David, and anyone else who is watching,
With the change in title of post etc, I haven't been able to follow as
thoroughly as usual, but given your mention that it's only the one document,
if Dayo's and Beth's advice doesn't solve the problem (and it probably will
-- they are experts), there is one final solution. I occasionally use it
when I have a corruption problem in a single document and I'm not convinced
that other problems exist which will show themselves later, when the
document has become longer and more complex and the schedule is *really*
time-critical. (I work cross-platform with people who are delightful
colleagues but "scorched earth" practitioners when it comes to formatting).
This technique involves transferring all the text, but not the
corruption-containing paragraph marks, to a pristine blank document, by
either of two methods.
A. MOVE THE TEXT OVER W/O PARA MARKS
I open a new blank document, set the style of a paragraph mark to the style
I use for body text, and keep the Return key down until, say, 50 paragraph
marks result; then I return to the top.
I display the discrepant document by its side.
I hold down the Command [Apple] key and click in paragraph 1 (it may be a
heading or whatever). The Command key ensures that one whole sentence is
selected. If there is another sentence, I drag to it with the Command key
down. Then I drag the sentence(s) in the paragraph -- i.e., without the
paragraph mark -- to the first paragraph mark in the new blank document.
The rest is boring, but I remember doing a 200-page document in half an
hour; the document's importance justified the time. That included setting up
new tables, where corruption also occurs.
ALTERNATIVE TO ABOVE
There is a quicker alternative that I use when I don't need *total,
absolute* assurance of freedom from corruption: select all the document
(Command-a) -> key Shift-[left arrow] to de-select the last paragraph mark
(which as Dayo and Beth have said is the most likely source of corruption)
-> Command-c to copy -> open new blank document and click in a blank
paragraph having the style you use for body text -> Edit menu (maybe not on
your version??? -- I'm not yet in Word X) -> Paste Special -> Unformatted
text -> OK. This will paste all the document's text in the style you use for
body text.
B. APPLY STYLES
With the corrupt document still displayed (or hard copy, depending on the
document), apply styles. Apply Heading 1 via keystroke or menu or button
just once, then via Option-Return all the other times. After all instances
of Heading 1 are applied, repeat for other styles in turn. Sounds boring (it
is) and time-consuming (probably isn't much -- I reckon I could do a
30-to-50-pager in the time it took me to type this), but it WORKS!!
One way or another, we can be sure you'll get rid of the problem -- but use
the above techniques in preference to Dayo and Beth's suggestion only if you
*must* have an absolute guarantee of freedom from corruption for an
important document and the extra time is therefore justified. The technique
they have given you will probably be enough for you to use.
Post back and let us know how you went!
Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
============================================================
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building.)
============================================================
Hi David,
I can't remember what you've already tried but was one of the fixes testing
for a corrupt document? Here's the procedure: Turn on Show/Hide
formatting. Copy all of the document except the very last paragraph mark.
Paste into a fresh new document. Save the new doc and give it a different
name. Does that make a difference?
Mac Word FAQ: <
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/WordMac/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>
