Zero Width Space

[mcp6453]

I'm trying to get Word back to the way I had it before normal.dot became
corrupted. One macro or keyboard assignment I had was a zero width space
that, unless a line wants to wrap at that point, it does nothing. When
Show Paragraph is activated, it shows up as a small vertical rectangle
inside of another vertical rectangle. How can I determine what code it
is? I've tried the symbols it Tools | Customize | Keyboard | Common
Symbols, and it is neither on the "Non Breaking" options.

 

[mcp6453]

I'm trying to get Word back to the way I had it before normal.dot became
corrupted. One macro or keyboard assignment I had was a zero width space
that, unless a line wants to wrap at that point, it does nothing. When
Show Paragraph is activated, it shows up as a small vertical rectangle
inside of another vertical rectangle. How can I determine what code it
is? I've tried the symbols it Tools | Customize | Keyboard | Common
Symbols, and it is neither on the "Non Breaking" options.

Further, when Show Paragraphs is turned on, the displayed symbol looks
like this (ASCII drawing) but obviously much smaller:

XXXXXXX
X XXX X
X X X X
X X X X
X X X X
X XXX X
XXXXXXX

 

[CyberTaz]

Go to Insert>Symbol>Special Characters and locate No-Width Non Break, assign
a keystroke to it if you wish.

HTH |:>)

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

And if you can't find it there (as I can't, but I may be blind), see this
webpage:
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/NoWidthSpace.htm

Though actually what you want is just a zero-width space (no "non break"
about it).

Go to Insert>Symbol>Special Characters and locate No-Width Non Break, assign
a keystroke to it if you wish.

HTH |:>)

-

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello Daiya-

Poster didn't mention a version, so it may be different in prior versions,
but I'm referring to 2003. (Just checked Word 2000 and it is the same
there... last item in the Special Characters list, right below No Width
Optional Break.)

You're quite correct about the literal statement pertaining to a Zero Space,
but I was going more by the description of the non-printing character symbol
the user described... rectangle inside rectangle.

Regards |:>)

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Thanks, CyberTaz.

Okay, that's a Win/Mac difference--the Mac version doesn't have either of
those in the Special Characters dialog. Good to know.

I haven't a clue myself, but the webpage I cited suggests the rectangle
within rectangle is just the zero width space, and by the description of the
action, the poster does want it to break. Will you double-check in WinWord,
as if the webpage is wrong, it ought to get fixed?
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/NoWidthSpace.htm
(hit refresh a few times in Safari, or use a different browser)

Daiya

 

[CyberTaz]

Ahah- So you're another cross-platform junkie like mysef, huh?

I did check before I posted and used both in a Word document to verify.

The No Width Non Break is represented by the rect w/in a rect & the No Width
Optional Break is represented by a vertical bar that lookes like the 'pipe'
character.

Have not had a chance to visit the site, but I wouldn't have any impact on
that, anyway.

Thanks for the reply |:>)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In WinWord (at least here) the double-bordered rectangle is the No-Width
Optional Break.

 

[Klaus Linke]

I don't think you can insert the "real" zero-width space from "Insert > Symbol > Special characters" in any version.

In some version(s) (not sure which... Word2000, Word2002 I think), there are entries for the "zero width space" and "zero width no break space" in "Insert > Symbol > Special characters" (at the very bottom).
But if you try, other, non-functional characters are inserted (U+200C, U+200D).

In Word2003, those (wrong) two are still there, but their names have changed a bit, at least in the German version (... still not conforming to the Unicode Standard, but less easy to confuse).

Plus, both have now changed their appearance in Word2003 (formerly like the pipe symbol with a button at the top, as CyberTaz mentioned) to look exactly like the "zero width space" and "no break space" <shudder>.

So better use 200B, Alt+X. Or Alt+8203. Or hunt U+200B down in "Insert > Symbol" in some large Unicode font like "Arial Unicode MS" (... it's only shown in large fonts, but works in all fonts).

Greetings
Klaus

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Suzanne-

I don't know what to tell you, because I'm getting confused myself!

Am working Word 2000 on a Win 2000 system today & I am getting something
different than I got yesterday in Word 2003 on Win XP Pro.

Today's results:

No Width Optional Break = The Pipe-type symbol as described earlier ( ‌ )
No Width No Break = Looks like a pipe with an x at the top end ( †)

So, the NWOB is the same, but the NWNB is not!

I also went back to the Symbols page and selected General Punction from the
Subset list, and these two are the first ones in the subset . Unfortunately
Word 2000 doesn't describe the symbols with names or codes, so I went to both
the Win 2000 & Win XP Character Map & found them as described below:

Unicode 200C ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER (the plain pipe ‌ )
Unicode 200D ZERO WIDTH JOINER (pipe w/x at top †)

I just went back to the XP system w/2003 to retrieve the Unicode info below
and re-checked the symbols in a Word '03 doc.

However, even though the symbols revealed in Word 2000 are as shown above,
the same items display differently when inserted in Word 2003. They BOTH look
like a "rectangle within a rectangle" as described by the poster, but the
inner rectangle of one is solid, the other is empty. Also, the color of both
is bluish rather than the black or gray that the other non-printing
characters use.

I would be happy to write the whole thing off as an aberration on the system
running Woed '03, except that what it shows matches up with what the poster
described. Am interested in any clarification available.

Thanks |:>)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Read Klaus's post and despair further!

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

In-line...

Read Klaus's post and despair further!

I've been despairing since yesterday, now, I think....

Klaus is the expert, though.
No, I think you don't have to worry about that. The OP wanted a zero width
breaking space, which is 200B, and 200B shows up in WinWord 2003 as a double
bordered rectangle, all as according to the mvp webpage, and that's what the
poster described as well.

I think the closed double rectangle for the No width non break is just a
coincidence that had you and I talking at cross-purposes, but is irrelevant
to the original poster.

Plenty of other aberrations around the no width no break to worry about,
though.

Daiya

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Ahah- So you're another cross-platform junkie like mysef, huh?

No, there's just a better class of Word problems over here. I do have
WinWord in VPC but am aggro every time I have to check something in it.

I did check before I posted and used both in a Word document to verify.

The No Width Non Break is represented by the rect w/in a rect & the No Width
Optional Break is represented by a vertical bar that lookes like the 'pipe'
character.

Have not had a chance to visit the site, but I wouldn't have any impact on
that, anyway.

No, if it were wrong, I can get the other mvps to fix it. I just wanted
confirmation you weren't misremembering before I bothered everyone else with
it. But I think it was just confusion between the closed and empty double
rectangles, as I finally booted up windows (with much rolling of eyes and
checked it myself, and the webpage is right.

Daiya

 

[mcp6453]

And if you can't find it there (as I can't, but I may be blind), see this
webpage: http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/NoWidthSpace.htm

Though actually what you want is just a zero-width space (no "non break"
about it).

This page shows exactly the answer I was looking for. Thanks. That must
have been where I got it originally.

The optional space is very handy to put after a forward slash (/) to
allow wrapping at the end of a physical line.