Non-Printing Characters - Keeping them Hidden

[Bobmeister]

Hello,
I'm running into a situation where I need to have a
document arrive at someone else's desk with the non-
printing characters hidden. I know that when I open or
create a document, I can tell Windows whether to show
those items by using the "Show-Hide" button on the
standard toolbar. But is there a way to set a document to
hide the non-printing characters the next time it opens?
Any insights on this would be appreciated.

Bob T.
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Bob

The short answer is no, you can't do this. If you really want to send a document such that you control exactly how it looks, you
might consider creating a PDF file and sending that. Alternatively, you could put a macro in the document that turns off the display
of non-printing characters. But if you do that, (a) users will get a macro warning and (b) users who want to see non-printing
characters will be *very* cross that you messed with their setup! Bear in mind that people who like to see non-printing characters
will expect to see them, and because they're used to seeing them, they find reading a Word document without them to be quite
peculiar.

So the solutions are either PDF or don't worry about it.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
Melbourne, Australia

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I'll second everything Shauna has said and add this caveat: Don't give them
too much to look at. Display NPC yourself and make sure you don't have any
empty paragraphs, excess spaces or tab characters, etc. You want the
document to look as clean and uncluttered as possible. This is especially
vital if the document is a résumé that you're using to apply for a job that
involves using Word!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
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all may benefit.

Hi Bob

The short answer is no, you can't do this. If you really want to send a

document such that you control exactly how it looks, you

might consider creating a PDF file and sending that. Alternatively, you

could put a macro in the document that turns off the display

of non-printing characters. But if you do that, (a) users will get a macro

warning and (b) users who want to see non-printing

characters will be *very* cross that you messed with their setup! Bear in

mind that people who like to see non-printing characters

will expect to see them, and because they're used to seeing them, they

find reading a Word document without them to be quite