Line on page not able to delete

[Thomas Scheiderich]

I am running on Word 2001.

We have some documents that have these line separators that we can't seem to
get rid of. They aren't lines that we drew. The seem to be some type of
sections separators. We can grab them (which shows a dotted line all the
way to the edges of the document). but we cannot delete them. When you
move them up and down, everything belows moves up and down. It moves in
pixel distances, not charater distances.

Where did they come from and how can we delete them?

At the moment we just moved all the text above the lines and they are now on
the last page, which we just throw away.

Thanks,

Tom.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Tom,

These lines are probably controlled by Word's Borders & Shading feature.
Select one of the lines, open the Borders & Shading dialog (Format menu) and
click None. You'll have to do it for each one.

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[Thomas Scheiderich]

Hi Tom,

These lines are probably controlled by Word's Borders & Shading feature.
Select one of the lines, open the Borders & Shading dialog (Format menu) and
click None. You'll have to do it for each one.

I found the Borders & Shading and tried to change the line and nothing
happens. The problem may be that I can't seem to select it. When I do
select it, there are dots (or dashes) all the way to the edge and I can move
them, but as soon as I release the button, it is deselected.

Am I doing it wrong?

Thanks,

Tom

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

I found the Borders & Shading and tried to change the line and nothing
happens. The problem may be that I can't seem to select it. When I do
select it, there are dots (or dashes) all the way to the edge and I can move
them, but as soon as I release the button, it is deselected.

Am I doing it wrong?

If it's a border, then you should just be able to highlight the space that
includes it (rather than selecting the line itself), as you would actually
be removing the border from the empty paragraph mark. So try again.

DM

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Tom,

Turn on the Show/Hide Formatting tool so you can see paragraph marks. Can
you drag from the paragraph mark below the line to the paragraph mark above
it? In other words, since you seem to be unable to select just the line
itself by clicking on it, try selecting more than just the line and then
change the Borders setting to None.

Hope this helps.

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[Thomas Scheiderich]

If it's a border, then you should just be able to highlight the space that
includes it (rather than selecting the line itself), as you would actually
be removing the border from the empty paragraph mark. So try again.

That was it.

Not sure why it was there. It seemed to be some sort of section marker or
something. It was just a line that allowed you to move the paragraphs below
up or down just a nudge or more.

Thanks,

Tom.

 

[Thomas Scheiderich]

Hi Tom,

Turn on the Show/Hide Formatting tool so you can see paragraph marks. Can
you drag from the paragraph mark below the line to the paragraph mark above
it? In other words, since you seem to be unable to select just the line
itself by clicking on it, try selecting more than just the line and then
change the Borders setting to None.

Got it.

Thanks,

Tom.

 

[Thomas Scheiderich]

Got it.

Nope.

It seemed to work, but it isn't working.

If I select 3 lines above and a couple below and then change it to None, in
the Borders and Shading window, it just moves the line up to above the first
line I selected.

Tom.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Nope.

It seemed to work, but it isn't working.

If I select 3 lines above and a couple below and then change it to None, in
the Borders and Shading window, it just moves the line up to above the first
line I selected.

Hi Tom,

Hmmm. Is it possible that these lines are actually Section Breaks? If so,
they should be deleted if you select the lines above and below them and hit
delete. Did you try that?

If that doesn't work, try this. First be sure the document isn't corrupt:
Copy all but the very last paragraph mark and paste into a blank new
document. If there's general document corruption, that should eliminate it.

Now try eliminating the lines again (both by deleting and by setting None in
the Borders dialog). If that doesn't work, can you copy the text only and
paste into a new document without bringing over the lines?

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hi Tom,

Hmmm. Is it possible that these lines are actually Section Breaks? If so,
they should be deleted if you select the lines above and below them and hit
delete. Did you try that?

If that doesn't work, try this. First be sure the document isn't corrupt:
Copy all but the very last paragraph mark and paste into a blank new
document. If there's general document corruption, that should eliminate it.

Now try eliminating the lines again (both by deleting and by setting None in
the Borders dialog). If that doesn't work, can you copy the text only and
paste into a new document without bringing over the lines?

Does it go away if you select the paragraph (double-click in the left margin
-- and preferably include the adjoining paragraphs in your selection) and
key Command-Option-q ?

This strips the paragraph formatting down to the underlying attributes of
the paragraph style. If it doesn't work, you know it is definitely a Borders
issue.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 5 hours different from the US and Europe,
so my follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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