Changing formatting in selected text changes entire document

[BAStrand]

When formatting selected text (e.g., centering, bold, paragraph indent, etc.)
selected text in a document, the entire document changes to the new format.
Is there a setting somewhere that causes this? The original doc was copied
and pasted from an e-mail text. Using MS Word 2002.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If the text had not been copied from an email, I'd suggest you look at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/WholeDocumentReformatted.htm, but since
it was copied from an email, the likelihood is that the entire document is a
single paragraph. If you display nonprinting characters, you'll likely see
that every line ends in a line break, with probably two line breaks between
paragraphs. See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/CleanWebText.htm

 

[Julie Leavitt]

I am having the same issue, I created a document in Word Vista, and when I
try to center one section of text, the entire page centers. I can bold or
underline individual lines/words without a problem, but it won't let me
center a specific group of lines. This is a resume I am working with, all I
am trying to center is the first 4 lines which are the name and contact
information.

I have tried everything, highlighting and just clicking on the "center"
button, highlighting and right clicking and then going to paragraph format
and centering that way, deleting the lines, clicking center and then
typing...nothing works. Everything I try results in the entire document
being centered.

Please help!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Did you look at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/WholeDocumentReformatted.htm?

 

[Lang]

I am having trouble indenting a single paragraph in Word 2002. When I drag
the right indent marker to the left it indents the whole section, not just
the selected paragraph. However, unlike the sequence in your article, when I
"undo" the whole section including the selected paragraph reverts to the
original margin. There is nothing about "style" in the undo notes, just "undo
formatting".

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The most likely reason for this is that the text is actually all one
paragraph. This is very common with text pasted from the Web which uses two
line breaks instead of a paragraph break. Display nonprinting characters to
see if that's what you're dealing with.

 

[That70sHeidi]

How do you fix this in 2007 Word? I checked that link, but there is no
"Automatically Update" available in the regular styles - only when you create
a new one.

My coworker tells me it was fine last week, if she bolded one word, it
stayed one word. This week bolding one word bolds the whole paragraph or
whole document. Where can we find a fix for her?

 

[Graham Mayor]

The automatically update box should be available to all styles except
normal.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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