Strange symbol in a strange box

[Peter Rooney]

I've been given a Word 2003 DOC to edit. Most of the document is normal
text. However, in the right edge of the pages, outside of the right margin
indicator, is a column of boxes drawn with dashed lines. In two corners of
each box is a symbol that looks like an "O" with four short "rays" or dots
around it, spaced at about 1, 4, 7, and 10 o'clock. The column looks like a
film strip with sprocket holes. I wish I could draw it for you.

I need to insert short text strings in these boxes, for example "2468".
However, the boxes are not live for me - I can't move a cursor into them or
insert text.

Can anybody tell me what is going on, and how to edit these boxes?

 

[Jay Freedman]

It sounds like it's a table that's been made floating, anchored in the header
(or maybe in the footer, but the header is more likely) and dragged into the
margin. The symbol you describe is what Word uses for the end-of-cell and
end-of-row markers, although those usually aren't visible unless you turn on
nonprinting character display by clicking the ¶ button, and there would be only
one in each cell.

Try double-clicking in the header area to open it, and then see if you can get
the cursor into the boxes then.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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