Return Arrows Instead of Paragraph Marks

[A Baffled User]

I am trying to learn how to use Styles rather than manual formatting (in
Word 2000). This morning I selected and copied a text from an on-line site
called astrologyzone and then pasted it into a blank Word document. The text
took on the font, Times New Roman, that is part of my Normal template as one
would expect.

I then wanted to decrease the amount of space between paragraphs in order to
shorten the text for printing. When I "selected all" and assigned to the
selected text a paragraph style that should have decreased the space between
paragraphs from 12 to 3 points, nothing whatsoever changed.

I then pushed the Show/Hide button that allows you to view hidden format
marks. Instead of the usual paragraph marks (¶) at the end of each
paragraph, this text featured little, rounded "carriage return arrows" (I
don't know what else to call them). When I then selected and copied one of
these little buggers, thinking I would perform a search-and-replace
operation to change the arrows to paragraph marks, they did not show up as
anything in the find field of the Find dialog box. I.e., when I clicked
paste, the find field remained blank.

Does anyone know what these will-'o-the-wisp format marks are and how one
could create a macro that would allow them to be manipulated normally in
Word?

Thanks!

Joan

 

[Carol]

I am trying to learn how to use Styles rather than manual formatting (in
Word 2000). This morning I selected and copied a text from an on-line site
called astrologyzone and then pasted it into a blank Word document. The text
took on the font, Times New Roman, that is part of my Normal template as one
would expect.

I then wanted to decrease the amount of space between paragraphs in orderto
shorten the text for printing. When I "selected all" and assigned to the
selected text a paragraph style that should have decreased the space between
paragraphs from 12 to 3 points, nothing whatsoever changed.

I then pushed the Show/Hide button that allows you to view hidden format
marks. Instead of the usual paragraph marks (¶) at the end of each
paragraph, this text featured little, rounded "carriage return arrows" (I
don't know what else to call them). When I then selected and copied one of
these little buggers, thinking I would perform a search-and-replace
operation to change the arrows to paragraph marks, they did not show up as
anything in the find field of the Find dialog box. I.e., when I clicked
paste, the find field remained blank.

Does anyone know what these will-'o-the-wisp format marks are and how one
could create a macro that would allow them to be manipulated normally in
Word?

Thanks!

Joan

Hi Joan,

Your first mistake was just copying and pasting the text from a
website. You copied HTML (hypertext mark up language) and pasted it
into your Word document.

In the future, yyou should copy and then Edit | Paste | Paste Special
| Unformatted text and you will not have these problems.

Now let's address the "little buggers." These and others are called
non-printing characters. Please read the information found when you
click the link below to learn about them.

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/NonPrintChars.htm

 

[A Baffled User]

Aha! Fantastic, Carol. Many thanks!

Joan

I am trying to learn how to use Styles rather than manual formatting (in
Word 2000). This morning I selected and copied a text from an on-line site
called astrologyzone and then pasted it into a blank Word document. The
text
took on the font, Times New Roman, that is part of my Normal template as
one
would expect.

I then wanted to decrease the amount of space between paragraphs in order
to
shorten the text for printing. When I "selected all" and assigned to the
selected text a paragraph style that should have decreased the space
between
paragraphs from 12 to 3 points, nothing whatsoever changed.

I then pushed the Show/Hide button that allows you to view hidden format
marks. Instead of the usual paragraph marks (¶) at the end of each
paragraph, this text featured little, rounded "carriage return arrows" (I
don't know what else to call them). When I then selected and copied one of
these little buggers, thinking I would perform a search-and-replace
operation to change the arrows to paragraph marks, they did not show up as
anything in the find field of the Find dialog box. I.e., when I clicked
paste, the find field remained blank.

Does anyone know what these will-'o-the-wisp format marks are and how one
could create a macro that would allow them to be manipulated normally in
Word?

Thanks!

Joan

Hi Joan,

Your first mistake was just copying and pasting the text from a
website. You copied HTML (hypertext mark up language) and pasted it
into your Word document.

In the future, yyou should copy and then Edit | Paste | Paste Special
| Unformatted text and you will not have these problems.

Now let's address the "little buggers." These and others are called
non-printing characters. Please read the information found when you
click the link below to learn about them.

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/NonPrintChars.htm