I use MS Word 2000 so I don't know how much of this is applicable to other versions of Word.

I've just discovered (annoyingly)that if I type three or more asterisks '*' at the beginning of a line, and then hit enter/ return/ carriage return (for all you old typists out there) Word seems to replace the asterisks with a heavy black dotted line right across the page.

Anyone know why? And what the purpose of ths line is?

I wondered if maybe it's just the way Word is set up on my PC, but I've looked at Auto Correct or Aito Type but can't find anything that would explain the insertion of the line.

Any thoughts?

And any thoughts on how to get rid of the bl**dy thing once it's there? CTRL-Z seems to be the only thing to shift it.

Much obliged

jumbo

Jumbo --

My new computer doesn't have Word (or much else!) but i think you can go into options and change stuff like that. It's a bit fiddly, but you should be able to change it. (I know that's not a lot of help, but it should keep you hopeful.)

Ani

Ani

Thanks - I'm always hopeful!

I'll keep fiddling, as they say!!

jumbo

Oh, and another thing, if you go ahead and do the three asterisks and it turns it into a line, and you carriage return, then backspace and erase the carriage return, does it chnage back to asterisks?

Or, maybe try carriage return, then going back with the mouse or arrow keys to the line, and changnig them to asterisks, and see if that works (because maybe it's the carriage return that it hates).

It's a challenge!

I had the same problem. Now I can't remember how I fixed it but I'll try and work it out. In the meantime if you use the down arrow instead of return I think you can avoid it happening.

Dee
x

Sorry J can't help I have problems with works which I cant alter

1 it won't do a proper spell check, keeps telling me it has checked the piece and ignored all words that it is set to, which means it does feck all

2 in the letter template it insists on leaving the word 'postcode' in the address and adding a 'y' to my post code, look and try as I may I can't alter it. So hav eto manually delete it each time.

I have even tried deleting the teplate and setting a new one but that doesn't work so whilst I have never experience dthe problems you have I share your frustration.

'Close Gates or he will rule the world'

Oh bums. What have I started now!

Nice one, Ani.

If I type the three asterisks, and then hit return the black line appears. If I then do a Backspace, the line changes back to the three asterisks, with the cursor on the next line.

Very clever.

But why?

Thanks, Ani. You're a genius.

jumbo xx

Oh good, I am glad that works. It's the same if you do a few underscores or hyphens - it wants to make one big line for you! It just thinks it's being helpful.... Sortalike that little paperclip fellow who jumps in your face whenever he recognises what you're doing! Cute, but a nuisance.

Word tries to be too bloody clever for it's own good, but it ends up being a pain in the arse.

You can configure pretty much everything to get it to do what you want, but it's annoying trying to work out how. I think it's all under 'Auto-correct' or something.

But it's when you write it in Word, and it's doing nice things like indenting the first line of paragraphs for you, then you copy the whole thing and paste it elsewhere (like uploading it to Writewords) and all of the formatting is gone - that's when it's most annoying.

Word is a good application. Problems arise from a number of sources:

a) not reading the manual

b) not having any dedicated training on how to use what is essentially an advanced word processing tool, not an electronic type writer.

c) the far from helpful fact that Microsoft tends to expect that all users have recognised the points above and taken appropriate action, fuelling the huge economy for Microsoft approved training, which accounts for a decent proportion of their income.

I'm no Word expert, but I am an expert in Excel, and I get annoyed every time I hear some whinging little maggot come to me saying "Excel can't do this" or "It won't do that" or "it keeps doing this whenI do that". If these fatuous peasants took the time to engage their brains, they would find very easy solutions to almost all of their problems, and the problems they'd have left might interest me.

As it is, since most people don't have any formal training (neither do I for Microsoft applications, as it happens, with the sole exception of Access), people just don;t know how to use them.

My advice is to get training for a few hundred bar, a How to CD Rom for £20 or a book on Word for a tenner. You'll be amazed at how these 'useless' applications suddenly become far more user-friendly.

Hi, IB

Always nice to hear from you.

Now ... I know you won't take this personally ... 'cause I didn't but ...

whinging little maggot

I have had training in Word, Excel and (without training) written some sophisticated databases in Access.

I find the help systems on most MS applications to be totally unhelpful. There is nothing in anything I have read (that I can find) which suggests why three asterisks should be replaced with a heavy dotted line across the page. That is why I put the question in the forum.

I apologise if I sounded like another whinging maggot, and I also apologise if you weren't accusing me of being a maggot at all - or maybe I don't, because that's how your posting read - even if it wasn't what you meant!

Ahh! The power of the written language!

Anyone interested in courses in communication skills?

John

But why read the manual when you can muddle along without it?

I think the problem is that with each new version so many changes are made, so if you've done a course in Word 97, chances are you'll not be able to get the most out of the current version. Which I guess makes sense - you'd be annoyed if you got a new version and there were no 'improvements'.

Still, that doesn't alter the fact that auto-formatting stuff doesn't copy and paste well into other applications, and why if I wan't to indent, I do it myself.

Anyway, if something isn't immediately doing what I want it to, even if I haven't read the 'rules' I reserve the right to whinge and complain all I like until someone tells me to press the right button. ;o)

Hi Jumbo, I've suffered from this before, but think I worked out how to beat Word into submission and do what I wanted (ie nothing!). Go into Tools > Auto Correct. Click the 'AutoFormat As You Type' tab at the top. Uncheck the box at the top called 'Borders'. When you press return after your indented asterisks it should no longer insert that line.

And I agree with Ben - Word is a pain in the butt. Yes lots of advanced features, but frankly who needs 'em.

Sam

Thanks Sam ( and Ben)

That sounds helpful.

I had this line imbedded in my document and the only way I was able to get rid of it was to select the whole of the text (CTRL-A) and then using the Border icon in the toolbar draw a border around all of the text. Then, using the same toolbar icon, I turned the border off. The line seems to have gone.

So your suggestion of unclicking the Borders option in Auto Format sounds like it could be the solution.

Thanks for that

jumbo (aka pissed off Essex maggot)