Well, it kind of depends on why you have blank spaces in the first place and
on what is causing the blank spaces and on which version of Word you're
using. I've assumed you're using Word 2003, since it's still fairly common,
but if you're using 2007, these instructions might not work.
It sounds like you've copied some text either from a web site or from a
plain-text e-mail. If that's what you're doing, you need to find out what
kind of character is at the end of each line. Press the ¶ button on your
toolbar to show the non-printing characters and notice whether lines end with
a ¶ or with a bent arrow. If one of those symbols is at the end of each line,
then take the following steps. If one of those symbols is NOT at the end of
each line, then you have a different problem and you'll need to tell us more
before we can help you.
1. First, use the Replace function (Ctrl - H) to change all instances of
two spaces to one (just type two spaces in the top box and one in the bottom
box and then hit "Replace All"). Repeat this step as many times as
necessary, until the system says no more instances of two spaces are found.
2. Then go through the document to make sure that there are two paragraph
breaks or line breaks at the end of each paragraph. They should look
something like this.¶
¶
3. Then, IF there is a ¶ symbol at the end of each line, use the replace
function and type ^p in the top box and type one space in the bottom box. If
it's a broken arrow at the end of each line, type ^l (That's a lower-case L)
in the top box and one space in the bottom. Then hit Replace All. This will
leave the entire document as one huge paragraph and you'll freak out. It's
OK. The next step will fix it.
4. Finally, use the replace function to change two spaces to ^p. Wherever
there were two paragraph breaks or line breaks in the original, there will
now be only one.
This will leave your original example as aaaaaaaaa bbbbbbbbb ccccccccc. It
will also leave you with only one space between sentences. If you prefer two
spaces between sentences, you'll need to use the replace function to change
"period space" to "period space space." Of course, that will mean you'd need
to go through and check any abbreviations to make sure that they are still
spaced properly. It's easier to just leave one space between sentences.
I hope this helps.
Fred
