text formatting question

[Marthainalabama]

I'm going nuts trying to figure out what the square black button is at
left margin of some lines in a document I'm trying to reformat. If I
knew what it was, maybe I could figure out how to get rid of it. I
think it's making my page 1 and page 2 print superimposed on top of one
another. Help is no help because I don't know what to look up! I'm
using Word 2004 on a dual G5 Intel Mac with OS 10.4.8.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello Martha -

What you're seeing is one of the non-printing characters see:

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

This mark indicates that one or more of the features in Format>Paragraph -
Line & Page Breaks has been applied to the adjacent paragraph. It should
*not* cause one page to overprint another. The problem is more likely caused
by use of printer driver software that isn't up-to-date or a problem with
the printer feed mechanism/logic. Do other multipage docs & other multipage
files print OK?

If it's just the one file there are other possibilities, but check the above
first & post back with your results.

 

[Elliott Roper]

I'm going nuts trying to figure out what the square black button is at
left margin of some lines in a document I'm trying to reformat. If I
knew what it was, maybe I could figure out how to get rid of it. I
think it's making my page 1 and page 2 print superimposed on top of one
another. Help is no help because I don't know what to look up! I'm
using Word 2004 on a dual G5 Intel Mac with OS 10.4.8.

That's the "keep with next" indicator. It tells you that Word will try
to make the paragraph keep on the same page with the next one. Very
useful for headings.
So useful, that heading styles come with the keep with next property by
default.

If you want it, but don't want to look at it, hit cmd-8. That toggles
the display (show/hide all non-printing characters)

If you want to disable paraKeepWithNext , you can change the setting
for the current or selected paragraphs in format » paragraph » line and
page breaks.

I find it so useful that I long ago assigned a keyboard shortcut to
that toggle.

I doubt very much that it has much to do with pages printing on top of
one another. If every paragraph has keep with next set, then Word
finally throws a sensible fit and forces the page break anyway.

"Keep lines together" in the same dialog panel also shows its presence
as the same square button. That /might/ cause some strange
overprinting. "Keep lines together" tells word not to split within a
paragraph. I'm not sure about that. I seem to get Word to handle that
correctly with the widow orphan setting.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Martha,

I agree with Bob (he's always right, so why not? ;-)

Since you find the squares so irritating (I do too), here's a snippet: you
can hide them, and other non-printing characters, by keying Command-8.

Those who like the squares point to the fact that you can quickly access the
Paragraph Formatting pane (making the "Indents and spacing" or "Line and
page breaks" available) by double-clicking the square. Those who don't like
them say that you can easily access that command, whether or not the squares
are visible, by keying Command-Option-m or choosing Format menu ->
Paragraph. (But people who format their documents with styles use the
Paragraph Formatting pane only very rarely.)

We all know Word's irritants. The marvellous aspect of Word is that once you
probe it, you find there are usually 3 or 4 ways of doing anything. The way
any individual chooses reflects the way they prefer to work. For example,
some people hate keyboard shortcuts; others hate using the mouse.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================
* SUGGESTION -- KEEP REVISITING AFTER YOU POST: If you post a question, keep
re-visiting the newsgroup for several days after the first response comes
in. Sometimes it takes a few responses before the best or complete solution
is provided; sometimes you'll be asked for further information. Good tips
about getting the best out of posting are at
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/AccessNewsgroups.html and
http://word.mvps.org/FindHelp/Posting.htm (if you use Safari you may see a
blank page and have to hit the circular arrow icon -- "Reload the current
page" -- two or more times).
============================================================

 

[Phillip Jones]

Hello Martha,

I agree with Bob (he's always right, so why not? ;-)

Since you find the squares so irritating (I do too), here's a snippet: you
can hide them, and other non-printing characters, by keying Command-8.

An even simpler method is the little thingy or hicky-doo that's on the
menu pallet that looks lick backward facing capital P with two downward
stokes (paragraph Mark) just click on it. It does away with all the
"reveal codes"

Those who like the squares point to the fact that you can quickly access the
Paragraph Formatting pane (making the "Indents and spacing" or "Line and
page breaks" available) by double-clicking the square. Those who don't like
them say that you can easily access that command, whether or not the squares
are visible, by keying Command-Option-m or choosing Format menu ->
Paragraph. (But people who format their documents with styles use the
Paragraph Formatting pane only very rarely.)

We all know Word's irritants. The marvellous aspect of Word is that once you
probe it, you find there are usually 3 or 4 ways of doing anything. The way
any individual chooses reflects the way they prefer to work. For example,
some people hate keyboard shortcuts; others hate using the mouse.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================
* SUGGESTION -- KEEP REVISITING AFTER YOU POST: If you post a question, keep
re-visiting the newsgroup for several days after the first response comes
in. Sometimes it takes a few responses before the best or complete solution
is provided; sometimes you'll be asked for further information. Good tips
about getting the best out of posting are at
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/AccessNewsgroups.html and
http://word.mvps.org/FindHelp/Posting.htm (if you use Safari you may see a
blank page and have to hit the circular arrow icon -- "Reload the current
page" -- two or more times).
============================================================

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[Clive Huggan]

Yep, see the last sentence of my previous post, below.

CH
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