Please help - paragraphs auto-formatting

[Jamberson]

If anyone can tell me how to fix this they will have my enduring
gratitude...

I'm using Word 2002. I have a large document (a book in the making)
with lots of paragraphs, font styles, headings and so on.

My problem is this: Two adjacent paragraphs separated by a blank line.
Identical fonts in each. I press delete to close the gap and make them
into one continuous paragraph, and bang! Word decides to completely
change the font - size and font type switch to something else... and I
have to manually re-adjust the paragraph back to what it was in the
first place.

I am going crazy with this!! Any help, anyone?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Amish]

Do you have the non-printing characters turned on? If not, try again
with that turned on and watch what happens.
When you click on each paragraph Word should indicate the style being
used - is it the same for both? It sounds like the two paragraphs
might be formatted in different ways.
Is the space between the two paragraphs a blank paragraph or is it
paragraph spacing?

It is difficult to tell what the exact problem is, but those non-
printing characters can often help us understand things.
Word does not "decide" to change things, but instead reacts to what we
are doing.

 

[Jean-Guy Marcil]

Jamberson was telling us:
Jamberson nous racontait que :

If anyone can tell me how to fix this they will have my enduring
gratitude...

I'm using Word 2002. I have a large document (a book in the making)
with lots of paragraphs, font styles, headings and so on.

My problem is this: Two adjacent paragraphs separated by a blank line.
Identical fonts in each. I press delete to close the gap and make them
into one continuous paragraph, and bang! Word decides to completely
change the font - size and font type switch to something else... and I
have to manually re-adjust the paragraph back to what it was in the
first place.

I am going crazy with this!! Any help, anyone?

Thanks in advance.

This means that your paragraphs are manually formatted, in other words, the
font attributes you see are different from the actual underlying style
definition, which might be different for both paragraphs.

First make sure that both paragraphs are formatted with the same style.
Next, select both paragraphs and do CTRL+Space Bar, this will remove all
manual font formatting.
If doing CTRL+Space Bar changes the font, then it means your styles not are
being used properly, which they should in such a large document.

If you cannot adjust the styles in your document, you can try this instead,
I have found that on occasions it makes a difference:

Use the Backspace key to back one paragraph into the other instead of using
the Delete key...

But really, your style should be applied correctly and you then wouldn't be
experiencing this problem.

See:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm
Click on "Styles" at the bottom of the page.

 

[Jamberson]

Thanks for the reply.

I now understand why it is doing it. You are right - my styles are
manually put in, and I'm sure that's what is going on.

I know everyone will say use templates - they are the best way - but I
don't want to. Is there any way I can switch it off so Word ignores any
templates and stops changing the font completely? I'm sure word
processors never used to do this.

I just want it to stop deciding for me and stop changing it for me - is
this possible?

Cheers.

 

[Jean-Guy Marcil]

Jamberson was telling us:
Jamberson nous racontait que :

Thanks for the reply.

I now understand why it is doing it. You are right - my styles are
manually put in, and I'm sure that's what is going on.

I know everyone will say use templates - they are the best way -

Yes, they are, but this is not about templates, it is about styles in a
document.
Yu can set up styles in a document, you do not need to rely on templates for
that.

but I
don't want to. Is there any way I can switch it off so Word ignores
any templates and stops changing the font completely? I'm sure word
processors never used to do this.

I do not know what word processors you are talking about, but Word has more
or less always behaved like this.

I just want it to stop deciding for me and stop changing it for me -
is this possible?

The problem is that you decide to apply a change by deleting paragraph marks
and merging two paragraphs into one.Word did not decide that...When that
happens, Word has to apply a certain style to the new paragraph, and it does
according to a preset procedure, which I explained to you.

So, you may not want to use templates, but unless you learn to use styles
properly, you will always end up having to make manual changes all over the
place.

This is why I refer you to a good page to help you learn about styles.
Trust me, if you are going to use Word a fair amount, the time spent
learning about style is a must and will help you be a faster more efficient
user.

 

[Jamberson]

Thanks very much for taking the time to help - really appreciated.

Looks like I will have to educate myself on how Word works. I just find
it so frustrating that if I set two paragraphs to Garamond 12 point,
Word can't understand that I did so because it's what I wanted, and
leave them alone. It's not like I'm trying to connect two different
things, at least not so far as it looks on-screen.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Cheers.

 

[Jean-Guy Marcil]

Jamberson was telling us:
Jamberson nous racontait que :

Thanks very much for taking the time to help - really appreciated.

Looks like I will have to educate myself on how Word works. I just
find it so frustrating that if I set two paragraphs to Garamond 12
point, Word can't understand that I did so because it's what I
wanted, and leave them alone. It's not like I'm trying to connect two
different things, at least not so far as it looks on-screen.

Thanks again for your assistance.

The ways of the Word Application are mysterious!