"Spontaneous Generation" of Hidden Text

[Guest]

I have inherited a series of 23 forms that were created about four years ago.
Each form is a multi-page table. I have been trying to revise these forms
this week, and some cells of some of the tables are suddenly being formatted
as hidden text. It isn't always the entire cell. Sometimes only a few words
or a punctuation mark will go to hidden text. Sometimes, it's an empty cell
that is formatted as hidden. In one case, the hidden attribute started
showing up as I typed.

Some earlier versions of these forms also had hidden text, but the amount of
hidden text is greater now than it was before.

I don't <i>think</i> it is a "copy and paste" problem or a "paste
formatting" problem. Is there any known bug that could cause text to just
suddenly become hidden?

 

[Guest]

In one of these forms, I have searched for all hidden text, and have removed
the hidden attribute. A search for hidden text finds nothing. But then when
I try to paste anything into certain cells, it comes in as hidden, EVEN IF IT
WASN'T HIDDEN IN THE ORIGINAL. Other cells work fine. I have checked styles
in the cells, and they don't show a hidden attribute. Arrggghhhh!

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Check the properties of the STYLE in use in the cells in question.

In one of these forms, I have searched for all hidden text, and have removed
the hidden attribute. A search for hidden text finds nothing. But then when
I try to paste anything into certain cells, it comes in as hidden, EVEN IF IT
WASN'T HIDDEN IN THE ORIGINAL. Other cells work fine. I have checked styles
in the cells, and they don't show a hidden attribute. Arrggghhhh!

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Guest]

That was it. The style somebody (read "some moron") had applied to the cells
was Page Number + Hidden. It almost looked as if the text in the cells had a
different style than the default style for the cell. Is that possible?

Check the properties of the STYLE in use in the cells in question.

In one of these forms, I have searched for all hidden text, and have removed
the hidden attribute. A search for hidden text finds nothing. But then when
I try to paste anything into certain cells, it comes in as hidden, EVEN IF IT
WASN'T HIDDEN IN THE ORIGINAL. Other cells work fine. I have checked styles
in the cells, and they don't show a hidden attribute. Arrggghhhh!

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Yes, that's not only "possible" it's "expected".

The Default style in a Table is Table Normal. The default paragraph style
is Normal. The end-of-row marker in a table is ALWAYS "Normal" style, and
you can't change that.

But internally, a Cell can have both a Paragraph style and a Character
style. The Paragraph style is what you might consider the "default" style.
The Character style overrides this, but only for character formatting.

Page Number is a Character style. Your favourite intellectually-challenged
co-worker has overridden the formatting of the Page Number style with the
"Hidden" property, presumably because that was easier than reading the help
to find out how to get page numbering working. If I were you, I would
correct this, otherwise the page numbers in the document may be a little
difficult to see when printed

cheers

That was it. The style somebody (read "some moron") had applied to the cells
was Page Number + Hidden. It almost looked as if the text in the cells had a
different style than the default style for the cell. Is that possible?

Check the properties of the STYLE in use in the cells in question.

In one of these forms, I have searched for all hidden text, and have removed
the hidden attribute. A search for hidden text finds nothing. But then
when
I try to paste anything into certain cells, it comes in as hidden, EVEN IF
IT
WASN'T HIDDEN IN THE ORIGINAL. Other cells work fine. I have checked
styles
in the cells, and they don't show a hidden attribute. Arrggghhhh!

:

I have inherited a series of 23 forms that were created about four years
ago.
Each form is a multi-page table. I have been trying to revise these forms
this week, and some cells of some of the tables are suddenly being
formatted
as hidden text. It isn't always the entire cell. Sometimes only a few
words
or a punctuation mark will go to hidden text. Sometimes, it's an empty
cell
that is formatted as hidden. In one case, the hidden attribute started
showing up as I typed.

Some earlier versions of these forms also had hidden text, but the amount
of
hidden text is greater now than it was before.

I don't <i>think</i> it is a "copy and paste" problem or a "paste
formatting" problem. Is there any known bug that could cause text to just
suddenly become hidden?

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410