
when I try to do so, the following error message prevents their
deletion: "This is not a valid action for endnotes."

I think what I need to do at this point is declare to Word exactly
where the Endnotes section ends. To do this, it seems like the
following pathway would be helpful: insert / break / section break
(next page).

The problem here is that all options within the "break" drop-down menu
are greyed out and not selectable. I have placed the mouse cursor at
the end of the Endnotes section to indicate where the section break
should take place.

So at this point I'm stumped.
I can't seem to create a section break at the end of the Endnotes
section, and thus, delete two blank pages that appear at the end of the
document.

Thanks for any tips.

My version of Microsoft Word: 2004 for Mac

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Switch to Normal view and use View | Footnotes to view the endnote pane. Go
to the end of the actual notes and instead of trying to delete the empty
paragraphs, try backspacing from the first one up to the last paragraph of
text. If this is not allowed, try pressing Delete at the end of the last
text footnote. There will usually be SOME way to get rid of empty paragraphs
in the endnotes pane--unless Word thinks they're actually endnotes, in which
case you can remove them only by deleting the endnote reference mark in the
document itself.

 

[schwine]

Thanks for the support, Suzanne.

I did have some success with this today.
Here's what I did.

Switch to Normal view and use View | Footnotes to view the endnote
pane.

In the drop-down menu that appears within the endnote pane I selected
"Endnote
Separator," and this actually deleted one of the two blank pages at the
end of my
document. Now I just have one blank page to deal with.

I tried the same procedure with the one remaining blank page but it
didn't work a second time.

Regarding: try backspacing from the first one up to the last paragraph
of text. If this is not allowed, try pressing Delete at the end of the
last text footnote.

Whenever I try to backspace or delete the pilcrow paragraph symbols
within the endnote pane the following error message appears: "This is
not a valid action for endnotes."

Regarding: unless Word thinks (the empty paragraphs) are actually
endnotes...
I don't think this is the case because there are no endnote numbers
linked to these
pilcrow paragraph symbols.

Regarding: There will usually be SOME way to get rid of empty
paragraphs
in the endnotes pane.

After today's partial success I believe that.
I guess I'll keep experimenting with things inside the endnotes pane.
That area seems to be the most productive for solving this problem.

Thanks again for the tips.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I suspect that removing the Endnote Separator just shortened the notes pages
enough to allow the empty paragraphs to fit on a single page, so I suspect
that didn't really accomplish anything.

If all else fails (and I wouldn't advise this until you have exhausted all
other methods), you can try selecting all those empty paragraphs and
formatting them as Hidden. When you hide nonprinting characters, the extra
page should be gone.

 

[schwine]

I would like to try your idea about hiding the the paragraphs, Suzanne.
I highlighted the empty paragraphs, selected Format - Paragraph, an
looked for
a "hidden" option, but I couldn't find one.

If possible, could you outline the pathway to the Hidden option?
I'm working with a copy of my document for this experiment, so n
worries about unwanted side effects,
although I will monitor this procedure to see if it causes an
problems.
Thanks so much.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Format | Font | Hidden or Ctrl+Shift+H.

 

[schwine]

Re: Format | Font | Hidden or Ctrl+Shift+H.

That worked, Suzanne. I don't see any ill effects from having
used this procedure. Everything looks ok, the endnotes, the
bibliography, the main text and contents.

Many thanks.

Sincerely
Cliff.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It's still not "right," but sometimes you just have to go with something
that works.

 

[schwine]

It's still not "right," but sometimes you just have to go wit
something
that works.

In this case I wanted to covert my Word document into a pdf fil
without the trailing pages.
So even though my original Word document may not be formatted correctl
because of this action, it did accomplish my end goal.

Thanks again