<return> mysteriously appears in document

[Tracey B]

I'm using Word X and running Panther.
Returns have mysteriously appeared at the end of lines, breaking up the
paragraphs. For example:

"The easiest way to create communications problems is to withhold
information from
one's spouse. When partners don't confide in each other, they are likely to
find
themselves trying to tap their way through a vacuum, like blind people with
white
canes."

I think it happened after I changed the width of the document, but making it
wider doeesn't get rid of unwanted returns. It's 165 pages of text with
indents, lists, bullets, etc, and I don't relish the idea of deleting the returns
one by one. I welcome your help.

Thanks.

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Hopefully not too late a reply...

Click ¶ on the standard toolbar. That shows such characters as returns and
whether they are really there (hard return, or paragraph mark, is a gray ¶).

When in Normal view, the Preferences | View pane does have an option for
"wrap to window." Could that be affecting something?

If they are really there, you can probably work out a Find and Replace
operation to help delete them (must click on More, then use the Special
menu)

Maybe the document is corrupt?

The first way to check for a corrupt document is to
copy the entire thing, *excluding* the last paragraph mark, into a new
document. That last paragraph mark holds a lot of information which can get
corrupted, and copying the text into a document with a fresh one keeps your
formatting, but can fix some glitches.

See this link for further info:

http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm

And see here to make sure you are fully updated:
http://www.mcgimpsey.com/macoffice/office/vxversions.html

DM