show/hide nonprinting characters

[Craig]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

When I copied a table from one document to another (by highlighting it, then pasting it), I somehow turned on the feature that shows nonprinting characters (tabs, paragraph marks, etc.). Even though I have tried CMD-8, and have clicked the "show all nonprinting characters" lozenge on my toolbar -- I've done these many times -- the nonprinting characters stay on my screen. I've tried several things: I've exited the document; I've opened and closed other documents; I've exited from, then restarted Word; I've reset my toolbars and something else (don't remember the item) through using "Preferences." Nothing has worked.

Any idea what to do? Thanks.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Craig -

Do the marks appear throughout the entire doc or just the pasted table?

Is there any unusual behavior in the doc you copied from?

It sounds like you might be dealing with a corrupt document - especially if
this is the only doc presenting the behavior. You might try the steps
offered here:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/DocumentCorruption.html

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Craig]

Hi, Bob:
Thanks for replying promptly.

I'll try your steps, but I'm afraid it isn't a corrupt document. The nonprinting marks appear in every part of the document in which this first occurred, and they immediately began to appear in every other document -- documents that I'm just creating in a blank new window, and older documents that I'm opening. The nonprinting paragraph mark even appears in a blank new document window, though I haven't entered a line return yet.

Any other ideas?

Thanks again.

Craig

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Craig -

The ¶s *should* appear in any document as long as the feature is turned On -
and a Word document can't exist without at least one of them. Are you saying
that no mater what the document you can't turn them Off?

If that's the case I would suspect a corrupt Normal template or Preference
file. Follow the suggestions here for testing/replacing same:

http://word.mvps.org/mac/MacWordNormal.html

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/DamagedPrefs.html

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Craig]

Thanks, Bob. My problem was that I couldn't turn off the ¶ symbol, whatever I tried, in any document. But your suggetions saved the day. It wasn't a corrupt Normal Template, but a corrupt Preferences list. As soon as I deleted the old plist, the ¶ symbols stopped appearing.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the help!

Craig

 

[CyberTaz]

No problem - glad it helped & thanks for sharing the confirmation!

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Dani]

okay i have a question; ijust need to know how to turn off the nonprinting
characters. i have mac word 2004.
if you would please reply that would be great.

 

[CyberTaz]

Click the ¶ symbol on the Standard toolbar or type Command+8. You can also
regulate which ones display through the options in Word> Preferences> View.
See the following link for a more thorough explanation of their purpose:

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/NonPrintChars.htm

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac