weird symbol in header

[Guest]

I have the following text in the header of my chapter 8 (this text is not on
the first page of the chapter):

Chapter 8: LGM simulation:New Zealand}

"Chapter" is plain text, "8" and "LGM simulation:New Zealand" are cross
references to heading number and heading text respectively. I did not put in
the } symbol. This symbol does not look like it is typed here, but has a
dotted line all around it, in a rectangular shape. This shape looks exactly
like the dotted rectangular shape you get when you use Microsoft equation 3
for an equation in your document (which I do use but only in chapter 3, some
150 pages back).
I don't want that symbol there, but I just can't get rid of it. I can't
highlight it, can't "grab" it, but it does move further backwards if I insert
more text in front of it. I can only "highlight" it if I highlight everything
(after the symbol there is a hard return followed by a picture of a
horizontal bar so highlight everything, text and bar, does highlight the } as
well). But when I do so, I can't do anything. You would think I can delete
the highlighted text (plus symbol), but that does not work.
Where does this } symbol (with dotted lines) come from, and more important,
how do I get rid of it. It does show up when I print the document.

Anyone?

Thanks

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It may be part of a field; you could try pressing Alt+F9 to see what that
reveals. But I suspect it may indicate some corruption in the header. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm. Or, if you have Word
2003 (and maybe Word 2002?), try using Open and Repair to open the file.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Frank

I would suspect document corruption, which often shows up first in headers
and footers. The curly brace with the dotted lines is the closing mark for a
field. Yours seems to be an orphan field ending that shouldn't be there. I
had a case recently of a document in Word 2000 with a similar problem of a
"broken" field in a header. In the end, Word 2000 just couldn't open the
file, but Word 2003's "Open and repair" fixed it.

I strongly recommend that you follow the steps at
How can I recover a corrupt document or template - and why did it become
corrupt?
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm

Use Windows Explorer to make a backup of the file before you begin, and put
it in a safe place so you have something to go back to if necessary.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word