Microsoft Word: unwanted horizontal lines

[sophisticatedpenguin]

Hi,

I have a Word document (Word 2002) that contains unwanted horizontal lines above and below an undeletable paragraph mark. The lines only show up when Text Boundaries are set to show using Tools > Options > View. They look like the text boundaries at the top and bottom of the page, but are in the middle of the page.

The only way I have found of deleting the paragraph mark between the horizontal lines is to do Convert Text to Table and then delete the resulting table. This still leaves the horizontal lines.

Does anyone know what is going on and what these lines are? How can I delete the lines and the paragraph mark properly?

Many thanks,
Katie

 

[MakeItSo]

Hi Katie,

These might be section breaks.
Go to View->Normal.
Do these lines now contain text like "section break continuous" or similar?

Cheers,
Andy

[navy]"We had to turn off that service to comply with the CDA Bill."[/navy]
- The Bastard Operator From Hell

 

[sophisticatedpenguin]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your reply. No, these are not section breaks. Nor are they to do with Borders and Shading. They can't be deleted with Table > Delete either. I'm completely baffled ...

Katie

 

[combo]

As other non-printed things, this setting is used to simplify the design/formatting. It marks the text area.

combo

 

[sophisticatedpenguin]

Thanks Combo. I can understand why there are non-printing page boundaries at the edges of the document, and around the headers and footers. But why do I also have ones appearing at seemingly random points part-way through the page? They're definitely not corresponding to section breaks.

Katie

 

[SkipVought]

You these lines PRINT?

Skip,
^{Don't let the Diatribe...
talk you to death!}
_{Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE!}

 

[sophisticatedpenguin]

Hi Skip. No, they don't show up on Print Preview either.
Thanks,
Katie

 

[combo]

Multi-column document? Any pictures with frames? Tables without borders? Continuous sections with variable margin widths?

combo

 

[sophisticatedpenguin]

Hi again,

All sections are single column. No pictures with frames. The margins are the same on all portrait pages and on all landscape pages (and the weird lines don't show up near any transitions from portrait to landscape).

I had wondered if they might be tables. But if I try to select them and then go to the Table menu, options such as 'delete table' or 'convert table to text' are greyed out.

Thanks,
K

 

[combo]

When displaying all formatting (the show all option), can you see any rules?

combo

 

[sophisticatedpenguin]

Do you mean in Tools > Options > View? If so, the lines are there whether or not the formatting marks are showing. But they are only there if the text boundaries are turned on.

Thanks again,
K

 

[combo]

I meant Tools>Options>View, the second section (formatting) and the 'all' option. If ticked, among others, the paragraph marks, page and section breaks are displayed. I am just looking for some additional information displayed.

combo

 

[sophisticatedpenguin]

OK, that's the same as I was doing. These lines show up whether or not the formatting is displayed – I can turn off all of it and the lines are still there (apart from if I turn off the text boundaries option).

thanks,
Katie

 

[MakeItSo]

But they are only there if the text boundaries are turned on.

Idea: Look at your page setup. It might be you have landscape page setup with TWO pages per sheet. You can find it in
File->Page setup->Multiple pages: two pages per sheet.

Is it that?

Cheers,
Andy

[navy]"We had to turn off that service to comply with the CDA Bill."[/navy]
- The Bastard Operator From Hell

 

[sophisticatedpenguin]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the suggestion. The lines are actually in one of the portrait sections, and "Multiple Pages" is set to normal.

Thanks,
Katie