Odd "white space" indent in front of sentence instead of a tab symbol (converted WP docs)

[Dave]

Background: Last year I converted several large manuscripts (800+
pages) from Wordperfect (WP 9, I believe) to Word 2002. I recently
changed over to Word 2003.

The problem: Each paragraph within the converted document begins with
a 1/2" indent even though the document is set for a 1/4" tab. When I
turn on the Show/Hide option, each paragraph ends with a paragraph
icon, but the beginning of the next indented line only shows "white
space"; it does not have a Tab symbol in it. If I place my cursor at
the begining of the indented line, then backspace (to remove the
"white space") the line jumps up and becomes part of the previous
paragraph. Then, if I hit Enter, then tab, the line moves back down,
now indented 1/2" (white space), plus the 1/4" inch tab (tab symbol).
I cannot seem to delete this white space. I suspect there may be some
kind of formatting code that is either protected or doesn't show up in
the Show/Hide option, which may be the reason I cannot delete it.

Is there is a setting I can change or something I can do to remove
this "white space"? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Dave

 

[Anne Troy]

Just a shot, Dave. Try turning on viewing of field codes under
Tools-->options-->view or Alt+F9 (toggles them on/off). See if they didn't
put one of those stupid fields in there.
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The paragraph is formatted with a first-line indent. If you want it to be
0.25" instead of 0.5", either drag the First Line Indent marker on the ruler
or change the setting in Format | Paragraph.

 

[Dave]

Thanks Anne. I appreciate your reply.

Although your suggestion didn't work, it did help me discover what was
going on - it was my "First Line Indent". It was set at 1/2 inch.
After fiddling around, including experimenting with a macro, I
discovered that if I highlighted each chapter completely (Alt + A),
then shifted my "First Line Indent" to the margin edge, all the
indented lines shifted to the edge. After that it was simple matter
of doing a search-and-replace to insert a Tab at the beginning of each
initial line.

Thanks again ...

Dave

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Inserting a tab at the beginning of the line is working backward. You should
instead be using a style with the desired first-line indent.

 

[Dave]

Suzanne,

You're right. This thought vaguely occurred to me while I was going
through and changing the indent on some of the chapters with tabs, but
old WordPerfect habits die hard. I've now corrected those changes.

I appreciate your help.

Dave