Formatting text copied from internet or pdfs

[triniscot]

A simple query from a newbie! Basically: I occasionally buy or downloa
"E books" in pdf format..... or I copy and paste text from emails o
the internet. There are often large spaces and gaps in the text so tha
when printed they take up loads of paper! So to remedy this I try t
"tighten them up" by copying and pasting the text into Notepad or
Word document. However.... I note that sometimes the formatting doe
not allow the text to go to the margin (I have chosen narrow margins t
use less paper).

Not being a Word jockey I usually fix it by - laboriously - hittin
"delete" at the end of each line and which brings the next line of tex
up... However I now have a 134 page document to do and this is not a
option!

Is there a quick and easy way to ensure the line breaks at the end o
every line are removed in an entire document so the text will fill th
line to the margin? I am using Home and Student Office 2007

 

[Terry Farrell]

Usually, the lines are ended with a line feed or sometimes a paragraph
break. If you toggle on the non-breaking characters (by clicking on the
backwards P character or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shft+*) and look to
see if line feeds or paragraph breaks have been inserted and whether they
are preceded by a space character of not.

Then the procedure is to use the Replace dialog (Ctrl+H) and enter in the
Find box ^l (for line feed) or ^p (for paragraph break). In the replace box
enter either nothing or a space character if it is needed. Note that those
are lowercase L or P: capitals will not work.

That is the basics, but you will find that you need to enhance this
procedure because the problem with the simple solution is that you will
probably lose the 'real' end of paragraphs and end up with one long
continuous page of text that needs more editing.

Invariably, the real end of paragraphs will be either two consecutive
paragraph breaks or line feeds. So to preserve these, before you do the
above replace action, search for either ^p^p or ^l^l and replace them with a
unique character string such as X$C%. Once you have done that, replace all
the single ^p or ^l characters. Finally, replace the unique string you
used - X$C% - with ^p^p to restore the real end of paragraphs.

 

[triniscot]

Wow! Problem sorted - my 134 page document is now 33 pages! Thanks fo
taking the time and trouble - and patience - to post such a useful an
easily understood reply - Terry you're a star!

 

[Terry Farrell]

Flattery will get you anywhere. <g> Thanks

Terry